DSU PUBLIC MEETING

Annihilation of Caste and the Sham of Parliamentary Politics

Speaker: Anand Teltumbde, Writer and Activist

9.30pm | 9 December 2010 | Kaveri Mess | JNU

The recent victory of Nitish Kumar in the last Bihar Assembly has been dubbed by the otherwise rabidly casteist corporate media as a ‘victory of the backward castes’. This is because Nitish Kumar himself belongs to the backward Kurmi caste. The brahminical corporate media celebrates Nitish Kumar because they know that JD(U) being a key ally of the BJP, this ‘victory’ is yet another triumph for the highly reactionary and casteist feudal classes of Bihar, constituted primarily by the Bhumihars, Rajputs, Brahmins and the landed sections of the Kurmis. Nitish Kumar is just another poster boy of the brahminical ruling classes, riding on a sham propaganda of ‘development’. The Mayavatis, Nitish Kumars, Karunanidhis of the country have always championed their backward and oppressed identity, as they indeed hail from castes which have been historically oppressed and denied of their basic means of sustenance, democratic rights or a life of dignity. Question is, after 63 years of parliamentary politics, have they at all been effective in transforming the material conditions and social relations in which the dalits, tribals and the most oppressed are forced to live in even today?

Caste atrocities continue unabated: The parliament and all its ruling parties have watched with silent complicity every time a dalit is killed by the caste-Hindus, when a dalit woman is raped to subdue the oppressed castes, or the dalit’s villages are raged to the ground to reassert the oppressive caste hegemony. These are just a few forms of atrocities and violence in which casteism manifests to capture media attention, to be again receded to the oblivion of everyday life, normalized and accepted as a part of our social reality. According to a survey by the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, 27 atrocities against dalits are perpetrated every day, 13 dalits are murdered every week, 5 dalits' homes or possessions burnt every week, 6 dalits kidnapped or abducted every week, and 3 dalit women raped every day, 11 dalits beaten every day. Only the most gruesome of these incidents get reported in the mainstream media which has always served as a loyal mouthpiece of the brahminical and feudal ruling classes. The rate of conviction in cases of dalit atrocities is a dismal 15%. It took 12 years for the Patna lower court to sentence those responsible for the Laxmanpur-Bathe massacre, and even then it left unpunished the real perpetrators. The CBI too absolved the BJP and NCP members involved in the Khairlanji massacre, and no case was filed under the Prevention of SC/ST Atrocities Act. The police routinely refuse to register complaints of atrocities and violence against the dalits, let alone taking action against the guilty perpetrators of the dominant castes. While the formal institutions of justice have proved to be an ally of the casteist forces, the parallel ‘justice system’ of the dominant castes: the Khap Panchayats or the village panchayats, regularly punish members of oppressed castes through social boycotts, denying work, corporal punishment and even executing death sentences.

The material conditions in which the dalits are forced to live are getting worse every day. According to even Government sources, which always underplay the distress of masses, admit that two-thirds of dalit households are landless (According to the draft paper of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, 77% of dalits and 90% of the adivasis in India are either ‘absolute landless’ who own no land, or ‘landless’). Unemployment and underemployment is the highest among the dalits and ‘backward’ castes, with a very high number being employed as landless workers in the villages. Even in urban areas the percentage of regular income earners among dalits is abysmally low, with most of them employed for manual works as contract workers. 60% of the dalit wage-earning households in rural areas and 70% in urban areas fall below the ‘Poverty Line’. The only area where the dalits constitutes a majority is in the job of safai workers where their presence is a staggering 73%. Even today in almost all states of India, dalits especially dalit women are made to do manual scavenging, whereas 88% of seats for SC & ST in class I / II government jobs have not been fulfilled. Likewise, OBC representation in university faculty across the country is a mere 1%. The Arjun Sengupta Report shows that 88% of all SCs and STs, 85% of all Muslims and 80% of all OBCs survive on less than Rs.20 per day. Those belonging to the ‘upper’ castes, who demographically are just about 15% of the population, have a complete stranglehold over the means of production, including land, and over all available opportunities of state-funded employment and education. They constitute the bulk of the industrialists, senior executives, bureaucrats and landlords; controlling 96% of industry and trade, and 71% of agricultural land and natural resources. According to the report of Working Group on Development of SCs drafted during 8th five year plan, since the inception of five year plans in India less than 2 percent of the total expenditure has been spent on the SC, ST and OBCs combined. Non-plan spending on social services has fallen by 16 per cent in the 2010 budget. Within this miniscule budget, the specific allocation for SC, ST and OBC has decreased from 7.06% to 2.89%. This is all that Indian parliamentary ‘democracy’ could achieve in the last six decades for dalits, OBCs and religious minorities.

NONE of the parliamentary parties have worked towards what Dr. Ambedkar had envisioned: the annihilation of caste. They rather systematically and opportunistically reinforced this oppressive structure for their own electoral ends. The discontent and pressure from below has forced the government to very reluctantly legislate reservation, but like most of the pro-people legislation, this too has become a dead letter. During the Mandal Commission days, both Congress and BJP had openly opposed reservation, while the ‘Official Left’ had maintained a very dubious, opportunistic dithering between conditional support and opposition. Even those parliamentary parties which claim to champion the dalit cause, like BSP, SP, JD(U) etc., have reduced the fight against the prevailing brahminical social order to the fight for reservation and representation. While reservation is indeed important, by its very nature it only benefits the comparatively better-off section of the oppressed castes who could afford some education, leaving out the vast majority of the dalits and other oppressed sections out of its purview. Reservation is only one step towards the goal of a just and exploitation-free society. This has to be a part for the struggle for a revolutionary transformation of the society, without which the aim of annihilation of caste will remain ever elusive.

All parliamentary parties are ruthlessly pursuing the imperialist agenda. All of them support SEZ, land grab and corporate loot of resources. None of the states in India have so far seen successful land distribution among landless dalits. Even the ‘left’ ruled states where claims to land reform is trumpeted every now and then, in reality the so-called land reforms were instrumental in promoting a particular form of agricultural economy- the cash crop based economy- binding it more closely to the international imperialist market nexus. In whole of post ‘land-reforms’ Kerala for example, the dalits, dalit Christians and Muslims comprise the vast majority of those dispossessed from land or excluded from land reforms. 85% of the dalits in Kerala where the CPM has trumpets its fraudulent land reform are landless.

Real political power for the dalits and other oppressed masses therefore can not come through parliamentary means but through the revolutionary movement. The parliament, the courts, the government, the police, etc. have all systematically helped in maintaining the status quo of the present brahmanical system, where dalits are deprived of even the minimum human dignity and livelihood. This is particularly true of India’s countryside, where most of the dalits live, and daily face the brunt of feudal oppression. The state has also co-opted a small section of the dalits who have been successful in improving their own class-status, who serves the present brahminical system rather than serving the interests of the dalits. To democratise the society, to end the continued violence on dalits and other oppressed majority of our society, to entrust the means of production to the real producers, and for the annihilation of caste there needs to be a unity of the anti-caste movement and the revolutionary movement to overthrow the present oppressive social order.

REBUILD BABRI MASJID!

 December 2010

When fascist hindutva majoritarinism breeds in the name of religion,

When mosques are demolished with full support of a communal fascist state in the name of religion,

When minorities are hunted in carefully orchestrated pogroms under state supervision in the name of religion,

 …& Finally When our saffron judiciary in a rabidly communal verdict  champions the logic and agenda of the communal fascists  by vesting 2/3 of the land of the mosque to them, again in the name of  Ram and religion

..then it is no time for benign ‘appeals’ and parliamentary opportunism…But to strike back at the communal fascist forces!!

The ONLY way to ensure Real Justice is to 
REBUILD BABRUI MASJID!

The Curbing of Democratic Voices in the Name of ‘Sedition’ will not Stop the Aspirations of Azadi !

5 December 2010

Delhi police, recently has filed an FIR against pro-Azadi Kashmiri leader Sayiad Ali Shah Geelani, writer and activist Arundhati Roy, Dr Sheikh Showkat Hossain- Head of the department of Law faculty in Kashmir University and DR. SAR Geelani, lecturer from DU on charges of Sedition. Based on their speeches in a convention, “AZADI- The Only Way” held in Delhi on 21st October they have been booked under various sections for breaching peace, unlawful activity, inciting groups etc. In this historic convention all the speakers who were representatives from various other struggling nationalities as well as intellectuals, writers and activists from India, most resolutely articulated the unequivocal call for Azaadi as the only solution acceptable to the struggling people of Kashmir. After the convention, Chidambaram-led fascist Indian ruling classes were hand in gloves to register a case against the speakers in the convention. However Congress-led UPA government took a step back in apprehension of strong protest from Kashmiri people and other democratic, progressive sections of Indian masses, in the wake of their imperialist master Obama’s visit. However, recently the court ordered Police to file a case against speakers in view of direct evidences of cognizable offence.

Corrupt, anti-democratic and biased character of Indian judiciary is in full display. judiciary and police have always been loyal servant to Indian corporate-ruling class. After months, not a single arrest has been made in relation commonwealth game’s fund siphoning or 2G spectrum scam. After more than fifty years, high court’s order in Babri masjid case has done nothing, but to justify outrageous demand of RSS-BJP and legalise their communal fascist agenda. Therefore it is not surprising that court never bothered to instruct police to take any action against vigilante gangs of Roots in Kashmir, Panun Kashmir and ABVP who tried repeatedly, although in vain, to disrupt the convention by vandalising the venue, abusing and attacking speakers with their vulgar jingoism. In Kashmir of course, no court has intervened when thousands of murderers in Army uniform killed, raped thousands of civilians protesters.

If anybody violates law, breach peace in the name of law and order that is Indian army and the fascist Indian state. In Kashmir itself in last few months more than 110 people, including children and women have been killed by the army. Declared as a disturbed area, almost whole Kashmir is under curfew for months still. The FIR against the speakers of the convention is yet another attempt by  the ruling class to scuttle any dissent or voice of resistance on the issue of Kashmir’s self-determination. This is nothing but the fascist repressive model formulated by US-Israel in their so called ‘counter-insurgency’ operations or ‘war against terror’. In the name of ‘security threats’ thousands of encounter killings, indiscriminate arrests, torture, rape in police custody, cold-blooded murders by para-military and state-sponsored vigilante groups in Kashmir, North-East, Telengana, central adivasi regions of India etc. has been a common practice of the so called ‘biggest democracy of the world’. The corporate media turns its back on these glaring facts and parrots this politics of lies and deceit. Termed as hard-liner, anti-Indian and pro-Pakistan, media fails to mention again and again that SAS Geelani never disagreed with a possibility for a ‘dialogue’ with Indian state. Rather it is the Indian state which offered nothing but a deaf-ear to Geelani and Kashmiri people when they made the most democratic demand of releasing political prisoners, withdrawing army, draconian law from Kashmir. What constitution allows Indian state to kill people in one hand; and on the other hand talk about peaceful constitutional framework to solve ‘kashmiri problem’? The farce of India democracy and illusion of peace that Indian state has to offer has long been exposed to Kashmiri people.

The speakers in the convention did nothing but spoke on behalf of the Kashmiri people; stood in solidarity with their just demand of right to self determination. The convention read out loud and clear for Indians in India, what is written on the walls of Kashmir --- “Go India, Go Back”. Indian state might want to silence these voices with its repressive organs; Indian media might build on the illusion of ‘peaceful/beautiful’ valley; but the truth remains with the aspiring fighting masses. No amount of repression can deny just demand of Kashmiris for Azadi, fighting masses of India for their land, livelihood and dignity. Colonizing, Brahminical, fascist Indian state will be de

Resist the Vicious Communal Campaign by the ABVP against the Persian Centre!

30 November 2010

The ongoing ‘movement’ and hunger strike by seven students of the Persian center protesting against alleged ‘victimisation’ for being hindu and their demand for re-evaluation of their answer-sheets reeks of the communal politics of the sangh-giroh and of opportunism. No wonder only the right-wing organizations like the ABVP and NSUI have come up to support them. These students and ABVP both have made attempts to communalise the issue by evoking the hindu identity of the students, and attacking their Persian teacher without any basis. It is an open secret that ABVP is working behind these ‘independent students’, and they themselves have admitted in their pamphlet that some of them are members of ABVP. We warn the administration not to concede to the baseless demands and communal politics of these masked sanghis or their fellow brethren in the ABVP and among the faculty.

What exactly happened? Eight students had failed in a core paper last year. They applied for re-evaluation and after re-checking, one of them were passed with grace marks while these seven students failed. They had to repeat the course this year as it was a core paper. In this semester these students have repeatedly refused to take the sessional exams that were mandatory for the course. They boycotted exam because they were not allowed to sit together (read cheat in the exams) and finally made the obscure demand that the papers they had written last year should be evaluated again, preferably by some teacher outside of JNU! This is a demand which is totally against the established academic norms of the university. These students have brought out quite a few pamphlets in the meantime abusing the center, its professors, and the students, but not once have they replied to the fundamental questions raised by the concerned students of the Persian Center from the very beginning. After both the administration and the center had made it clear that no further re-evaluation of last year’s answer-sheets is possible, these students have opted for the arm-twisting tactics of sitting on an indefinite hunger strike. To justify their irresponsible behavior and unjust demands, they have communalized the entire issue by claiming that they have been targeted for being ‘hindu students’. They are ranting in the media too in the same line to desperately give a communal colour to find justification and support for their unreasonable demand. We urge these students to withdraw their meaningless hunger-strike and instead invest their energy in taking the exams specifically scheduled for them by the centre.

In the entire process, the most condemnable aspect is the alleged involvement of two professors in instigating and planning this drama of ‘communal victimisation’ for fulfilling their own vested interests. If true, such involvement is very unfortunate and is most detrimental to the academic environment. Such acts must be exposed and fought. We appeal to the JNUTA to intervene in the situation and come out with its own position.

University Strike on 12 November for Full Implementation of OBC Reservation

11 November 2010

Defeat Administration’s Continued Attempts to Scuttle OBC Reservation! 

Observe Complete University Strike Tomorrow!

Despite the Delhi High Court verdict, the casteist JNU administration is illegally denying admission to more than 300 students. After the high court strongly admonished the JNU admission criteria for OBC reservations, the administration promised to bring out the new list of OBC students earlier this semester. But since then, it has tried its best to delay and scuttle the process. Till date, it has not brought out the list citing extremely flimsy excuses and has been endlessly seeking opinion of all the Deans. This is a matter which is legally binding on the administration and Deans have nothing to do whatsoever with it. This once again reveals the blatantly casteist and brahmanical character of the JNU administration which has been trying its best to ensure that OBC reservation is effectively scuttled in JNU and that the upper case brahmanical interests are safeguarded. The infinite delay in the name of all sort of opinion seeking is nothing but last ditch effort of the stooges of ‘Manu-merit-market’ in administration to sabotage the process of democratisation of education in JNU.

The latest ploy for scuttling OBC reservation is deferring the decision till the Academic Council meeting on 24^th November. We have witnessed even on previous occasions how the administration has been single-handedly and in the most authoritarian and undemocratic manner by-passing all democratic bodies and processes of decision making. Even when the AC decisively rejected the casteist aditya mukherji committee report, the VC surreptitiously called the meeting of the deans and got it implemented. This time again, it is trying all tricks possible to stall the full implementation of OBC reservations and deny justice to 300 OBC students. The last AC meeting which unequivocally rejected the mukherjee committee report marked a political victory for the students’ movement. This time too, we have to pressurize and force this brahmanical administration and ensure that the OBC list is brought out within this semester itself and along with the detailed list of the written exam and viva marks granted to each student, as per the court guidelines.

To avoid caste based discrimination, the marks for the viva in M Phil must be reduced from 30% to 10%: According to a Supreme Court verdict, weightage of only 10% of total marks can be assigned for interview in any entrance examination in order to avoid subjective evaluation and discrimination. This rule is being followed in most other universities like DU, Jamia Milia as well as in other public exams like UPSC and state Civil Services. However in JNU, the proportion of marks for interview is 30%. As has been revealed in the numerous RTIs, this policy provides abundant room for rampant and repeated discrimination against students coming from deprived caste/ class background as well as Muslim students. Students coming from SC/ST/OBC background in particular have been given marks as low as 1 or 2 and even 0 in the interview, despite them scoring quite high in written exam, on a consistent basis.

The fight for reservation in higher education has never been an easy fight! The demand for reservation was raised by people’s movements from below, and the ruling class had no other option but to recognize this demand for social justice and equitable education. However, the implementing authorities in this country are still the same feudal forces which will not like the existing oppressive status quo to be even marginally disturbed. In effect therefore, in all so-called ‘premiere institutions’ implementation of 27% OBC reservation has been grossly scuttled, despite a verdict from the highest court. In all these institutions what we see is rather a ‘reverse reservation’ where repeated conversion of OBC seats into general (read upper caste) seats has turned this category into the preserve of the privileged. At this juncture, it is our responsibility and challenge to ensure the full implementation of OBC reservation in higher educational institutions like JNU. This is the decisive step towards democratising higher education and to break the brahminical hegemony over knowledge production, which can be a significant landmark in the larger fight for annihilating the most brutal oppressive institution named caste.

“NOBAMA!” is the Call from Delhi, India!

9 November 2010

Hundreds of protestors converged today (8 November 2010) at the Parliament Street to participate in the Joint Demonstration to oppose the ongoing visit of the U.S. President Barack Obama to India, and in solidarity with the peoples’ movements against U.S. imperialism worldwide. Starting in a march from Jantar Mantar, at the heart of New Delhi and a stone’s throw away from the Indian Parliament which was to be addressed by Obama this evening, the demonstration raised slogans of ‘Killer Obama Go Back!’ and ‘Down with Imperialism!’.

Slogans were raised against the U.S.-led imperialist world order, its wars of occupation against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, against growing U.S. intervention in South Asia, against the complete sell-out of the country’s resources by the Indian comprador ruling class to U.S. corporations, against the Indo-U.S. Nuclear Deal, demanding the extradition of Warren Anderson, the criminal former-CEO of Union Carbide who was responsible for the Bhopal Gas Disaster. Slogans were raised demanding the immediate release of Mumia Abu Jamal, wrongfully incarcerated and put on death-row for more than two decades in the U.S. prison for being an uncompromising critic of imperialism and racism. The demonstrators also demanded justice for Oscar Grant and exemplary punishment for his murderers. The march culminated at the Parliament Street, where speakers after speakers representing various participating parties and organizations condemned the anti-people U.S. imperialist policies across the world, and termed Barack Obama and his war-crazy government as the biggest enemy of the world people. It was said that though the Indian ruling classes have become lackeys of Barack Obama and his regime, the people of the subcontinent –and especially its working masses– are suffering from policies dictated by the imperialist forces, and implemented by the Indian state.  At the same time, it was pointed out that the people of South Asia are fighting valiant struggles in various forms against Indian state and its imperialist masters. Thus, they also are part of global resistance against imperialism, fascism and occupation, be it in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, or other regions. The protestors resolved to intensify this struggle against imperialism, and for democracy and justice. Several revolutionary songs were presented, and finally the effigy of U.S. imperialism was consigned to flames amid resounding slogans.

The demonstration was jointly called by CPI(M-L), CPI(M-L) New Democracy, CPI(M-L) New Proletariat, Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Campaign for Peace & Democracy, Manipur (CPDM), Indian Council of Trade Unions(ICTU), Indian Federation of Trade Unions(IFTU), Inqlabi Majdoor Kendra, Krantikari Yuva Sangathan, Mool Pravah Akhil Bharatiya Nepali Ekata Samaj, Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan, Progressive Democratic Students Union(PDSU), Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), Trade Union Centre of India, Bahujan Vam Manch, and other parties and organisations.

NOBAMA! The Mascot of US Imperialism Go Back!

7 November 2010 

Barack Obama is just another mask that the brutal US imperialism

has chosen to flaunt to fortify its massacres, ugly wars, repression,

economic loot, war on ‘terror’, Zionism, fascism and exploitation!

‘Change’ and ‘Hope’ were the two main catchwords of his pre-election campaign. As expected, after two year of his reign in the White House, nothing changed, and hope, if at all, had no meaning for the people suffering the horrors of US imperialism. He came to power with carefully worded and warped ‘anti-war promises’. Right in his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women and children. The air strikes on Swat valley in Pakistan has continued since then, killing many Pakistani civilians. On Afghanistan he was less pretentious and even before assuming office he criticised Bush for taking a ‘soft’ stand. In his rule he has sent 20-30,000 fresh troops in Afghanistan, intensifying the ‘war against terror’ which his infamous predecessor had commenced. He however did declare his ‘opposition’ to the war on Iraq during his election campaign. But as expected, no demilitarisation of Iraq as promised by him has happened so far. He is still extending the ‘deadline’ to withdraw troops and consistently pumping billions of dollars in the Iraq military since then. Obama has retained Douglas Lute, the Deputy National Security Advisor called the “war czar”, appointed by Bush to conduct the US war of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan who has elaborate plans to strike on Pakistan too. For three weeks, Israel pulverized the people of Gaza, bombed residences, mosques, schools, and even a U.N. building, and blocked humanitarian supplies from entering Gaza. More than 1300 Palestinians were killed, and thousands were wounded. This massacre was carried out with the advanced knowledge, approval, finances, and weaponry of the U.S. government. And, all the while Israel was committing these U.S.–backed war crimes Obama was tactically silent. After coming to power, his support for Israel and his bid to guard them from all kinds of ‘threats’ from Tehran or Gaza has been overtly and repeatedly expressed. He promised again to close down the notorious illegal prison of Guantanamo. No such attempts have been made so far. Torture and illegal detention in Guantanamo continues and has been legally sanctioned. Moreover new Guantanamo has come up in Bagram, Afghanistan, where torture and indefinite illegal detention is completely legal. Despite giving occasional statements against the Sri Lankan govt. and to stop the civilian killings due to the pressure from the ‘international community’, he backed up the chauvinistic Sri Lankan state in the genocide of the Tamils in Eelam.

Obama’s prime campaign was around how he is going to rescue the US economy, it’s failing multinational banks and mega-corporations from the global economic crisis. The entire capitalist/imperialist system went into the worst ever crisis since the times of the Great Depression of the 1930s. Never before, in these past 80 years the crisis in the imperialist system had been so deep and all encompassing. The US, European, Japan and Russian economies went into recession. To rescue the situation the capitalist governments the world over have pumped in gigantic amounts of funds to prop up the crumbling financial system. This is nothing but the appropriation of tax-payer's money to rescue big business. It entails nothing but privatization of profits and socialization of losses! But even then in two years not much could be ‘repaired’. The unemployment rate even in US has remained a consistent yet unprecedented 10% with marginal fluctuation. The economic crisis which started in US has spiralled itself to a more dangerous level to pour out to Europe. After Greece it has badly hit Italy and France and is going to affect the economy of the rest of Europe too. The Lugano Report submitted in the late 1990s, a secret research document on ‘the future of the global economy and the free-market system’, commissioned by the major global power and written by an anonymous ‘working group’, said that the only way to save ‘Western Civilization’ from the upcoming crisis is by a drastic reduction of the population – in other words, mass extermination and genocide! On the lines of this report’s recommendations, the US has gone for a militarization programme to overcome the crisis. Sales of arms to many countries help the US economy simultaneously with maintaining the US hegemony and sustaining markets. The war mongering that is currently going on by the US-Israel nexus across the world only fits into the same design.

The Indian ruling classes are prostrating before their US masters. After declaring his ‘deep love’ for Bush, Manmohan Singh and his government has once again kneeled down in front of ‘President Obama’. Even the parliamentary pseudo-left has proclaimed that “Obama afterall is not Bush”! Knowing fully well that Obama is taking forward and strengthening the agenda that Bush initiated, they are ready to declare their open allegiance to him. The comprador Indian ruling classes are jubilant in selling off the country’s sovereignty, economy and resources for pittance to the Big Brother. The Indian economy which was already plagued by a stagnant agricultural sector and huge amount of open and disguised unemployment, witnessed a slowdown in its rate of growth. Coming out of such a situation required generation of domestic demand by a major transfer of resources to the working people. The semi-feudal and semi-colonial Indian state, dictated by its imperial master the US instead located the solution of the problems in a free-market economy and the share-market. Thus subsequent Indian budgets only saw efforts to attract more foreign capital and bailing out the Indian comprador bourgeoisie.

The purpose of Obama’s visit is only to cajole or force the Indian ruling class further. He is here to fortify and implement defence deals and the notorious nuclear deal, to stop outsourcing of US-based companies to India, to force further policies of vulgar economic reforms and more rampant execution of the liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation policies. He is here to ignite further enmity with Pakistan, to ensure more purchasing of arms by India. He is here to sell war, weapons and hatred and to secure his own economy at the severe cost of the lives, livelihood and dignity of millions of toiling and fighting masses of India, Kashmir and the North-East.

Let us Confront the Administration in the Upcoming Academic Council Meeting

31 October 2010


The Pending List for Students Who had been Denied Admissions as per OBC Reservation Must be Published Immediately! Reduce the Marks of Viva in M.Phil to 10% from the present 30%!  

The fresh list of OBC students who had been illegally denied admission in 2010 academic year in JNU is yet to come. The casteist JNU administration with its lies and false promises is still playing with the future of more than three hundred students who should have got admission in this year. Though instructed by High Court, the JNU administration refused to take out a new list with the excuse of a case filed in Supreme Court by a known Y4E stooge in the past, giving the excuse that the matter is subjudice. The Supreme Court however,did not put any stay which Y4E and its stooges in JNU administration were so earnestly hoping for. This same administration bypassed most undemocratically, without caring for any democratic opinion building, Academic Council’s (AC) and Dean’s Committee’s decision overnight just because a mere legal notice was sent by a Y4E lawyer. They reinstated Aditya Mukherjee Committee recommendations of merit cut-off which was rejected by AC. but all this efforts fell flat with the hight court judgement. instead of impilmenting the judgement this fuedal casteist administration however is delaying the entire process in the name of endlessly seeking opinion of all the Deans. This is a matter which is legally binding on the administration and Deans have nothing to do whatsoever with it. The students’ delegation comprising all organizations met the administration and repeatedly demanded for a new OBC list as soon as possible. The double-faced administration agreed on principle. Recently again students’ delegation met the administration and demanded the same. However what they are promising in words is yet to reflect in practice. The rabidly casteist JNU administration has made it quite clear that they are going to adopt all sorts of strategies in order to safeguard the upper caste Brahminical interest. The infinite delay in the name of all sort of opinion seeking is nothing but last dying effort of the stooges of ‘Manu-merit-market’ in administration to sabotage the democratisation of education in JNU.

In the mean time some other just demands regarding admission policy in JNU have come up from among the students. According to a Supreme Court verdict, weightage of only 10% of total marks can be assigned for interview in any entrance examination in order to avoid subjective evaluation and discrimination. This rule is followed in most other universities like DU, Jamia Milia as well as for other public exams like UPSC and state Civil Services. However in JNU the proportion of marks for interview is 30%. This paves the way for rampant and repeated discrimination against students coming from deprived caste/ class background as well as Muslim students, as many RTIs have revealed in the past. Students coming from SC/ST/OBC background have been given marks as low as 1 or 2 and even 0 in interview, despite they scoring quite high in written exam, on a consistent basis,.

Along with this shameless flouting of legal provision, JNU administration resorts to the most undemocratic, non-transparent method in order to realise their casteist-communal agenda by not giving the break up of marks. While in DU the marks obtained in interview and written are given alongside the total marks, the JNU administration only publishes the total marks obtained in the M.Phil exam. This is nothing but a ploy to hide the rabid discriminations that take place around the marking of the viva exams.

Mere negotiations with administration can not ensure full implementation of 27% OBC reservation or reducing the 30% weightage to legally acceptable 10%. People have fought feudal/Brahminical ruling class of India until death to secure social justice in this country. We have no alternative but to resolutely fight the administration and its stooges in faculty in order to ensure its implementation. However AISA and SFI with their politics of opportunism have refused to take this struggle forward. While few organizations, including DSU have proposed again and again for more resolute means of struggle including university strike and if needed a ‘Chakka Jam’ whose modalities could have been decided democratically in AO; both these organizations resorted back to same dilly-dallying attitude similar to JNU administration. The crucial AC meeting is going to take place in the month of November. These imporatant decisions pertaining to pending OBC lists and percentage of weightage given to interview are going to be the part of agenda. DSU believes in order to bring out the new list for OBC candidates in this semester at earliest and to ensure reduction of weightage of viva next academic year a resolute student mobilization must be built from now on infront of the AC. The undemocratic functioning and administration’s loyalty to their Y4E stooges is well known. The administration must be confronted and forced to implement what is legally binding on them. Any reluctance towards this is nothing but betraying the cause of social justice and strengthening the casteist brigade on this campus. We would like to ask AISA and SFI what roadmap do they have this time in order to ensure social justice in this campus? Are hey not siding with the casteist, communal administration with their mere tokenism of progressive rhetoric and politics of compromise?

The fight for reservation in higher education has never been an easy fight! The demand for reservation was raised by people’s movements from below, and the ruling class had no other option but to recognize this demand for social justice and equitable education. However, the implementing authorities in this country are still the same feudal forces which will not like the existing oppressive status quo to be even marginally disturbed. In effect therefore, in all so-called ‘premiere institutions’ implementation of 27% OBC reservation has been grossly scuttled, despite a verdict from the highest court. In all these institutions what we see is rather a ‘reverse reservation’ where repeated conversion of OBC seats into general (read upper caste) seats has turned this category into the preserve of the privileged. In this juncture, it is our responsibility to see the full implementation of OBC reservation in higher educational institutions like JNU. This is one decisive step towards democratising, higher education and the brahminical hegemony over knowledge production which can build up towards annihilating the most brutal oppressive institution named caste.