A mere change in the composition of the administration does not change its character. Though there was a change of VC early this year, the JNU administration under S. K. Sopory remains equally communal, casteist, authoritarian and anti-student as it was under the tenure of the infamous BB Bhattacharya. A series of events in the past few months have decisively proved that.
In May, the administration took an unprecedented step of ‘restraining’ an organization. JNU Forum against War on People has been virtually banned for the past few months. Using the pretext of a campaign slip which used a widely-used image downloaded from the internet – even used on the cover of booklets and prominently displayed in many websites – a proctorial ‘enquiry’ was imposed on the organization. This pre-judged farcical enquiry (or the kangaroo court headed by the chief proctor Bohidar) is apparently ‘continuing’ for months. They stopped the Forum from holding public meetings in the mess or other places which has to be officially booked, and tried to stop it from printing and circulating posters/pamphlets in the campus. When the Forum did a public meeting in JNUSU office which does not need any booking or permission from the authorities it administration locked the JNUSU office itself. It had to bow down after student’s protest and reopened the JNUSU office, only to target Forum members later on by sending show-cause notices and imposing arbitrary fines on them. Two of the Forum members have been fined Rs.3000 each by the administration on the charge of ‘facilitating’ a meeting of the Forum at the JNUSU office, whereas these members had merely entered their identity card details in the register with the guard at the JNUSU office as per the norm.
More than 2000 students had demanded a stop to this unjust and malicious persecution of the Forum by the administration, and around 50 eminent JNU faculty members reiterated the same demands in writing. However, no democratic opinion of the campus community deters the administration, because as the VC himself admitted, this administration is accountable not to the students or the teachers but to the diktats of the home ministry! This exposes the real face of the ‘autonomy’ of this ‘world-class’ educational institution. The home ministry has used all possible weapons to gag the voices of protest or opposition to Operation Green Hunt all over the country, and the JNU administration is playing the role of loyal foot-soldiers of the Indian state’s extermination campaign.
The issue of censorship has not remained confined to the Forum alone. During Durga puja earlier this month, AIBSF reproduced in its poster a scholarly article by Prem Shankar Mani which was published in a regular magazine. Interpreting the Durga-Mahishasur myth from the perspective of the oppressed castes, the author showed that the killing of Mahishasur by Durga in reality symbolizes the victory of the Hindus and their dominant castes over the exploited people resisting their domination. Such mythologies celebrated in Hinduism and Sanskrit texts elevate the brahminical castes to the status of gods while relegating the others to that of demons and evil forces. The article presents a set of well-articulated and historically verifiable arguments challenging the dominant and reactionary representation as well as pejorative profiling of oppressed castes and tribes in Hindu-brahminical rituals and their historical subjugation. The symbolism in these Hindu rituals can also be seen as representative of the class struggles of the past in which the victorious ruling power not only annihilates the exploited classes physically, but also banishes them from history and from cultural representations, or presents them in extremely negative light.
The poster on the Durga-Mahishasur myth initiated a much-needed debate on campus on an issue that has been systematically silenced. However, the ABVP goons sought to seal the debate by not going into any arguments (being well aware of their inability to debate) but by assaulting a couple of AIBSF office bearers. The same goons tore down posters and attacked students participating in a mess campaign the following day. Administration was duly intimated; complaint was lodged and a protest was held. It assured students of prompt action, but so far no action has been taken against the identified ABVP goons, all of whom have a history of perpetrating lumpenism, sexual harassment and violence. Instead, the administration issued show-cause notices to the AIBSF office bearers and ran a smear campaign against them in the media. The excuse used by the administration is that ‘It has hurt religious sentiments of students’. Under the garb of defending ‘religious sentiments’ the administration has defended the ‘sentiments’ of Hindu-communalism, brahminism and class oppression reproduced through the Durga puja ritual, and sought to silence the voices which critique this symbol of oppression. By punishing students for publicising an article that challenges the religious ideology propagated by the past and present ruling classes, the administration of our ‘premier institution’ has once again reinforced the hegemony of brahminism that legitimizes suffering and humiliation of the oppressed people. The administration has also exposed its aversion to freedom of expression and ‘liberal principles’ by taking no action against ABVP goons, its fellow defenders of ‘religious sentiments’!
The administration remained unmoved when ABVP recently brought out a highly communal pamphlet denigrating the Muslim religious minorities, their religion and prophet, as well as the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pamphlet was similar to the hate-speeches of the Narendra Modis, Varun Gandhis and L. K. Advanis. It spewed offensive insinuation, insult and wild allegations against Islam and the Muslims. JNU administration – defender of ‘religious sentiments’ – however remains unperturbed. It was only a large student’s protest that forced it to take action against students responsible for the pamphlet. Though two members of ABVP were suspended, a mere application from them prompted the administration to revoke the suspensions.
The administration is not a ‘neutral’ authority but it represents the ruling-class interests in the university. And we know whose class interest the Indian state is fulfilling through Operation Greenhunt or Salwa Judum and its variants in different states. If JNU is any different it is not for the administration but for the progressive struggles of the students. The administration is already threatening us with the weapon of Lyngdoh. But the administration will not stop at using Lyngdoh and other authoritarian powers it wield to curb the democratic process of JNUSU elections alone. It’s intent of clamping down on every form of dissent that challenges the status-quo or questions the powers-that-be. The series of attacks on students’ politics and freedom of expression will be followed by the imposition of a model of education and research that discourages and prevents critical thinking. Afterall, a depoliticized JNU with a pliant students’ union is what the administration and its masters in the MHRD-MHA want for pushing forward the agenda of privatized, ‘self-financed’ and market-oriented education. Foreign students in JNU are already under strict norms of the Home ministry which regulates their area of research. So the choice is clear before us. Either we sit back to let the administration define the limits our thinking, modes of expression, education and research, art and literature, our rights, our politics. Or we oppose with persistence each and every act of assault by the administration and its lackeys in campus on the democratic rights of the student community – be it in the form of ‘restraint orders’, disciplinary actions, administrative crackdowns or Lyngdoh.
In May, the administration took an unprecedented step of ‘restraining’ an organization. JNU Forum against War on People has been virtually banned for the past few months. Using the pretext of a campaign slip which used a widely-used image downloaded from the internet – even used on the cover of booklets and prominently displayed in many websites – a proctorial ‘enquiry’ was imposed on the organization. This pre-judged farcical enquiry (or the kangaroo court headed by the chief proctor Bohidar) is apparently ‘continuing’ for months. They stopped the Forum from holding public meetings in the mess or other places which has to be officially booked, and tried to stop it from printing and circulating posters/pamphlets in the campus. When the Forum did a public meeting in JNUSU office which does not need any booking or permission from the authorities it administration locked the JNUSU office itself. It had to bow down after student’s protest and reopened the JNUSU office, only to target Forum members later on by sending show-cause notices and imposing arbitrary fines on them. Two of the Forum members have been fined Rs.3000 each by the administration on the charge of ‘facilitating’ a meeting of the Forum at the JNUSU office, whereas these members had merely entered their identity card details in the register with the guard at the JNUSU office as per the norm.
More than 2000 students had demanded a stop to this unjust and malicious persecution of the Forum by the administration, and around 50 eminent JNU faculty members reiterated the same demands in writing. However, no democratic opinion of the campus community deters the administration, because as the VC himself admitted, this administration is accountable not to the students or the teachers but to the diktats of the home ministry! This exposes the real face of the ‘autonomy’ of this ‘world-class’ educational institution. The home ministry has used all possible weapons to gag the voices of protest or opposition to Operation Green Hunt all over the country, and the JNU administration is playing the role of loyal foot-soldiers of the Indian state’s extermination campaign.
The issue of censorship has not remained confined to the Forum alone. During Durga puja earlier this month, AIBSF reproduced in its poster a scholarly article by Prem Shankar Mani which was published in a regular magazine. Interpreting the Durga-Mahishasur myth from the perspective of the oppressed castes, the author showed that the killing of Mahishasur by Durga in reality symbolizes the victory of the Hindus and their dominant castes over the exploited people resisting their domination. Such mythologies celebrated in Hinduism and Sanskrit texts elevate the brahminical castes to the status of gods while relegating the others to that of demons and evil forces. The article presents a set of well-articulated and historically verifiable arguments challenging the dominant and reactionary representation as well as pejorative profiling of oppressed castes and tribes in Hindu-brahminical rituals and their historical subjugation. The symbolism in these Hindu rituals can also be seen as representative of the class struggles of the past in which the victorious ruling power not only annihilates the exploited classes physically, but also banishes them from history and from cultural representations, or presents them in extremely negative light.
The poster on the Durga-Mahishasur myth initiated a much-needed debate on campus on an issue that has been systematically silenced. However, the ABVP goons sought to seal the debate by not going into any arguments (being well aware of their inability to debate) but by assaulting a couple of AIBSF office bearers. The same goons tore down posters and attacked students participating in a mess campaign the following day. Administration was duly intimated; complaint was lodged and a protest was held. It assured students of prompt action, but so far no action has been taken against the identified ABVP goons, all of whom have a history of perpetrating lumpenism, sexual harassment and violence. Instead, the administration issued show-cause notices to the AIBSF office bearers and ran a smear campaign against them in the media. The excuse used by the administration is that ‘It has hurt religious sentiments of students’. Under the garb of defending ‘religious sentiments’ the administration has defended the ‘sentiments’ of Hindu-communalism, brahminism and class oppression reproduced through the Durga puja ritual, and sought to silence the voices which critique this symbol of oppression. By punishing students for publicising an article that challenges the religious ideology propagated by the past and present ruling classes, the administration of our ‘premier institution’ has once again reinforced the hegemony of brahminism that legitimizes suffering and humiliation of the oppressed people. The administration has also exposed its aversion to freedom of expression and ‘liberal principles’ by taking no action against ABVP goons, its fellow defenders of ‘religious sentiments’!
The administration remained unmoved when ABVP recently brought out a highly communal pamphlet denigrating the Muslim religious minorities, their religion and prophet, as well as the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh. The pamphlet was similar to the hate-speeches of the Narendra Modis, Varun Gandhis and L. K. Advanis. It spewed offensive insinuation, insult and wild allegations against Islam and the Muslims. JNU administration – defender of ‘religious sentiments’ – however remains unperturbed. It was only a large student’s protest that forced it to take action against students responsible for the pamphlet. Though two members of ABVP were suspended, a mere application from them prompted the administration to revoke the suspensions.
The administration is not a ‘neutral’ authority but it represents the ruling-class interests in the university. And we know whose class interest the Indian state is fulfilling through Operation Greenhunt or Salwa Judum and its variants in different states. If JNU is any different it is not for the administration but for the progressive struggles of the students. The administration is already threatening us with the weapon of Lyngdoh. But the administration will not stop at using Lyngdoh and other authoritarian powers it wield to curb the democratic process of JNUSU elections alone. It’s intent of clamping down on every form of dissent that challenges the status-quo or questions the powers-that-be. The series of attacks on students’ politics and freedom of expression will be followed by the imposition of a model of education and research that discourages and prevents critical thinking. Afterall, a depoliticized JNU with a pliant students’ union is what the administration and its masters in the MHRD-MHA want for pushing forward the agenda of privatized, ‘self-financed’ and market-oriented education. Foreign students in JNU are already under strict norms of the Home ministry which regulates their area of research. So the choice is clear before us. Either we sit back to let the administration define the limits our thinking, modes of expression, education and research, art and literature, our rights, our politics. Or we oppose with persistence each and every act of assault by the administration and its lackeys in campus on the democratic rights of the student community – be it in the form of ‘restraint orders’, disciplinary actions, administrative crackdowns or Lyngdoh.
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