Heck, if one can’t talk freely in a university what’s the
point in calling it a center of learning? This time the Jai
Narain Vyas University lodged a complaint against JNU
professor Nivedita Menon for allegedly making statements
about Kashmir. The vice-chancellor of the university R P Singh
said Menon had stated that Kashmir was not an integral part
of India and that soldiers worked for their livelihood and not
the nation. Menon had been invited to give a lecture on the
topic, “History reinterpreted: nation, individual and culture”.
Menon denied making any of the statements but confirmed
that she had made a distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva,
which she opposed. So what she said was anti-RSS and
not anti-national, but in the present of scheme of things, rightwing
organisations have usurped the right to decide what is
national and anti-national. The FIR lodged against Menon is
clearly motivated and Kashmir is being used as a cloak to camouflage
the true intentions of those who lodged the complaint.
Universities are supposed to be areas where free speech and
thoughts flow, where opposing views compete for mind share
and where an idea is overthrown by a better one. Unfortunately,
for India some universities have been taken over by rightwing
elements who want to turn them into images of themselves.
Universities need to be purged of such elements.
The 2012 election witnessed a clear mandate in favour of the
BJP which won 21 seats. This time the verdict could be fractured
with no political party winning a clear majority because
of the number of choices available to the electorate. More importantly,
it is difficult to tell one political party from another
as all have, more or less, the same manifestos with a different
play on words. Two surveys conducted by this media organization
captured the levels of resentment against the ruling party,
but there was a failure on the part of the opposition to consolidate.
And the presence of AAP which always goes it alone
made it more difficult for the electorate to select an alternative.
Did this situation undergo a change in the last few days? Did
the tide finally turn against the ruling party? These are difficult
questions to answer and Goa will have to wait for 33 more days
to know the answer.
