Hardly two months back nobody would have thought that PM Narendra Modi’s authority would be questioned by ordinary university students on campuses. The campaign which brought Modi to power in Delhi was so high profile that in the initial period of his prime ministership an atmosphere was created in which, what to talk of common people, even his own party members, elected representatives and ministers couldn’t question him. He was like a headmaster who believed only in one way communication. Media rarely questioned him or his decisions. But the beginning of 2016, less than his being in PM chair for two years, the aura built around Modi has been punctured, and on several occasions.
The Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh has a strategy since long to mould people’s minds through the education process. By propagating a certain ideology it has built a base of its supporters. Since this ideology is based on aggressive nationalism, the people trained in the RSS schools have a domineering personality which believes in direct action. They don’t believe in Indian Constitution nor respect the law and order. For example, on 6 December 1992 the then BJP CM of UP, Kalyan Singh, during the day gave an affidavit to Supreme Court to the effect that he will not allow any damage to Babri Masjid and then allowed it to be demolished by the Hindutva activists. It is surprising that there are no questions raised on his holding the Constitutional post of Governorship today.
Government’s interference in academic institutions and its simultaneous opposition, which did not go down well with the academic community, started in Film and Television Institute of India when Gajendra Singh was appointed Chairman in June 2015. The students after a prolonged 139 day protest continue to oppose his appointment and refuse the offer of dialogue with him on this issue.
Things flared up after the suicide of Rohith Vemula on Hyderabad University campus on 17 January, 2016 and started taking an ugly turn. Shameless interference by central ministers, use of violence to subjugate voices of dissent by ABVP or BJP members and manipulation of facts by those sitting in responsible positions like VC became a pattern. No other political organisation uses violence so easily against others as the right wing. The police and government usually stand by and let them go on rampage as was recently witnessed in Patiala House Court.
But the response to highhanded treatment by the government and university administrations has been equally strong. On January 22 three dalit students Ram Karan, Amrendra Kumar Arya and Surendra Kumar Nigam raised slogans against Narendra Modi and dented his overawing image for the first time in the convocation of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University at Lucknow. Following this the BHU authorities were very circumspect and took extreme care that no untoward incident happened during Modi’s presence on campus during its convocation. A dalit minister came in advance and held a meeting with dalit students and professors to assuage any anti-government feelings they might have. Inspite of this, about 200-250 members of Bhartiya Vidyarthi Morcha, two of whom had earlier courted arrest in open defiance when they went to seek permission from the Varanasi DM to show black flags to Modi during his Varanasi visit, protested at the gate of BHU and shouted ‘Narendra Modi go back’ slogans. Then when Narednra Modi was proceeding towards the gate inside BHU leading to Ravidas temple members of Bahujan Mukti Party raised ‘Rohith Vemula Zindabad’ slogans and demanded punishment for culprits responsible for his death. Here again ‘Narendra Modi go back’ slogans were raised. During the convocation in BHU one student Ashutosh Singh raised slogans demanding revival of students union which has been suspended since 1997. He was slapped and overpowered by police. These three incidents took place when BHU was converted into fortress on 22 February, 2016 and every person and corner was under security gaze. Imagine if this security cover was not there. It is quite possible that dalit organisations alone would have blocked Narendra Modi’s entry into campus.
Compared to the two terms of Manomohan Singh in which, what now appears to be major achievements, important Acts like Right to Information, Protection of Women from Domestic Violence, (Mahatma Gandhi) National Rural Employment Guarantee, Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights), Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement, National Food Security, Right to Education, Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending), Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation were enacted the Narendra Modi government hasn’t really accomplished anything worthwhile to show. The Make in India or Startup India programmes have failed to take off due to lack of interest of investors. Hence RSS has found it convenient to fall back on its tested strategy of polarising the society on emotive issues like patriotism and anti-national activities.
Usually university level politics is left to the student groups. Every political party its worth has student groups on campuses. If Congress has NSUI, BJP has ABVP. Left parties, which otherwise are not very strong in state level politics, have a strong presence on campuses in the form of AISA, SFI and AISF associated with CPI(ML), CPI and CPI(M), respectively, and are able to win student union elections quite easily. There are even ultra left groups like DSU which don’t believe in contesting elections. In other words universities have seen plethora of groups believing in diverse ideologies that co-exist. Usually they don’t engage in violent clashes with each other even though their ideologies may be contradictory. Sometimes they resort to violence but it is usually against the administration or government.
No other political party has been so obsessed about taking control of academic campuses as the BJP. And they have made a mess out of it. In addition to encouraging clashes between student groups, which sometimes become violent, by direct or indirect intervention through RSS affiliated VCs or police, they have spoiled the academic atmosphere of institutions, so much so that it has not started pinching its own people. Three ABVP officer bearers Pradeep Narwal, Rahul Yadav and Ankit Hans have resigned citing differences with RSS and BJP on Manusmriti and Rohith Vemula incident. A Ph.D. student at JNU, Neetu Singh, feels the BJP has let her down as people outside the campus now call her anti-national.
By Sandeep Pandey
Vice-President, Socialist Party (India)
A-893, Indira Nagar, Lucknow-226016
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