On Unacademic pursuits!
The violent clashes between the cadres of two students-bodies, BJP-supported Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Left-supported All India Students' Association (AISA) – outside Delhi University's Ramjas College, over the cancellation of a seminar invitation to JNU controversial students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid, bode ill for peace in the University.
Khalid was charged with sedition a year ago in JNU for raising anti-national slogans and is out on bail. Shehla Rashid, another student figure has been spearheading the campaign supporting him. The atmosphere of violence and fear shows the progressive politicisation of our campuses, which is potentially dangerous for academic pursuits.
Politicians in this country have been no role models and if their dangerous traits are to take over the youth at an impressionable age it would be no good for the country. If the basic democratic ethos of tolerance is given the go-by, there would indeed be hell to pay. The clashes led to several youth being injured and much bad blood between the two ideological rival youth wings.
The media, as expected, is blaming the ABVP for the violence and for disrupting the event and accusing the police of siding with its cadres. Surely, the ABVP has no great track record in matters of tolerance. But that is old news. But it is not the sole villain in the equation. Actually, it may be more sinned against in this particular issue. The Left-liberal sections of the student community have been getting kid gloves treatments from the large Left-liberal sections that the media is filled with. It is an unequal battle. The narrative is skewed and a wrong picture is always presented to the larger public.
It is a measure of the arrogance and gumption of a man charged with sedition that he is not averse to fanning the flames despite being charged with such serious offence. But so far the Delhi police has not even filed the charge-sheet in the JNU clashes of last year is a pointer that they have perhaps failed to gather evidence to pin Umar Khalid down. The situation in Delhi University is bound to escalate with both sides planning big rallies and the political parties working behind-the-scenes to fan the flames.
It is time the situation be defused before it leads to more violence. With examinations in both Delhi University and JNU around the corner, the serious students cannot be held to ransom by politicised elements that are out to fulfil their own agendas. The BJP, on the one hand, and the Left, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, on the other, must desist from playing with the careers of students. Umar Khalid must be unmasked if he is really anti-national or cleared of the charges if no evidence is found against him.
