This is not an isolated case in the history of violence in Indian government institutions for higher studies. Students uprising of Calcutta University during Siddhartha Shankar Ray’s term of chief ministerial tenure in Bengal was perhaps the beginning of how the agitating students came to be treated brutally, because they did not conform to the standard expectations of the then Bengal government. During the 34 years of the Left rule in Bengal, members of the Chhatra Parishad of the Congress, of which the current Trinamool Congress ideologues were members, were brutally treated first by the Left Front students wings’ under the banner of Student’ Federation of India (SFI) all over the public higher education institutions and universities in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, current Telengana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and then by the respective governments’ police. Today, with muscle of BJP’s majoritarianism, the enthused Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is behaving in the same manner.

The shameful violence at JNU on the fifth January case is heart-rending, pathetic, barbarous and fundamentally immoral. Yet such cases are not unknown in the history of free democratic India. Similar cases in the past were not adequately reported in the media enough, simply because the media’s outreach was limited to the print, the radio, and to some privately owned TVs. Private TVs were very few till nineties, and the state TV (Doordarshan) would not report against the governments’ and their police’ inaction or failure during those days. Those cases were equally heart-rending, and pathetic to see the youth of the country being wasted in misguided opportunism of the political agenda of the time. In those days also many faculty members were identified to have been inciting for the mob violence, just as in the JNU case on the fifth January some faculty members committed.

However, there is a difference. During those past incidents, the political power in the helm did not belittle or mock the wounded victims of violence with insulting comments, like whether it was the blood indeed or just “red colour” to draw people’s sympathy, as was commented by BJP’s Bengal state chief Dilip Ghosh two days back.

The issues raised by the JNUSU are very genuine. The steep unprecedented hikes in the charges for hostel rooms, mess expenses, contingencies, caution moneys, all together would be a few thousand rupees more than what the JNU students are give as the dole of fellowships. The students in the masters and the bachelors get a trifle below Rs 2000 per month for sustenance. M.Phil. students get a pittance of Rs 5000, whereas the confirmed Ph.D. students are given only Rs 8000. The JRF students get about Rs 24000 per month. For all, including the JRF students, the new charges would be more than what they are given, considering their burden of contingent expenses required for their studies. A majority of talented students come from backward families, for whom education at a world-class university like JNU is not even in dreams. They were correct when they argued that their families would not be in any way able to arrange for the hiked amounts which would go beyond Rs 5,000 per month (in addition to over Rs 7000 per semester), because they are already hardest pressed in the current structure of the charges. Consequently they would have to leave higher education and go back to menial jobs to help their families, because without higher education degrees their chances of getting standard jobs would be impossible. They did not argue, advocate or decry the American’s policies on Iran, workers struggles in a foreign country, killings of statesmen in alien lands, nor the majoritarianism of the BJP in the current Indian Parliament. They ask only for a considered roll-back, because that alone would help them survive academically. It is a humane question, a fundamental issue for survival. The JNUSU was not promoting any political agenda of any party. Strangely, the honourable vice chancellor of JNU read different wisdom from the students’ agitation. He decided never to meet them and argue with reasons and rationality. This stance of the VC deteriorated the atmosphere, annoying even his supporting teachers who were neutral thus far.

Most alarming has been the silence of the Home Minister in asking for police action after the goons finished their crimes. According to the lists of the young people comprising the goons who invaded the hostels, all of them are the members of the ABVP. The teachers who were inciting the ABVP students’ manhandling of the JNUSU students on the third and the fourth, and who were manhandling to stop Mr Yogendra Yadav at the JNU East Gate on the fifth were all JNU faculty members with ABVP background. They are all identified.

The impasse is a classic case of political myopia, which may even lead to a political hara-kiri of the BJP in coming elections. India needs a stable government by a strong party, constructive Opposition, professionally free police force and investigating agencies. The government must ensure there’s a speedy enquiry into the bloody violence in JNU on the night of January 5, 2020 and culprits are brought to book under the law of the land. Antagonising the students has never worked in favour of any government, no matter how brute a majority it enjoys in Parliament. (IPA Service)