For more than two weeks, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been in the eye of a storm. The JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar is lodged in Tihar jail. Late on Tuesday night, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, two out of five students facing charges of sedition, surrendered to the police. Union ministers, state legislators, police and the media have the university under their lens.
The peace inside the campus contrasts with the heavy police presence, barricades at the gates and the long line of media outdoor broadcast vans parked outside. An oasis within the city, the JNU campus is an overwhelming expanse of green and part of the Capital’s Ridge forest.
At the heart of the sprawling campus, the walls of the administrative building are covered with giant murals. All India Students Association’s (AISA) murals hold the pride of place, depicting marching workers and fists clenched in protest. Not far away, Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jan Sangh (now known as BJP), smiles from an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) poster.
In a democratic tradition, space on the wall comes from the JNU ‘wall day’, when students stand in front of designated walls to claim banner space for the academic year. The murals, which mirror conflicting political views, represent the diversity of JNU’s student community.
“There is a liberal culture of free speech on campus; everyone is allowed to have their own views, we listen to them,” said Shiv, a postgraduate. “The ABVP activists are guerrillas, they appear suddenly, and they don’t want to talk,” he added.
The happenings of the last two weeks have diverted attention from the classrooms. “We went to sleep and woke up next morning as anti-nationals,” said Vishwambhar Prajapati.
Every group in JNU has its identifying slogans, and the most vocal members are recognised even from afar. “Those shown shouting on TV (calling for azaadi of Kashmir, and the division of India) are not JNU students,” said Sanghamitra Das, a student. “If someone raises such slogans, we have to see them not as anti-national but from their perspective and angst of life in Kashmir... people forget that.” Das went on to say, “Most students are apolitical, but the leaders at JNU are known for their political views and the ability to speak well and that is why we choose them.”
“Different slogans are the culture of JNU. Some will call for the eradication of casteism, (jaatiwaad ko tod phod do), some people shout ‘brahminwad murdabad’ (down with brahminism), others say ‘brahminwad zindabad,” explained Prajapati.
Abhijeet, an ABVP office-bearer, who was present at the controversial cultural event on February 9, said, “We have a problem with the usage ‘judicial killing’.” A poster of the event that said ‘Against the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat’ was sent to the vice-chancellor along with a petition to stop the event. It was signed by ABVP member Saurabh Kumar Sharma, joint secretary of JNUSU. With a large number of research students and social studies programmes on offer, those supportive of a liberal or socialist ideology have always been in a majority at JNU.
Over the last few years, the ABVP has increased its clout at JNU. This has led to several confrontations in the campus. In end-December 2015, at the 22nd International Congress of Vedanta, Baba Ramdev was invited as the keynote speaker — a move that was successfully opposed by JNUSU. In the last few days, three office-bearers of the ABVP have resigned in protest over the government’s handling of the current situation.
On the evening of February 24, ABVP held a meeting in front of the administration building to commemorate martyrs. Retired army officers addressed a small, attentive crowd of students, after speaking to TV news. There were posters of the nine victims of the Parliament attacks, as also the armymen who died in recent terrorist strikes in Kashmir. Students waved saffron flags and shouted ‘Bharat maata ki jai’. General GD Bakshi, a former soldier and, as he reminded the cheering hordes, former student (degrees at the National Defence Academy are awarded by JNU), was the first speaker of the evening. His speech was punctuated by claps, his voice getting shrill at times as he spoke about “When they ask for azaadi for Kashmir, how do they ask for it, with Kalashnikovs, with grenades, with the lives of 44,000 Indians?” In a jibe at the US, Bakshi said: “If America can allow a programme at its universities to celebrate Obama, no Osama, then tell us (sic).”
The other speakers, also ex-servicemen, calmly dwelled on the effect ‘anti-national’ demonstrations have on the morale of soldiers at the border and their families.
Sitting in silent protest at the stairs of the administration building, a group of students waited with placards. “We are for democracy and for dissent, is it possible for us to show a gesture of magnanimity and allow them to go ahead with their programme,” JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid asked the crowd, as they chose to not disrupt the ABVP programme by shouting counter-slogans.
The violence and anger directed at them outside has not reduced the defiance of the students within the campus. The disproportionate use of force by the police has had the effect of uniting various universities in support of the students. There have also been letters from various universities from across the world. Every evening, social activists and academics speak to students gathered at the administration building.
The pressure from ministers of the Central government and the police has turned the issue into a David vs Goliath battle. At JNU, almost everyone agrees, this is a political battle and the students are not prepared to take this lying down.