In choosing to crack down on political dissent at JNU, arresting the president of the student union and charging him with sedition for allegedly organizing a meeting in support of Afzal Guru and shouting anti-India slogans, and the subsequent statements in support of these actions by its leaders, has the government scored a self-goal?
Is this seemingly inexplicable political behaviour and strategy only a reflection of the relative inexperience and ineptitude of this government? Are the actions better understood as part of a political strategy to both divert attention of the electorate from still unaddressed issues like unemployment and price rise, and polarize support on emotive issues of culture, identity and national security? To, however, reduce our reading of the recent actions of the ruling dispensation to merely ineptitude or short-run political calculus would be an error.
The mendacious actions of the establishment, most recently in JNU and earlier the Central University of Hyderabad or the Film and Television Institute, Pune, reflect a concerted effort to redefine our understanding of a public university as a welcoming space for people of diverse background to learn and evolve through a process of open-ended enquiry and vigorous debate both the skills and orientation needed to nurture a liberal and democratic republic.
Alongside is an equally disturbing effort to mould our understanding of the collective self by vilifying an expansive and inclusive reading of nationalism and seeking to replace it by a narrow and hard version which gives little legitimate space for any dissenting imagination.
Its extensive affirmative action policy in admissions, going well beyond the constitutionally mandated reservations for SCs and STs by giving weightages to income, region and schooling, has given it a singularly diverse and national reach.
