It's Time to Tell Amit Shah and Narendra Modi
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Established 1946 1 Pages 20 Price : Rupees Five Vol. 74 No. 51 It’s Time to Tell Amit Shah and January 12, 2020 Narendra Modi, ‘Hum Sab JNU’ Battle for India’s Soul: A Century-Long Struggle Against the Mahatma’s Vision Siddharth Varadarajan Harsh Mander Let us set aside the anger and disconnect—that this can’t ever For the First Time Since Independence, Muslims Have Come on the Streets revulsion, disbelief, helplessness happen to me and mine. Nizam Pasha and perhaps even fear that many of Well, after JNU, you need to be In Spite of Severe Repression, People are you would have felt over Sunday clear: this horror show can and will United in Protests night’s events at Jawaharlal Nehru be enacted in your neighbourhood, Sandeep Pandey, Anandi Pandey University, and let us also postpone whether you live in Defence Colony Largest Ever Strike in India Shakes Up Modi Govt the question of who those masked or Lajpat Nagar, or work in Chennai Subodh Varma thugs were that beat up students or study in Bangalore. Because, if How Many Millions did You Make for and faculty, and destroyed public the heads of students can be cracked the Pennies You Gave to the Coolies property on campus. We have a fairly open over the course of more than Vijay Prashad Interview: 'We Have Practically Lost good idea of who they were and who three hours in the heart of India’s Kashmir,' Says P. Chidambaram is protecting them—but more about capital, with the police standing by The Wire Staff that later. despite the presence of the national A Self-Made Fiscal Trap Instead, I want you to think and international media, then this C.P. Chandrasekhar about a more fundamental question: can happen anywhere, at any time, US Is a Rogue State and Suleimani’s Assassination Confirms It Regardless of where you work, study and to anyone whom the masked C.J. Polychroniou interviews Noam or live, are you safe? Do you feel thugs and their political masters Chomsky safe enough to speak freely about decide to target next. Editor : G. G. Parikh political matters outside the confines of your home? Do you trust the A question of command and Associate Editor : Neeraj Jain police to keep you safe? Do you trust control Managing Editor : Guddi the government to keep you safe? A host of shocking incidents If your answer to all these over the past five and half years Editorial Board : questions is ‘yes’, I don’t think have left us in no doubt about where B. Vivekanandan, Qurban Ali, you’re telling the truth but good India is headed. But the importance Anil Nauriya, Sonal Shah, luck to you anyway. As for the rest of what happened at JNU is that it Amarendra Dhaneshwar, of us: we were disturbed by what marks a point of no return. The Modi Sandeep Pandey happened to the students at Jamia government has made it clear that it Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim will not be deterred from its project D-15, Ganesh Prasad, University when they protested the of suppressing the democratic rights Naushir Bharucha Marg, Citizenship (Amendment) Act last of the people and ensuring there is Mumbai - 400 007. month, and bore the full brunt of no effective opposition from any Email : [email protected] an out-of-control police force. And political, social or institutional Website:www.janataweekly.org yet many of us still felt a sense of quarter. When you allow thugs to 2 JANATA, January 12, 2020 do what they did in full public view rules. From there, the VC moved on is not a campus where anyone can to students of India’s top university, to undermine every department with simply walk in armed with lathis you are telling the country you don’t highly questionable appointments. and rods without being challenged care about the political or legal At the political level, the BJP by the guards stationed at every consequences. and the Central government—with entrance gate. Now, India is a democracy, so the collusion of the Delhi police and This rule, which has been around what kind of a regime can be so pliable media—launched an attack for some time, has been more strictly indifferent towards the consequences on the students. The first targets in enforced by the current VC. And of what happened? Only one that has 2016 were student activists framed ever since the mass of students have no intention of ever going away, and on false charges like sedition. This is been protesting the plan to hike which has been working towards that when the idiotic phrase ‘tukde tukde hostel fees, security has actually goal from the word ‘go’. gang’ was introduced and its use been on extra alert. Since 2014, the Modi industrialised across the right-wing So when the Ministry of Human government has systematically corporate media. Next, the ambit Resources Development admits in a undermined one institution after the was widened to tarnish the whole tweet that “a group of masked people next. The list includes parliament of the JNU student population as entered the JNU campus today, and its committees and protocols, anti-national freeloaders. And then threw stones, damaged property the cabinet system, the judiciary, the came the full-fledged assault on the and attacked students”, the obvious RBI, the CBI and other investigative right of poor students to even come question it is sidestepping is how a agencies, the Right to Information, to JNU: by announcing a hike in group of masked and armed people the office of the Comptroller and hostel fees a few months ago. could enter the campus in the first Auditor General, the federal system Cutting across political lines, place. and, of course, the media. The idea is JNU’s students resisted the fee To my mind, the goons could not to ensure the power vertical around hike. But presumably because of have entered without the cooperation Modi should face no countervailing pressure from the RSS and BJP, the of JNU security. And given the challenge. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad kind of regime the VC runs, it is (ABVP) detached itself from the unthinkable that the JNU security Why JNU matters movement and started taking the side could have acted in this way without In India, as around the world, of the administration. the VC’s blessings. But the VC, universities have traditionally been who is a handmaiden of the Modi an important source of resistance to Connecting the dots government and a person who has rulers with undemocratic ambitions. By linking Sunday’s violence to never hidden his bias towards the University resistance comes in the fee hike and the movement by RSS, would not have allowed the two forms: from the power of its students to oppose the registration goons to wreak mayhem without intellectual ideas and research, process for the new semester, the his political bosses egging him on and the strength of its student and JNU VC has helpfully connected and promising the deployment of teachers organisations and unions. the dots. It is now apparent that the stormtroopers. And if there is one university that masked thugs who were allowed to Maharashtra chief minister typifies both forms of resistance in attack the students protesting the fee Uddhav Thackeray has compared India, it is JNU. hike were a last desperate throw of what happened in JNU to 26/11 in That is why, from day one, the dice by an administration and Mumbai. He may be right at one the Modi government has worked a government unwilling to admit level, because for several hours the to undermine the university on defeat at the hands of students. masked thugs were able to do pretty both fronts. First, they appointed a Why do I say this with such much what they pleased. But if we pliant vice chancellor, Mamidalla certainty? As an occasional visitor to are looking for analogies, I’d say Jagadesh Kumar, to destroy JNU’s JNU, to visit friends who live there I was reminded of Delhi 1984 and traditions of collegiality and or to give a talk, I have always been Gujarat 2002, when the police stood democratic governance, and tie stopped at the entrance and asked by as innocent people were attacked down its faculties in bureaucratic about the purpose of my visit. This and killed. JANATA, January 12, 2020 3 Operation cover-up be filed are all against the victims of citizens” through the NPR–NRC– Next, ask yourself this: when Sunday’s violence. CAA will further open the eyes of does the police adopt such a lenient the people to what is actually going attitude towards hoodlums? When Silver lining on. the hoodlums are connected to the If there is a silver lining to the To the popular slogans of ‘Kagaz ruling party and the government, assault on JNU, it is that more and Nahin Dikhayenge’ and ‘Hum obviously. By now there is more people across the country have Dekhenge’ the government’s storm- enough evidence from WhatsApp, realised that we have indeed reached troopers have just helped people coin Instagram, eyewitness accounts and a point of no return. They know a third: ‘Hum Sab JNU’. We are all even media interviews of ABVP Modi’s shock-and-awe methods JNU now. members for there to be no doubt must not be allowed to prevail. about the identity of the masked The fact that this attack on JNU’s (Siddharth Varadarajan is journalist, attackers: as ABVP activists and students has come at the same time political analyst and academic.