JNU really has seen a lot. There was the surreal spectacle of card carrying Communists explaining why theirs is a politics of promoting free speech. Played on all channels, mind you. Video tweeted approvingly by several politicians who could even be India’s democratically elected Prime Minister(s) in the near future (as per the wishes of the Indian mainstream media).
Let’s see what happens when this is put to test.
Dr. Buddha Singh is a faculty member at JNU and an Associate Dean of students. He decided to exercise his free speech and organize a Tribute meeting for the martyrs of Sukma and Kupwara on the evening of April 28. Here is the poster for the event:
Not surprisingly, some didn’t take kindly to the saffron, white and green.
The reaction was swift and unforgiving.
Today, Dr. Buddha Singh has tweeted out a picture of his car, which was vandalized by stone pelting:
https://twitter.com/BuddhaSinghJNU/status/858194980564750342
Stone pelting? Wonder where they got that idea? Any guesses?
And yes, unlike some people who got invited to write against troll terror in the Hindustan Times, Dr. Buddha Singh has in fact complained to the police:
https://twitter.com/BuddhaSinghJNU/status/858263870472830976
Will there be anguished editorials about the shrinking space for dissent in our universities? The last time they came out in full flow to defend the right to chant “Bharat ki barbaadi”. Will they come out and speak up for the right to pay tribute to our martyred soldiers?
Perhaps we all know the answer.
This is not the only or first time though that the left-dominated JNU has seen such violent or intolerant reactions from the leftists, who appear amenable only to a particular kind of events. Back in 2010, the leftist students had organized an event that was seen as celebrating the massacre of 76 CRPF jawans who were martyred in Dantewada that year. Last year everyone witnessed how an event to glorify Afzal Guru was held. Such events are routine, only that a few have now come under public scrutiny recently.
The intolerance and violence by leftists was on full display – despite the media trying its best to hide it – earlier this year at Ramjas College in Delhi. Before that, left leaning JNU students had forced the university to cancel invite to a speaker they didn’t agree with, and on another occasion the hooliganism of such students forced a helpless professor to touch their feet who pleaded to be allowed to enter his office.