For the uninformed, the Delhi Crime branch has now commenced its investigation into the violent clashes that broke out between the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) students and students from leftist outfits like the All India Student’s Association (AISA), DSU and SFI at Ramjas College, Delhi University over the invitation and then the subsequent cancellation of the invitation that had been extended to the famously infamous JNU student Umar Khalid, who was also to be joined by Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on ‘Culture of Protests’.
[Note: Let’s be honest, why would the college authorities invite someone who is now facing trial under sedition, in the first place? After all, is he the only face of protest in India? Is he the messiah of protestors or the quintessential Indian-version of Che Guevara? ]
Well, let’s be honest at least…he is none of the above. Then why invite him in the first place. Well, to be completely honest, the decision to extend invitations itself, reeks of sensationalism! And if that indeed was the objective…Bravo! Well done!!
Then again…what perturbs me is not the invitation extended to Umar Khalid, whose only extraordinary contribution to the debate would have come in the wake of his seditious sloganeering against India and in favour of Afzal Guru (that point itself is moot).
So, what perturbs me? Well, this time, I decided to list them out in a cogent point-wise format, so that the meaning does not get lost in translation…
– What perturbs me is the fact that our educational institutions have ceased to be hallowed grounds of higher learning…and have transformed into a battleground for confrontational politics.
– What perturbs me is the fact that our universities have stopped being centres of academic excellence…(I mean where are the scholarly pursuits and publications; international exchanges, etc.).
– What perturbs me is how intellectual prowess has stopped being about reading and writing, and has invariably become all about shouting and sloganeering (and sometimes shoving and kicking).
– What perturbs me is the fact that educational institutions are not worried about the falling numbers of Ph.D. enrolment, which invariably means a skewed faculty-student ratio.
– What perturbs me is the fact that students — irrespective of the sides they took — got hurt and bled on the streets that was supposed to be safest places for them. I mean, as a human being…how can we ever justify violence as a means to any end?!?
Thus, it amazes me as to how we keep choosing sensationalism over sensibility. In addition, it espouses fear too that the college authorities would deliberately invite someone, whose mere presence could threaten the peace and tranquility of the college campus…I mean, did they develop temporary amnesia? Did they forget the events that transpired during the entire JNU fiasco?
I mean…I refuse to believe that they could not or did not foresee the repercussions of their invitation…and if that’s the case…I just have one request to make to all colleges across India: “Can you all please just worry about imparting education and stop putting our kids and their safety, at risk?”
