BENGALURU: “When two Dalit children were burnt, a BJP leader responds by saying, ‘If someone stones a dog, do you blame the government’? That’s the thinking we’re arguing against here. This is for Rohith Vemula, for JNU and the events currently taking place at Jadavpur University,” said Kunal, a faculty member from the National Law School of India, to a roar of approval from the crowd.
Kunal, along with about 200 students, faculty members and scholars from Bengaluru's leading research institutes came together on Thursday evening to speak out against the clamping down of the right to dissent, especially in educational institutions. “This is not just about a single incident, it is about a government that is hell-bent on silencing, in one way or another, the voices of dissent throughout the country,” Kunal added.
The event was put together by the Consortium of Academicians and Researchers, a group that was formed a few months ago to encourage debate and diversity within educational institutes.
“The turnout today was fairly overwhelming, because we had only expected a 100 people to be there,” said Rolla Das, from the National Institute of Advanced studies and one of the organisers of the event. “We are also trying to put together a list of demands and maybe even send out a letter expressing the sentiments of all those who were here today,” Rolla added.
Clifton D'Rozario, the General Secretary from the All India Central Council of Trade Unions, found himself accompanied by a group of pourakarmikas, who also wanted to show their support. “The Union Labour Minister told us that the Central Government cannot afford to pay more than '273 a day as the minimum wage,” he said. “This is the violence we're trying to suppress,” he exclaimed, to a most appreciative audience.
“When the RSS and BJP say that people cannot raise their voice, they're saying that they will tell us what our culture should be, what women should wear and how Dalits should be treated. What we're demanding is the right to equality,” Clifton said.
This is far greater than the attack on JNU, said legal researcher Lawrence Liang, who did his PhD from JNU and arrived to show his solidarity for the cause. “Branding an entire university as anti-national has immense consequences,” he proclaimed. “The institution represents both the fracturedness and the potential of our society today and if it is shut down, a certain ideal of autonomy will collapse with it.”
Caution should have been watchword: Prof G.K. Karanth
The ongoing tussle both on the JNU campus and outside it has eclipsed the original issue about an anti- national speech supporting Afzal Guru being made in the university. Other issues like attack on the media and students and protests by advocates are now being debated widely. As we all know JNU students are very politically sensitive. Their involvement in the political process is greater than that of students of other institutes. So while dealing with them the Union government should have moved slower, especially as student- related issues always lead to political volatility. It should have acted more cautiously even in the arrest of the student leaders as now the original event has taken a back-seat and everything else that followed is in the limelight. Rights like freedom of speech should be exercised cautiously. There may be difference of opinion on the way in which sandalwood smuggler,
Veerappan was dealt with. But that does not take away from the fact that he was an anti -social element. We need to understand the importance of exercising our rights in a more responsible way.
The writer is ICSSR National Fellow and Erasmus Mundus Mobility Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark and an alumnus of JNU
