Last week Ravish Kumar, NDTV anchor, registered his protest against the media in an unique way. He ran a 40 minute segment using blackened screen. The media has become a bully, debates have become shouting matches, and I have now stopped watching news for news is nothing but pre-decided opinions aired as news.
I am saying this in the backdrop of what is happening at my university. I did not attend the student event. I do not think my students attended it. What we know is hearsay. What I do know is that the Dean of Students welfare office gave permission for an event called as A country without Post-office to be held. The officials claim that they did not know what it was all about. They realized what it was all about on 9th morning when a meeting was convened and it was decided to withdraw the permission. This was communicated to the students 5 minutes before the event started. The students went ahead with their event.
This much is pretty clear.
Was there slogans? We do not know. Who shouted them? We do not know. Who videotaped it? We do not know. Was the videotaped doctored? We do not know.
It is in this backdrop that the role of everyone associated with the matter becomes murky. Why was a FIR filed (BTW can anyone tell me why we have a culture minister?)? Why did the police enter the campus? Was there a need for them to enter? Given that the Jadavpur University VC has refused to let the police enter the campus on a similar matter, we could have easily done the same. Or if there was a FIR, maybe we could not have done so. I do not know. The only thing I do know is that none of the parties involved have come out smelling of roses.
Given that there are so many unknown facts, why did the debate start on the issue of Nationalism? Who started it? I listened patiently while the autodriver gave me a lecture how JNU students are being anti-national. And wondered why I am unable to explain to him the concept of Right to free speech.
Personally, I believe that the event should not have been stopped. We have it every year. And if there were students who had issues with it, they too could have held an event and explained their viewpoint. Or the two sets of students could have held a debate. After all we are famous for our debates.
We seem to believe that we can bulldoze our way through by shouting, screaming, and breaking public property. That is why the Parliament has been stalled for these many sessions. That is why the Jats yesterday went berserk demanding reservations.
The police has disappeared from at least one gate. But I listen with dismay as conspiracy theories are floated, rumours are spread, and wonder what happened to the academics?
I am saying this in the backdrop of what is happening at my university. I did not attend the student event. I do not think my students attended it. What we know is hearsay. What I do know is that the Dean of Students welfare office gave permission for an event called as A country without Post-office to be held. The officials claim that they did not know what it was all about. They realized what it was all about on 9th morning when a meeting was convened and it was decided to withdraw the permission. This was communicated to the students 5 minutes before the event started. The students went ahead with their event.
This much is pretty clear.
Was there slogans? We do not know. Who shouted them? We do not know. Who videotaped it? We do not know. Was the videotaped doctored? We do not know.
It is in this backdrop that the role of everyone associated with the matter becomes murky. Why was a FIR filed (BTW can anyone tell me why we have a culture minister?)? Why did the police enter the campus? Was there a need for them to enter? Given that the Jadavpur University VC has refused to let the police enter the campus on a similar matter, we could have easily done the same. Or if there was a FIR, maybe we could not have done so. I do not know. The only thing I do know is that none of the parties involved have come out smelling of roses.
Given that there are so many unknown facts, why did the debate start on the issue of Nationalism? Who started it? I listened patiently while the autodriver gave me a lecture how JNU students are being anti-national. And wondered why I am unable to explain to him the concept of Right to free speech.
Personally, I believe that the event should not have been stopped. We have it every year. And if there were students who had issues with it, they too could have held an event and explained their viewpoint. Or the two sets of students could have held a debate. After all we are famous for our debates.
We seem to believe that we can bulldoze our way through by shouting, screaming, and breaking public property. That is why the Parliament has been stalled for these many sessions. That is why the Jats yesterday went berserk demanding reservations.
The police has disappeared from at least one gate. But I listen with dismay as conspiracy theories are floated, rumours are spread, and wonder what happened to the academics?
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