By Saquib Salim for TwoCircles.net
It was February 13, 2016. We, the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), were protesting the arrest of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) President Kanhaiya Kumar. Thousands of students and hundreds of alumni gathered at the JNU Administrative Block building to condemn the injustice. Several students, along with JNUSU President, were charged with sedition on the basis of a video which had shown a few students raising pro-Kashmir, pro-Pakistan and anti-India slogans. As protests grew momentum, I felt that something historic is happening.
All major politicians from opposition joined the protests. Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal and many others addressed students and teachers stressing on the need of freedom of speech and expression. These leaders lectured about the idea of India and rule of law, telling us that they stand for anybody who is being harassed unlawfully. Many other ‘secular’, ‘Ambedkarites’, ‘liberals’ and ‘leftists’ joined us in protecting the constitutional right to dissent and freedom of speech.
It gave us hope that India is on the right track. Politicians are serious about giving people the space for developing a critical thinking. They are ready to fight for the constitutional rights of the common students. I felt proud of these political leaders.
Fast forward to May 2, 2018. On May 1, Member of Parliament (MP) from Aligarh Satish Gautam wrote a letter to Vice Chancellor (VC) of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) stating that AMU should take down the portrait of Father of Nation Of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah from its Students’ Union Hall. Gautam leaked the content of the letter to the local media and small extremist groups before it could even reach the VC. As MP of Aligarh, he is a member of AMU Court- the governing body of the University- also he is MP from the ruling party which in turn governs all the Central Universities including AMU. Instead of taking up the issue with AMU Court or the Government, he racked up a controversy by mobilising the local extremist groups.
On May 2, a handful of armed ‘Hindu Yuva Vahini’ goons entered the campus in the name of protest. They, allegedly, brandished firearms outside the guest house where the former Vice President of India Hamid Ansari was staying. Students caught these troublemakers and handed over to the local Police, who denied filing an FIR and when students protested, they lathicharged AMU students. Since then, University students and staff are protesting to get FIR filed against these armed goons.
The point is plain and simple. If putting a portrait of Jinnah is criminal, then it should be taken down lawfully. The MP cannot mobilise an armed group to create a ruckus. AMU is a central University and if there is any law that has been violated, the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) through the President of India should take cognizance of the situation. To mobilise an armed group on a University campus is a ‘terrorist act’ and people involved are nothing but ‘terrorists’.
It doesn’t take Rocket science to understand that why AMU is being targeted. Even though it has a huge proportion of non-Muslim students on its rolls and no reservation policy for Muslims, AMU is still considered an institution of Muslims. There is a clear attempt to disrupt the communal harmony by the members of the ruling party.
And here comes the saddest part. Where are all those politicians who spoke up for JNU? Where are all those politicians and activists, who cannot stop talking of Dalit+Muslim+OBC unity?
Habib Jalib, the famous poet, once wrote, “Enemies plotted against us, But, what less friends have done.” While Muslim community is being attacked in the garb of Jinnah, I find Rahul Gandhi silent, the man who told us on 13th February 2016 at JNU, “nation is not made of bricks and stones but its people.” Are AMU students less ‘people’ than the JNU students? He visited JNU within twenty-four hours of Kanhaiya’s arrest. Where is the man who is supposed to head a coalition of all the marginalised and progressive peoples in the next parliamentary election?
AMU students protested when atrocities were done against Dalits in Una or elsewhere. The incidents which made a leader out of Jignesh Mavani. Where is Jignesh? He has yet to speak on Shambhulal Regar (a Dalit man who killed a Muslim while filming the act). The fact that Afrazul was killed two days before the election of Jignesh might have contributed to his silence. But why is he silent now? As a token gesture, he has retweeted a tweet from Kanhaiya Kumar and another from Punya Prasoon Vajpayee, not even taking the pain of typing a single tweet. One must recall that AMU students took it to the roads in support of the Mevani-led movement.
Several left-leaning students organization like AISA, SFI etc have visited the campus in solidarity. Still, prominent leaders like Yechury, Karat and others who visited JNU in 2016 are missing.
One might argue that this absence of politicians has a lot to do with the location. JNU is located in New Delhi, where all the MPs reside, and hence it is easier to visit the University than visiting AMU. This argument should not hold for the politicians who believe in Socialism and Marxism. It infers that institutions in Delhi will automatically get a privileged treatment. Media and politicians can stand against any attack on a University in Delhi but they are helpless when it comes to AMU, which is only two hours away from Delhi. (Train takes two hours, personal cars will take even less) If location is everything I am afraid what happens if these ‘terrorists’ attack someone in, say Gorakhpur. It is all about intentions. Madhepura MP Pappu Yadav, JNUSU President Geeta Kumari, JNU SFI leader Dipsita Dhar and many others addressed the students at the protest site. They all travelled from New Delhi.
It is Uttar Pradesh, and Mayawati, who is hoping to win the next elections with a Dalit+Muslim unity, is silent. No major politician except Asaduddin Owaisi, Tejasvi Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav has actually spoken out against this ‘terrorist act’.
A few people are arguing that any comment in favour of AMU will benefit the ruling party and further communalise the issue. I do not know if these people have their own children studying in any University. Will they give same logic if their own wards are lathi-charged by the police for resisting a few armed goons?
It is a dangerous ploy by the ‘secular’ political parties like Congress that they want to win an election with the support of Muslims while only showing them a demon called ‘BJP’. The people who are silent against the tyranny are as much the collaborators as the oppressors themselves.
This silence of opposition leader will help nobody but BJP. Muslim youth finds itself at odds with ‘secular’ politicians too. Why should AMU in particular and Muslims in general stand with these ‘seculars’, ‘Ambedkarites’ and ‘leftists’ when they cannot come out in support of the University like they did for JNU? Is there any reason other than a ‘Muslim’ in the name of the University that these politicians are meeting out a step-motherly treatment to AMU? These are a few of the questions that communal Muslim parties are asking. It is up to the secular progressive people to instil the confidence among the marginalised Muslims and make them believe that their politics stand for social and economic equality.
The only chance India has against the fascists is honest politics based on the principles of secularism, socialism and equality. Opportunistic politics will serve us nothing. It is not electoral battle but an ideological one. We are not fighting to vote Modi/BJP out of power but to bring the change in our society, making it more egalitarian in economic as well as social terms. I hope our leaders will understand.
(The author is an alumnus of AMU and also an independent political commentator)