All Masks Are Off: JNU Mayhem Exposes This Government's Disdain For Criticism And Resistance

Amid nationwide protests against the ruling BJP government¡¯s signature Citizenship (Amendment) Act, an elite university in the heart of India¡¯s national capital grabbed headlines on late Sunday evening as a group of masked people ransacked its campus, brutally thrashed its students and left behind trails of inexplicable damage to the prestige of the University that has been the centre of anti-establishment protests in India.

Jawaharlal Nehru University is among India¡¯s premier seats of education and has an unparalleled reputation in India and abroad. Its vibrant participation in issues of national concern is not something new as the university named after independent India¡¯s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has been at the forefront of several social and political movements.

The ruling Indian dispensation with PM Modi at the helm has shown disdain for JNU¡¯s vibrant culture of critic and resistance. And the reasons are purely political although leading members of his party have often attempted to paint them in nationalistic fervours.

Modi hails from the BJP, whose ideological parent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is a right-wing fundamentalist organisation that was once banned by the Indian government for its alleged role in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, the icon of peace and non-violence, who is regarded as India¡¯s Father of the Nation.

JNU, on the other hand, is the epi-centre of leftist ideology. A clash of perceptions between the regime and the university, therefore, was expected and it began to surface within months of Modi¡¯s rise in New Delhi in 2014. Over the past six odd years, there have been numerous instances of violence and arson in the campus but every time that something of the sort emerged, students against the dispensation were dubbed anti-nationals and traitors.

Riding on the wave of nationalism, and backed by the foot soldiers of the RSS, an atmosphere was created across the country to suggest that the University which has produced a slew of heavyweight writers, economists, scientists and more is the breeding ground of anti-India groups.

The university¡¯s former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, in a similar episode of lesser intensity, was earlier thrashed and arrested by Delhi Police but four years down the line, the government and the state machinery have not been able to produce an iota of evidence against him. Kumar is today a leading young politician in India and vehemently expresses his views.

As Modi¡¯s policies began to seem more and more divisive with the introduction of controversial legislations, suppression of minorities, utter disregard for the national ethos and democratic norms, the protests and resentment of the students of JNU, with clever use of the arts, folk songs and slogans critical of the dispensation, became more intense too.

The regime, aware as it is that student uprisings have unseated the most powerful of leaders and governments, used clever tactics of not only defaming the students but also instigating them to create a pathway for their delegitimisation, which could then be used to suppress them.

But the introduction of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, and its hasty process of becoming a law, changed the scale of things.

As violence erupted in the northeastern flank -- in Assam and Tripura -- people began to hit the streets in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and elsewhere, universities in India¡¯s national capital became hotbeds for debates and discussions on the much controversial legislation that has left the country staunchly divided.

What else should the students do? Watch things unfold in silence and hand over their destiny to the whims and fancies of the regime? Because they are educated and well versed with the law of the land, and the intense process of the drafting of the Indian Constitution that placed the power in the hands of ¡®We the people¡¯, they rose in peaceful protests. These were not limited to JNU, but Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University, Ambedkar University, and even Amity University witnessed peaceful demonstrations by students who alleged that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was divisive and unconstitutional.

By then, several noted Indian personalities had outrightly rejected the act. At least six state governments had refused to implement it in their states while some former bureaucrats called for a civil disobedience movement against it.

¡°Kagaz Nahin Dikhayenge¡± by comedian Varun Grover became a popular chant but the Modi-dispensation fought back in the most unconstitutional way possible. Students of Jamia Millia Islamia were brutally thrashed by police personnel, who entered its campus and caused utter mayhem, which resulted in nationwide condemnation. Tear gas shells and bullets were fired at unarmed students and attempts were made to suggest that they were indulging in violence. Internet was frequently disrupted and Section 144, which prohibits peaceful demonstrations, was imposed in several cities across the country.

What the government thought would deter the spirit of students perhaps backfired as it unified students across the country against the state¡¯s atrocities on students. What was till now a fragmented rebellion here and there became the cry of the land as thousands of people hit the street every day to protest against the legislation that they say goes against India¡¯s commitment to equality as well as disregards the secular character of its Constitution.

Cut to the present and things become clear.

Peaceful demonstrations at Shaheen Bagh, which has become a symbol of resistance against the Citizenship Act, were disrupted by police on Sunday as urgent messages surfaced on social media, suggesting that a clampdown by authorities was expected soon.

Just when the entire attention of the country was drawn to the messages coming out from Shaheen Bagh, a group of masked people entered JNU and thrashed its teachers, students and security staff in the most brutal manner possible.

Notably, the police were in campus earlier on Sunday but disappeared mysteriously just before masked groups vandalised the campus and left many, including JNUSU president, heavily injured. SOS calls flooded social media platforms and concerned citizens urgently moved to JNU campus. Political leaders called for restraint and sent their representatives too.

By 8:30 PM on Sunday evening, several hundred people had gathered outside the main gate of JNU. At least a dozen of heavily injured students had to be taken to AIIMS for medical attention. But mysteriously, street lights went off in the lanes surrounding the campus, during which, students allege, the masked men were provided with a safe passage, escorted by personnel of the police.

Several students Indiatimes spoke to alleged that members of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP and the RSS, were the attackers. ABVP, on the other hand, claimed that they had been attacked by left-wing students. And this is likely to undergo a judicial enquiry so that facts can be ascertained.

For now, we know that students who were protesting against a proposed hike in hostel fee by the administration, as well as the Citizenship Act, were at the receiving end of the mayhem that unfolded on Sunday. They faced the ire of the attackers who hid behind masks and attacked them like terrorists.

Who benefits? Whose purpose does the assault on students serve? Who is desperate to curb protests? Who has been delegitimising dissent of hundreds of thousands of Indians across the country? Who has the audacity to hide behind masks and threaten students, teachers, media on camera? Who are these goons not afraid of the police? What gives them the surety that the police will not act against them?

Hours after the attack, students across the country took to the streets to protest the incident. Hundreds of students and ordinary people of the city gathered outside police headquarters in New Delhi and accused officers of inaction.

In Mumbai, students from several educational institutions gathered at the Gateway of India and demanded that the government act against the assailants. Students at universities in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal held candlelight marches to protest the incident.

The role of Delhi Police needs to be probed and it is quite clear that the safety of students cannot be ensured under their watch. More importantly, the government¡¯s job is to maintain order and there can be no denying that it has failed on that front. The episode that surfaced in the heart of India¡¯s capital should shame members of the ruling dispensation and people should make them accountable.

If there¡¯s no accountability, India will cease to be a democratic republic. With the Sunday assault, unfortunately, we have moved another inch closer.