This Blog By A Self Confessed Sickular Libtard On The JNU Controversy Raises Some Very Valid Issues!

Yesterday I got called an ¡°Intellectual Moron¡± by a Bhakt on Facebook. Well, under normal circumstances I would have protested the use of an oxymoron, but since I didn¡¯t know the guy from Adam and since I was pretty sure he wouldn¡¯t know what an oxymoron was, I let it pass. OK, let me start from the beginning. I am what the Bhakts call a Sickular (Pseudo Secular) Libtard (Liberal + Retard) and so naturally I spent last weekend trying to raise some reasonable points on social media to prove that JNU students are not out to destroy the country and that raising anti India slogans doesn¡¯t necessarily amount to sedition if there isn¡¯t a clear incitement to violence. So anyhow I land up on this friend¡¯s Facebook wall and see this Saba Naqvi tweet being hotly debated.

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So I join in, trying to explain that Saba¡¯s tweet doesn¡¯t imply a causal relationship between the Sensex tanking and the government targeting students. Instead it basically implies that the Modi government should focus on improving business sentiment rather than trying to make an example of some poor students. But my interjections are not taken too kindly and I am called an ¡°Intellectual Moron¡±

So here¡¯s the irony. As India marches on to supposedly take her place among the great powers of the world, an attempt is being made to systematically dumb down public discourse. Noise is replacing reason. On prime-time TV and on social media, voices of logic and reason are being shouted down by people with an agenda to reinforce lies through fear, intimidation and abuse. If you point out that maybe the Indian Science Congress shouldn¡¯t have a session on astrology or on how ancient India invented air travel and plastic surgery, you are shouted down and called a part of the ¡°intellectual mafia¡±. Now coming to the JNU fracas. The bhakts have whipped up such hysteria that even some liberals have become unusually jingoistic. Imagine my shock when a former colleague who is otherwise extremely chilled out, puts out this Facebook post.

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So allow me to make a few points for the benefit of those who are getting swayed by the noise being created by the Bhakts. Here goes...

Kanhaiya Kumar Is Not A Terrorist!

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Infact the President of the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) was not even the organizer of the controversial meeting on 9^th February. Kanhaiya belongs to the All India Students Federation (AISF) which is the student wing of the Communist Party Of India. The meeting was called by an Ultra leftist group on campus called the Democratic Students Union to protest what they called ¡°the judicial killing¡± of Afzal Guru and to show solidarity with ¡°the struggle of the Kashmiri people for their democratic right of self determination¡±. Many Kashmiri students from outside the campus were invited for this meeting and it was they who chanted the anti-India slogans if this eye-witness account by a JNU student is to be believed. The sloganeering apparently started in response to a strong provocation from the ABVP students present at the venue.

While the sloganeering is unpalatable and condemn-able, what is more shocking is the way in which the full might of the state has been deployed to make an example of these students. Kanhaiya is in the custody of the Delhi Police on sedition charges and we¡¯ve all seen how brutally Commissioner Bassi¡¯s men carry out orders of their political masters to crush student protests. Remember the video from last month of police brutality against students protesting peacefully outside the RSS headquarters in Delhi against Rohith Vemula¡¯s suicide. Have those cops been booked, Mr. Bassi?

Youtube/ Sanghapali Aruna Kornana

Raising Anti-India Slogans Doesn¡¯t Necessarily Amount To Sedition!

Some students raising anti India slogans, doesn¡¯t amount to sedition unless there was a clear incitement to violence. Did these students carry weapons? Were they attempting an armed rebellion against the Indian state? The answer is No. Why then are we equating sloganeering with terrorism? Is our state so weak that it will crumble by one student protest in JNU? Isn¡¯t it important to engage students who may be drifting rather than make an example of them? If the Hyderabad University administration engaged with Rohith Vemula in a humane fashion, he would perhaps have been alive today.

JNU Is Not A Hotbed For Maoists And Secessionists.

JNU is perhaps one of the last true citadels of free speech in India, where students of all ideologies can sit together over a glass of cutting chai at Ganga dhaba and debate issues. They may disagree with each other but they don¡¯t whip out pistols to sort out differences. They use words! JNU is also one of the last institutions of excellence in this country that has managed to resist saffronization. Not that the HRD ministry hasn¡¯t tried hard to change that. So when a student protest on campus becomes an issue of ¡°national security¡± and attempts are being made to cast aspersions on the patriotism of its students, you¡¯ve got to wonder ¡°Is there a larger conspiracy here to discredit an institution of excellence?¡±

Unfortunate Attempt To Somehow Link The JNU Incident To The Tragic Deaths Of Our Military Heroes In Siachen.

Some low life newscasters and politicians have been saying ¡°JNU students do not deserve our Army heroes¡±, somehow trying to mix two completely different issues to whip up hysteria. The fact of the matter is that we collectively as a nation have failed our Bravehearts in uniform. Cos we elect government after government that does little to prevent deaths of our soldiers in Siachen. Of the almost 1000 soldiers that have died at Siachen in the last 32 years, almost 80% have died due to the harsh weather conditions. Now I¡¯m not a scientist but if we¡¯ve sent an unmanned mission to Mars how difficult is it to build tech that can put surveillance on Siachen in the hands of drones, robots and other remote controlled artillery, so that we don¡¯t need to send our men up there on the glacier? To add insult to injury the 7^th Pay Commission recommends that an IAS officer stationed in the Northeast will get much more as ¡°hardship allowance¡± than the Rs. 31500 per month allowance that a soldier posted in Siachen will get. Isn¡¯t this a bigger disgrace than a few students shouting anti-India slogans?

Smriti Irani, Please Spare Us The Histrionics!

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We know Smritiji was an excellent actor on television, but she needs to know that drama is not a replacement for concrete work as an HRD minister. The role of an HRD minister is to foster an environment of learning and development so the youth of India can be propelled forward to achieve whatever they dream of. Ms Irani, just the other day you put on the face of death and in slow monotone told us how the JNU students had brought shame to Mother India and that couldn¡¯t be tolerated at any cost. I ask you:

1. Was Mother India not shamed when one of her sons, Rohith Vemula was driven to suicide cos he couldn¡¯t take the harassment and discrimination from his own University¡¯s administration? By sending those multiple letters to the Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor didn¡¯t you play that overzealous mom who goes to her kid's school and beats up other kids who have teased her child? Let ABVP, NSUI, SFI and other student bodies settle their own issues on campus without you trying to tilt the balance in favour of the student wing of your party!

2. Is Mother India not shamed when you destroy the autonomy of institutions of excellence and foist sub-standard leaders such as Gajendra Chauhan?

3. Is Mother India not shamed when a child enters a government-run primary school in villages and cities across India and has to sit on the floor and hope the teacher turns up, cos on most days she won¡¯t! What have you done to increase investment and improve the quality of primary education in the last 1.5 years that you have been minister?

Dear Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Using Extreme Force On Helpless Students Makes You A Bully, Not A Patriot!

Honourable Home Ministerji, why not use strong arm tactics to send shivers down the spine of the real villains of India, the terrorists with guns and grenades who kill, like the ones at Pathankot! Did you figure who was behind the attack? Are you doing anything about it? Or are sloganeering students a bigger threat to India¡¯s internal security? Cos you¡¯ve been making frivolous claims that JNU students might have terror links to Hafiz Saeed, just on the basis of an alleged tweet! Tomorrow if Kamal R Khan tweets in support of Jennifer Lawrence getting the Oscar are we going to assume they are friends? But please tell me what can explain your complete ignorance on whether Hafiz Saeed¡¯s terror outfit is even on your ministry's terror watchlist?

If you think speaking against the Afzal Guru hanging is equal to sedition why is your party so desperately trying to form a government with the PDP in J&K? Haven¡¯t you heard their leaders' views on Afzal Guru? Or will you only go after soft targets like students?

So, in conclusion sir, you and your colleagues have some serious explaining to do instead of Kanhaiya Kumar and the other JNU students.

Don¡¯t question their nationalism sir; question your hypocrisy!