THE JNU HUNGAMA
J.P.Sharma 
Ever since the news of a group of students of JNU holding a demonstration on 9,Feb,2015 condemning the hanging of Afzal Guru and shouting slogans calling for independence for Kashmir and the destruction of India appeared in the media a heated debate has been going on across the country on whether those who sponsored the event or participated in shouting anti- national slogans were guilty of sedition or not and whether the action of the police in arresting those believed to have participated in slogan shouting was just and proper. The leaders of the entire spectrum of political parties opposed to the ruling BJP promptly jumped into the fray accusing the ruling party of having violated the students’ right of freedom of expression.
It is not the purpose of this article to judge the merits and demerits of the rival claims –whether those who organized and participated in different ways in the event were guilty of sedition, or of some lesser offence or whether they were merely immature, impressionable, or possibly temporarily misguided kids exercising their right of freedom of expression, doing nothing really harmful to the national interest and actually contributing to the cause of a healthy public debate which is an essential part of a liberal democracy. It is also argued on behalf of the students that the police should not have intervened in the affair at all and should have left the matter to be resolved by the students, their parents/guardians and the university authorities.
What we propose to discus in this piece is an altogether different side of the JNU story, which was till now unknown to most ordinary citizens of the country. It has now come to light that JNU offers its facilities to students at ridiculously low cost. The annual tuition fee is Rs 219/-payable in 2 installments. The hostel room rent is Rs.11/-per month. Besides students, outsiders can also stay in the hostels. Mess bills are subsidized through free manpower and infrastructure. More and more hostels are being added. In 1990 there were 11 hostels. The number of hostels has now reached 22. According to one source JNU has acquired the reputation of offering the cheapest lodging and boarding in the best environment in Delhi. Because of the lack of any effective restraints on staying in the hostels, the JNU campus has reportedly become the preferred abode of bogus students (nominal students lingering on while building up their credentials for taking leadership positions in the political parties of their choice-mostly of the left spectrum, trade unions etc. and pursuing various other objectives), outsiders and even outright illegals. Some among the regular students are those who keep preparing for prestigious competitive examinations.
For every 15 students there is one professor. One estimate puts the expenditure on each student at 3 lakh rupees every year. Wherefrom does this money come? The fees being so low the burden has to be borne by the public exchequer. The question that needs to be considered seriously is– whether it is just and proper to spend such colossal amounts of public money on an institution like JNU or to put it differently, what results has this expenditure produced for the nation?
Apart from contributing to the pool of Marxist historians who have dominated the writing of Indian history since 1947 the University has also produced a number of bright officers some of whom have performed admirably in the top jobs in IAS, IFS, IPS etc. But what the University has come to be known best for is having been the breeding ground of leftists of various hues, from diehard Maoists firmly believing in overthrowing the government by violent means, to communists belonging to the top middle and lower ends of the spectrum. Radicals believing simultaneously in other divisive ideologies like Dalit separatism are also found. There may be some even more dangerous specimens who, for good reasons, have kept their agenda and activities under wraps. The activities and connections of the absconding Khalid Umar require a serious probe. A look at the JNU student politics reveals that students belonging to AISF, AISA, SFI, and DSF (student wings of extremist Communist parties) have consistently maintained their hold on the JNU students Union. Many of the teaching Faculty are card carrying members of Communist parties. According to a senior Maharashtra Police officer dealing with Naxalites, JNU is one of the major sources of recruitment of young students for Maoism. The demonstration of 9 February 2016 was not an isolated instance as evidenced by the holding of a similar anti-national event at the Press Club of India on February 10. In April 2010 JNU witnessed the AISA and DSU jointly celebrating the massacre of 76 CRPF jawans by the Maoists at Dantewada, Chattisgarh.
It is plainly outrageous for the state to subsidize the careers of those who harbor plainly anti-national convictions. Those quoting the example of USA or UK to plead for giving the students the liberty to shout slogans calling for the destruction of India do not realize that those western countries have enjoyed continuous territorial integrity for several centuries while in our case Islamic separatism had led to partition of the country only 68 years back.
What should then be done?
Many concerned citizens including Chandan Mitra, Editor of Pioneer, have suggested that JNU should be closed down and the premises put to the original use for which it was intended viz. housing the National Academy of Administration. While this may appear too drastic to many of our liberals here are some alternative suggestions, quite equitable in the opinion of the author, which may help to improve the situation;–
- Stop all state subsidies and leave the university to fend for itself on the strength of the quality of education it offers. The money thus saved could be utilized much more profitably for helping the suicide- committing farmers of Maharashtra, the hungry and parched people of Bundelkhand, or in improving public health, primary and secondary education or financing research in cutting edge technologies so badly needed by the nation. There are hundreds of other worthy causes languishing for want of financial support.
- The university authorities who at present are too scared to take any steps against the wishes of the Union leaders (exemplified by the permission given , even though withdrawn later, to hold a cultural event despite the posters on the campus walls proclaiming loudly what kind of a cultural event it was going to be) should be given adequate powers and protection to make such changes in the rules and regulations of the university as would be necessary to curb the rampaging radicals on the campus and to ensure that only genuine students receive the benefits of the university facilities.
(3) The Faculty which has largely been responsible for the present state of affairs should also be restored to health by progressively weeding out those who deliberately plant wrong ideas in the minds of impressionable students.
–J P Sharma
