Did Kanhaiya Kumar Make This Statement? The Damage Is Already Done!
By Mithilesh Kumar
16 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
Yesterday, there was a protest march to demand the release of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya and other demands. Incidentally, both students have now been again sent to 14 days judicial custody. The JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar who faces rustication gave the list of demands and this is how it was quoted on the website of NDTV:
"We want the resignation of Smriti Irani, dropping of sedition charges, the release of two students from jail, no interferences in the university's autonomy and a law against caste politics in colleges," Mr Kumar told NDTV.[1]
This is a statement which has to be taken very seriously. The resignation of Smriti Irani, dropping of sedition charges, release of the students and preservation of autonomy are all legitimate demands but what exactly “a law against caste politics in colleges” means. This puzzled my mind so greatly on reading that I went into a frenzy. For some, they might say have an upper caste guilt consciousness and maybe it is true who knows but I hope that guilt makes my politics unimpeachable. I first asked for the authenticity of this statement. I posted the link on facebook to ask if this was really what was said. I also wrote to a Dalit activist whom I greatly admire and is my friend on facebook alerting him to this. Finally, I asked my friend who was in the march if it was true and whether the JNUSU president has actually made the remark. The first reaction was that no he could not make that demand because it is very unlike him. I insisted that a question be raised publically to the president and he should answer it publically because it is a very sensitive issue. If Rohith Vemula is also the spirit behind this movement this should be clarified. If this statement has not been given NDTV should immediately correct and edit and apologize for it because it will be disastrous to the movement. A few minutes later I was told that the statement was not made. When I asked if this question was asked and answered publically I got no response. At the time of writing this article the webpage is still showing the same statement. Thus, either the leadership has no idea about this NDTV story or they don’t think it’s important or this was the statement that was made. We should give them the benefit of the doubt but extremely small benefit. Whether it was said or not said is now immaterial that it has been quoted and put on a public platform for so long is enough to make people’s mind. Did we not say that the right-wing media is playing with the perceptions of the people? By that logic we are pretty bare faced about our caste prejudices.
The more amusing part was the reaction of my colleagues. We are all upper-caste, middle-class. Other identities should be kept secret. They said that my interpretation was wrong because what the JNUSU president really meant was to end caste discrimination. To this response I asked how they could interpret it like that when the text is plain in saying “law against caste politics.” I am sure that even if tomorrow it is proved that the JNUSU president indeed did not say that and actually said “law against caste discrimination in colleges” the problem remains. How could someone be so imaginative in their interpretations? Yes it is reading between the lines and against the grain and what have you but it is also the refusal to admit that a leader they approve of could become casteist. Their leader is above reproach no matter what he says. This is not to say that my colleagues are vicious anti-caste people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Their heart is in the right place and that is what makes it doubly dangerous.
Now, the question arises how much of the solidarity shown to Rohith Vemula by upper caste, middle-class intelligentsia and students are without problematics of prejudice. This small personal incident which I have related shows that not much progress has been made. That ‘Jai Bhim’ for this section is becoming an empty signifier and worse an opportunist stand. Each of us have to cure ourselves of this caste blindness and mask it with high theory. Today, according to the same report a slogan was raised: Jai Jawan Jai Kisan Jai Samvidhan. Well, we should refresh our memories a bit. This slogan was a war cry against Pakistan in 1965 and a call to make sacrifices for the country. Now, with Samvidhan this slogan has fortified nationalism with constitution. Now, we know that nationalism of the ‘left liberal’ kind is not so bad after all fortified as it is with the holy book of constitution. In passing one should also remember that this slogan came at a time when land reforms were negligible and the small peasants and the landless labour of which most were Dalits were the most exploited ones. Jai Jawan Jai Kisan meant only that they could get recruited and become cannon fodder or keep on working for big landlords under inhuman conditions. Clearly, there is not much use for nationalism of any kind for the Dalits. And I hope that the statement attributed to the JNUSU president is proved to be incorrect.
UPDATE
NDTV corrected the statement after this article was published. The statement now reads:
"We want the resignation of Smriti Irani, dropping of sedition charges, the release of two students from jail, no interferences in the university's autonomy and a law against caste discrimination in colleges," Mr Kumar told NDTV.
Mithilesh Kumar is a PhD Candidate at Western Sydney University, Australia. His interest is in the issues of logistics, migration and labour, political philosophy and theory. He wants to work on the nature, evolution and innovation of the Indian state with respect to social and political movements in India. Email: [email protected]