A Student Uprising In India
By Shubhda Chaudhary
04 March, 2016
Countercurrents.org
On 18th December 2010 when Mohammed Bouzazi in Tunisia set himself on fire, it galvanized the youth across Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen, asking for democracy, for the right to dissent, for a better standard of living and freedom of political prisoners convicted without evidence. There leaderless revolution creates surprising outcomes; the year-long dictators had to resign, there was hope for a better tomorrow.
India is witnessing something similar like the Arab Spring. The youth of India, well-educated and rational, is all geared up to demand freedom from oppression, to exercise the right to dissent and to carve out their own identity which is not a neo-liberal product. It started with protests in FTII and occupy UGC movement where students were protesting against the government’s motive to cut down Rs 5000 and Rs 8000 per month research grant given to M.Phil and PhD Students. It’s quite disparaging that students of India have to fight for such paltry amount of money, which is a mockery in its own. But before the issue could gain more foothold, attention shifted to Hyderbad University where a young Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula had to commit suicide because of the institutionalized anti-Dalit maneuver of the University. Journalists like Manu Joseph easily called it a depression story rather than a ‘Dalit story’, obviously unaware of the atrocities that Dalits in India have to face in spite of our so-called ‘modernization’ and ‘emancipation.’
When this issue started to gain momentum, JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was charged on the draconian charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy and through severe media trial, he was labeled an ‘anti-national’. When he called for ‘Azaadi’, he was talking about ‘Azaadi from oppression’. A PhD student from the rural contours of Begusarai in Bihar has a family income of Rs 3,000 per month and if a student like him demands freedom from poverty, from oppression, what’s wrong in it? The collapsing left movements in JNU gained momentum and more than 15,000 students participated in the solidarity march towards Jantar Mantar on 18th February, demanding the release of Kanhaiya.
Umar Khalid, a PhD Student in History Department in JNU along with Anirban Bhattacharya was also charged with sedition and criminal conspiracy. It was quite obnoxious that within ten days, the identity of Umar was reduced to being a Muslim, which reveals so much about our fascist regime and how insecure the minority lives in India, especially in the current regime. In order to force aggressive nationalism on educational institutions in campuses, HRD Minister Smriti Irani asked the 40 Vice Chancellors to hoist a 270 feet high national flag on campus. Instead of investing money in the research grants of students, Irani believes that research can take place in penury, a reason why the research and development in India is in such deplorable conditions. One of the prime reasons our educational institutions cannot compete with global institutes like Stanford or Berkely, is because our government is not ready to invest in education, a fact that is never questioned. This is exactly what is causing brain drain in India.
Nevertheless, the next victim of HRD Ministry was AMU, the Vice Chancellor Shah had been odiously asked by Ms. Irani that ‘Who pays your salary?’ when he came to request her for establishing 5 AMU units in India by 2020.
It’s shocking that our current regime is anti-education and anti-intellect. This is what is tormenting the youth of today. Along with it, HRD is on its way to belittle the public universities in India and create more privatization of education into a money minting business. Education is not the right of only the elite; it is the right of every citizen of India.
Today the youth is not ready to be oppressed anymore. The youth is ready to question, debate and dissent and march out in masses to make its voice led. It is a treacherous time for the government because it is not able to tame the youth, for example, with the fabricated videos of ‘anti-national’ sloganeering in JNU Campus, there is no concrete evidence with the police.
What would be the future of this uprising in India? The death of Rohith Vemula would not be forgotten. The arrest of Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban would not be forgotten. The current regime is trying to terrorise the students and saffronise the educational institutions, it would not be forgotten. It is the time to revolt, to ask for one’s rights and exercise it. No form of oppression will be tolerated.
Shubhda Chaudhary is a PhD Student at JNU. She can be contacted at [email protected]