The Nation's 'Educational Capital' Under Sedition Charges !

By Prof. K.M. Seethi

13 February, 2016
Countercurrents.org

The Jawaharlal Nehru University is dragged into yet another controversy with the arrest of Kanhaiyya Kumar, the Student Union leader. The JNU is known all over the world for its long history of sustaining academic integrity, intellectual freedom, cultural diversity and ideological plurality. The persons in office in high-profile institutions of higher learning, bureaucracy, military, police, diplomacy, international organisations, print and visual media, NGOs, in India and abroad, feel proud that they belonged to this prestigious University at some point of time, either as its alumni or visitor-researcher. The intellectual freedom allowed in the campus, through its class rooms, hostels, canteens, and Dhabas etc was, and still is, amazing and nobody could callously characterise any opinion, any protest or any agitation taking place/being in place in the campus as “anti-national.”

Invoking charges under Section of 124-A of IPC (sedition) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) does not seem to be in the interest of the nation, and the nation, as a matter of fact, demands ‘corrective action’ through critical intellectual engagement, rather than attributing “criminality” and “sedition” to students’ behaviour.

This applies to all universities and the institutions of higher learning where academic freedom is ensured with a view to sustaining the spirit of self-correction through critical engagement.

It is a fallacy that JNU is a breeding ground of extremists and anti-nationals. It has, like any other periods in its history, a democratic-intellectual tradition, a cultural mosaic with diverse morals and practices, and above all, remained a symbolic capital of the nation, which cannot be allowed to be trampled down with the ‘law and order’ practices. The Union Government, instead of treating it as a ‘law and order’ problem, must hold up with its commitment to ensuring academic freedom within the boundary set by institutions of higher learning.

The interest of the nation is better served with more openness and the spirit of diversity and freedom. This is the best defence of the nation against any high-handedness of any foreign power, whether Pakistan or any other country in the world.

(The author is Professor and Director, School of International Relations and Politics, Mahatma Gandhi University)