Student politics
always intrigues me. Should students enter politics? Is it the place for
them? Should they focus on the purpose for which they came to the college in
the first place? But a lot of student leaders have gone on to become leaders of
nations. One becomes influenced by socio political thoughts and wants to make a
difference.... Atleast that is what they all start with. In Tamil Nadu, my
state, student politics was at its Heights in the 50s to 70s and perhaps even
the 80s. But it has petered out with just sparks of protests and social issues
penetrating colleges today. With increased competition and with the need to
look for jobs and move up the social strata becoming more and more important,
this has taken a backseat. Student politics in my neighbouring state of Kerala
continues to be strong, with a lot of grooming and penetration of political
parties in colleges. Similar is the case with West Bengal.
States with
communist rulers and communist thoughts like the Jawaharlal Nehru University
(JNU) have a history of student politics. It is not to say that other political
parties do not look at colleges for harvest. Generally law, arts and science
colleges belonging to the Government have student factions belonging to
political parties, who fund their internal campaigns and groom for future posts
in the parties, with the expectation that they are able to spread the
'allegiance' to the party in the minds of the students.
The problem lies
with the fact that these student leaders tend to stick on to campuses long
after the 'completion' of the course for which they originally enrolled. I
remember during the February 19, 2009 clash between the law university students
and police in Madras. Many of the figures of 'students' on camera appeared to
be older than the professors in the university! Many even looked like goons!
Similar was the
case with the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) when a person was
appointed to the post of Chairman and the students went on strike, even without
giving him a chance to function. It was found during the course of the strike
that may of the students were persons who had more than overstayed their tenures
at the hostels.
There are pluses
and minuses to students participating in politics. With a high proportion of
youth in our population, students can get groomed with good ideas and perhaps
even serve the society by becoming good leaders of political parties in future.
But this is limited to a few. Most of the students use these as a springboard
to enter political parties to sow their might and participate in useless causes
or causes with a tilt / agenda. It only serves vested interests. There is a
possibility that studies would get affected too.
Coming to the
present JNU imbroglio, whether the Government should give so much publicity to
such events which, if just allowed, could have passed on peacefully without a
hitch, is arguable. Acting against such events only makes them boil down to a
huge issue. In fact a non-issue becomes an issue. But seeing the event from a
Government and a nation's perspective, what all can be allowed so that they don't
pass of as 'sedition'? All said and
done, nation is paramount and one cannot just go against the nation with flawed
logic. As much as the Government, we as citizens also need to respect the
freedom given to us by democracy. Sedition is a perspective issue at times and
people should be responsible while involving themselves in acts. Is this just
political dissent or is it really anti national?
As usual there has been polarisation
between two factions - the right and the left with the usual suspects doing their
usual acts, taking the usual sides and an over-reaction with the selfish
thought of reaping undue gains from the episode. What are the gains for the
nation from this? Just a few hours of prime time viewing! however, the moot
point is the government spends taxpayers' money in the studies of these
students and it should not be wasted in anti establishment activities. I would
not want my tax to go and fund this nonsense, definitely!
It is however,
pertinent to point out that there have been judicial pronouncements that speeches
which do not incite violence cannot be held 'seditious'. Now, have the acts of
the 'students' of the JNU resulted in
violence or not? You decide!
4 comments:
A completely different take from mine. Be we both have decided to elucidate on the same topic same day. Why would one say students should not be free thinkers? Only those who are worried. To brand an institution as 'communist' is a bit subjective, don't you think?
Yes, I agree. But you cannot be wasting public money on useless causes. The fact is that each of these students have been funded with taxpayers' money. The issue behind communism as an ideology is that it is not setting out what it wanted to do. almost all communist nations have failed on this count as they seemed to have adopted a different hard nosed method. In India, they have just succeeded in being anti establishment for the sake of it, which is what bothers me. it is like opposing for the sake of opposing. Further, many people don't seem to know the cause for which they are fighting for. The FTII case for example. It was one madcap opposition!
(1) As an ideology, Communism has failed all over the world. There is not a single example where a state ruled by communist philosophy has prospered. Despite this, it is disgusting that there are segments of pseudo-intellectuals in India who seem to be fixated on communism.
(2) First things first, students are supposed to study at universities and then focus on gainfully employing themselves in business or jobs where they can use their youth to generate wealth in society. Instead, lingering around campuses for decades and turning into goons, all in the name of communism and free thinking is utter nonsense. I agree with you that this behavior of theirs should not happen on taxpayers' money.
(3) These kind of things would probably never stop as long as politicians use colleges as recruiting grounds for future politicians or to use the kids as henchmen after indoctrinating the young and flexible minds. This is the worst thing that anybody can do for a nation.
You have a valid point vikas. It is very unnerving to see even the parliament being disrupted for an issue which has national connotations. The amusing thing is that the persons who want to support such causes also do not know what they are doing.
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