There had been lots of developments in the last fifteen days in various spheres in the country. First there was an agitation ostensibly against the present administration lead by BJP but turned out to be an event to commemorate the memory of a terrorist who was hanged after a due process of law and also raising anti national slogans by organizing the students. Second some of the professors crying that the academic freedom is being trampled upon by the administration by the police raiding the campus for arresting the organizers. The opposition leaders from the VP of the GOP to the tall leaders who were alumni of the university to sit in dharna in support of the students claiming that what they expressed was their Freedom of speech and Freedom of expression as defined in the constitution. Thirdly there is an agitation going on in a nearby state to the country's capital by a section of the population demanding reservations which is turning violent as the days go by. Fourthly two young army captains one of whom is a Jat from Haryana and a graduate of the JNU were gunned down in a battle with the terrorist in Kashmir. News is coming out in drips that the hand of major opposition party is suspected in the agitation in Haryana.
The agitation by the students of the JNU and its culmination in the arrest of the JNUSU president with the other person in hiding has all the hallmarks of a pot boiler of a Bollywood movie. The president of the student union is arrested and taken to court and the lawyers assembled there start attacking the students and the journalists in the court premises. The student who went into hiding comes out in midnight a few days later and claims that he is a person from a minority community and hence the government is after him. There are reports of a professor of the JNU gave him shelter and kept him safe from the police all these days when the police were searching for him all over the country in a wild goose chase. Was the event organized with the aim of discrediting the present government and went on shouting slogans of anti national ones or the students were directed to be a facade for some ulterior motives of some powers that be is a moot question which begs some serious answers. The media's obsession with the news that are against the government or the party in power seems to have gone overboard in this issue with a leading journalist claiming in an article in the Op-Ed page of a leading daily earlier known for its anti establishment track record, that he is an anti national. Another leading TV anchor writes an open letter to the PM which gets numerous open replies to the anchor pointing out the lacunae in her assumption and argument.
Some of the professors of the JNU and the politicians from all walks of the political spectrum sans the BJP and its allies, have claimed that the police action is excessive and not warranted; the students have Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression. Are we living in utopia? Freedom of speech and Freedom of Expression have to be exercised guardedly so that it does not create an unrest in the country. As the saying goes, your freedom to swing your arm stops when it nears my nose. Likewise the FOE or FOS stops when the same hurts the national integrity or unity. None can claim that was enshrined in the constitution as FOE or FOS.
A section of the population of the state of Haryana who never bothered about reservation all along suddenly woke up and started demanding the same now (in Feb 2016). The agitation has turned violent and the state is enforcing all sorts of restraints to stop the agitation and arrest the culprits in the violent agitation. In a state where the agitation is turning violent and virulent the opposition is finding it a rightful place to ward of the cold in the heat of the moment and not bothered to work with the government to nip the same in the bud. But in Indian polity we never had any opposition working with the government to get the work done for the benefit of the people. But does it have the blessings of the people in high level in opposition? It appears so as the opposition is totally silent on the issue with the leading opposition leaders keeping quiet.
Two young captains of the Indian army had lost their life in a gun battle with the terrorists in Kashmir. One of them is a Jat from Haryana and a graduate of the JNU to boot. If you look at the history of the NDA you will find that the degrees of the cadets on completion of their training is awarded by the JNU. This is applicable for all the officer cadets inducted into the training through the 10+2 entry scheme. Now the agitation in Haryana for reservation of Jats and the anti national slogans from the students of the JNU sounds ironical.
Are we as country not politically matured to accept that the other party who is elected by a mandate of the people to govern the country for a period of 5 years? Are we still in ages of feudal lords where only certain individuals or chiefs and their descendants alone had the right and authority to rule and none else? Have we not accepted the concept of democracy way back in 1947 and later when we became a republic in 1950? The leaders of the opposition parties don't have any right to rise as one with the government in safe guarding the integrity and unity of the nation? It appears so. that the leaders of the opposition seems to fish in troubled waters even at the cost of the integrity of the nation. The media seems to be doing its bit by going out of the way to make a martyr out of the student leader arrested and to telecast the midnight interview of the student in hiding. What is the role of the professors and teaching faculty? Is it not to inculcate a sense of nationhood in the young minds when they teach them to think and analyse? When you read in the news that some professors also joined the politicos in protesting the action against the students, a pall of gloom descends on you as your expectation of the teaching faculty of a premier university was very high. The journalists covering the events of the last fifteen days have very conveniently stashed the martyrdom of the young captains to the inner pages or a small news item on the first page.
It has taken the Lt General who had retired to stress the point that the soldiers are fighting for the flag fluttering high and you people are raising anti national slogans sitting in the comfort of the campuses and offices provided by the ever vigil armed forces. The happenings in the campuses and the extraordinary support to such anti national slogan shouting from the panel of opposition members made the Lt. General cry. In another university, where also slogans in praise of the hanged terrorist were raised, there are reports of refusal to fly the national flag It is not an insult to the flag but to themselves.
All these point to one thing for sure. The present opposition including the GOP, Left parties etc, are not able to stomach the situation that the country is being lead on the path of development by an individual who is an anathema to all of them; who has very courageously and steadfastly keeping to his tracks without getting diverted or derailed. All these attempts of anti national slogan shouting by students in JNU and others, Jat agitation in Haryana, the politicos of opposition parties supporting the students despite knowing that they are in the wrong etc, are clear pointers there is an agenda behind all these and that is the forthcoming state elections and preventing the BJP and its allies winning back these states, so that the status quo ante can be continued as for the work of the government is concerned like stopping of the GST bill and some of the other key reform bills.
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