A claim is making rounds that a student movement has started, and this student movement is spearheaded by the Left student organizations. The student movement is the most powerful form of protest that any government dares not to face. The student movement is intended to bring about change which can be social, political, economic or environmental. Now the big question is: can the Left-wing mobilize a student movement?
The Indian Air Force recommended Dassault Rafale fighter jets for the strengthening the air force and Government of India went ahead with the deal. However, the Congress-Communist nexus was hell-bent in proving a scam in the deal. The matter went up to the Supreme Court and the apex court gave the verdict in favour of the deal following which the procurement process of the jets have already started. The Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case is a long-standing legal battle and a nation cannot afford to perpetuate the dispute. After the Ayodhya verdict came, it is the Communists who have found certain premises of the judgment as questionable.
Article 370 and 35A are roadblocks to the integration of Jammu & Kashmir with the rest of the country and also in the development of the state. While Indians are happy with the abrogation of Article 370 and 35A, the Communists protest against the amendment and vow to continue fighting. Although the abrogation took place following parliamentary process, the Communists found the abrogation not only “unconstitutional, illegal and authoritarian” but also “an abrogation of democracy itself”. What a rhetoric! In 2012 the CPI(M) wanted “the Prime Minister to sympathetically consider the legitimate demand of the large numbers of Bengali refugees to recognize them as citizens of India”.
On May 22, 2012, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding an amendment to the Citizenship Act so that Bengali Hindus from Bangladesh could live a life of dignity in India. Now, the same Prakash Karat protests against citizenship amendment act. Hypocrisy thy name is Communists! At every step, the Communists are defeated and their strategies have miserably failed. Now that they are utterly vanquished, the Communists have opened up another warhead from their armoury to destabilize the democratic process.
What is this warhead? The Left student organizations. What are the achievements of Left student organizations? The Left Unity at JNU celebrated the death anniversary of noted terrorist Mohammad Afzal Guru who has hanged for carrying out attack on the Indian Parliament. On that occasion, they raised anti-national and anti-constitutional slogans such as “Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi (Will fight till India is ruined)” and “Bharat Tere Tukde Honge, Insha Allah Insha Allah (India will break to pieces, God willing)”. Two former students of the University of Hyderabad attempted to kill the Vice-Chancellor of their own university. At Jadavpur University the Left-leaning students heckled and manhandled Union Minister of State (MoS) for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Babul Supriyo.
One should not forget that Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ was stuck inside the AICTE auditorium for over six hours. Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, Visva Bharati Vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and a few other leaders were confined for more than six hours by Student Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of CPI(M). Although mainstream media tried to suppress the matter, it is by now well known that students belonging to the Left Unity ransacked the server room and disrupted the registration process at JNU.
What is the ploy of the Communist parties by advancing the students? It seems that the Communists are using the students as pawn for an attack to fulfil their ulterior intention. Through propaganda, they are fuelling student. If the student matters are not handled carefully, then there can be a serious consequence. When students engage in violence and vandalism, if the police resort to lathicharge, then such police action would be considered as insensitive. The students would be portrayed as innocent kids just a bit naughty like our own kids at home, and eventually, the cruel lathicharge on innocent kids would draw the sympathy of the people.
The Communists would project the incident as the failure to the government and a deliberate attempt at suppressing the legitimate voice of the students. Finally, they would develop a massive student uprising and completely destabilize the government. However, the common students are sensible and the Communist parties are far from achieving such a wicked dream. One should remember that the Communists are like the vermiform appendix which is unnecessary but can give serious body pain.
The common students come to an academic institution for studying and they are not going to accept a students’ organization which engages in undemocratic activities, stifles the administrative machinery and spoils the academic environment in different academic institutions of the country. Again, students are not going to accept terrorist worshiping and anti-national slogan raising. These common students are never going to accept violence and vandalism on the campus. The Left students’ organizations do it all. They have gone directionless and are gradually losing the support of students. Now, let us come back to the question with which we started: can the left-wing mobilize a students’ movement? The answer is self-explanatory.
Sayantan Chakraborty is an independent scholar.