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'Conquering Institution': Justice S. Muralidhar On Dismal Prospect Of Secular Education
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riBC1Bp-2IQ The dismal prospect for secular education could well characterize what is happening in government run schools across the country including the kandri vidyas. There is a renewed stride and see to these schools hosting events that further the Hindu right-wing agenda. Professor Krishna Kumar laments the disillusionment of teachers in government schools being reduced to event managers or uploaders of incomplete data with little or no time for their primary task which is imparting education. All this on top of the fact that there are several documented studies to show that the state of infrastructure in the public schools across the country is pathetic to say the least. A wfulful shortage of everything essential. Teachers, classrooms, chairs and tables, blackboards, clean drinking water, clean toilets. Naturally, therefore, the private tuition industry is flourishing. The hope of academic freedom to pursue education is but a distant dream for those who cannot afford the costs. In the third scenario, the attack on the Dalith boy by the dominant cast Hindu boys, the Tamil Nadu state government stepped in to provide relief for both the medical treatment of the young boy and his sister, but also ensured his admission to another school where he continues to do well in his studies. When Justice Chandru met him, he wished even his attackers that they would do well in their studies. And Justice Chhatru was astonished that such a young boy could display so much maturity. He was again recently attacked physically, but it is possible according to media reports that this did not have a cast angle. Dr. Sia Dingra talks about the recent phenomenon of dozens of RSS swam seek triumphantly marching across the JNU campus with the drums, trumpets and clashing symbols. Many wielded the customary shaka latis unimaginable 12 years ago. One of the professors who spoke to her commented, and I quote, “Earlier, admittedly, the teachers had a bias against students who subscribed to the BJP RSS's ideology, but there was never a full-blown attack on academics itself.” And he added, and I quote, “The problem is that as a result of the former left's volability all these years, JNU came to represent the deep feelings of victimhood and otherization harbored by the right. That is why winning JNU has been almost more important for them than winning some state elections. It is like finally conquering the institution that has represented their intellectual marginalization and humiliation for decades. This is the same ABVP which has facilitated the rise of many a present day leader. the prime minister, the home minister, the Raa Mantri, several ministers of the union cabinet, many of the chief ministers of the BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, former ministers like the late Arun Jetti, Praash Jawadka, Ravish Shanka Prasad and even the vice president, former vice president Wenaidu. They were all student leaders once who cut their teeth with the ABVP and were focused on challenging the ruling establishment of their times. They do they they did undergo persecution and even imprisonment during the infamous emergency unleashed by Mrs. Gandhi and her cronies. However, one doesn't recall their being called to tou or antinational. Professor Gan Prakash disagrees with the widely shared prognosis that what we are undergoing as a country today is another undeclared emergency. According to him, what we have today is a more virulent form of totalitarianism where dissent is simply eradicated from public spaces aided by the complete control of the mainstream media both electronic and social. Also, the heavy hammer of a bouquet of repressive criminal laws brought against the present day academics and students appears unrelenting. The instances that have been much discussed in the media reveal a pattern to the ABVP's methods. They can vandalize departments if they feel that a teacher has said something in class that they think is in insulting to Hinduism or hurts religious sentiments. protests against appointment to academic positions of whom they perceive to be left liberal, secular or urban maxel. In November 2018, historian Ramchandra Goha withdrew from a teaching position he was offered at the Ahmedabad University. Dr. Fio Khan was offered his first job to teach Sanskrit literature at the Banaharas Hindu University could not conduct a single class. Some 30 students of the ABVP staged a sit in outside the vice chancellor's office in protest saying that it wasn't right for a Muslim professor to be teaching them Sanskrit. They obviously disagree with the recent Supreme Court judgment that reminded us that Udu is an Indian language and that language is not tied to religion and that multilingualism is a reflection of India's reality. Women teachers in Maharashtra have had their classes disrupted by angry mobs of ABVP cards demanding apology for what they perceived to be an insult to Chhatrapati Sivaji. Instead of proceeding against them, the Satara police booked the teacher for causing disturbance of peace and this had to be undone by the Bombay High Court. Subsequently, even private universities are succumbing to pressures of not only the ruling establishment but vigilante mobs furthering the right-wing agenda by not supporting their own faculty who have asserted the right of academic freedom. These institutions have forced their resignation. The resignation of professor Sabisachi Das of Ashoka University is one such instance. This vindicates the observation of the special rabbiteer and I quote her. Academic freedom is curtailed when universities seeking state resources and/or patronage enter into compromising relationships with people in power. We are seeing this play out in the US now resulting in a curious situation whereby academic freedom is suppressed with the apparent support of the academic establishment. The net result is a system operating mostly through hidden selfcensorship. Most more recently, Professor Mahudabad was booked for a social media comment made by him following the press briefing held by the armed forces on operation sindur. The Supreme Court protected him from arrest but astonishingly directed that the SIT constituted by it will analyze the hidden meaning of the words used by him. Even private think tanks have not been spared and the center for policy research has been raided with the IT and the ED uh issuing showcase notices to it.