Hang Them Young!

The humanity within a human being seems finished now. What has been happening for the last one week in campuses is unbelievable. The intellectuals, teachers and the media, whose core responsibility is to infuse a sense of patriotism into the youths, are behaving like traitors. Swami Vivekananda had advocated for making our young generation imbued with high morality by inculcating into them our great culture, infusing into them a sense of patriotism. But look, here the teachers are teaching them the theory of Divisive Agenda! The young minds are trained to study and follow–How to get azadi! What is this? Aspiring for freedom by conspiring against our motherland? Creating an atmosphere for another Partition? To get freedom by destroying our own culture, i.e. not to follow the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (The whole world is one family)? Our great nation Bharat follows the basic tenants of Sanatan Dharma, where all the religions live within its purview. And the idea of Sanatan Dharma is so large that all the religions and their principles come within its boundaries. So, naturally there is no way to accept the divisive theories of these misguided missiles from outside our cultural boundary, or to allow anyone to pollute our young minds. These pollutants have been there in our country for thousands of years, but our cultural and inner fabric is very strong to fight with them. Our shastras taught us to open our doors so that we can feel the essence of all goodness from different directions. But we shall reject those that are against our basic principles of Sanatan Dharma. So, the recent disturbances in different campuses by vested interest groups are not new and their frustration has been wide open since the formation of the Modi government at the Centre. Congress has always given them a big hand in educational institutions to destroy and pollute our education system and create a divide in our society by resorting to any kind of plea.

Against this backdrop, the collective conscience of India has been jolted by the recent JNU incident, where the anti-national slogans were raised. We have the misfortune of witnessing such an incident in support of those who hailed Afzal Guru as a shaheed. What a pitiable level to which one can descend! It is evident that in the name of freedom of speech and expression, anti-national elements are finding their way into our educational institutions spreading venom in the young minds. These types of anti-national elements should be removed at the bud before it is too late. For, the tryst between the Maoists, the Jihadis and the Kashmiris has been at the forefront for very long. The most glaring indicator was in October 2010 when Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Arundhati Roy and the Maoist leader Vara Vara Rao shared the stage at a seminar in JNU. The topic of the seminar was “Azadi – the Only Way”. A large number of JNU students cheered them. Furthermore, the happiness which these elements had shown on the killing of 74 Jawans of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Dantewada in 2010 shows the appalling nature of these elements. In the year 2000, two army men were brutally beaten up during a friendship mushaira organised by one of the Leftist students’ organisations because they protested against the anti-Indian mushaira being rendered by the participants. Against this backdrop, what happened in JNU is highly disgraceful and a wake-up call. A university of national stature, lauded for its quality of education, intelligentsia and sensible dissent has become a centre of revolt for wrong reasons.

It cannot be gainsaid that so-called secular politicians are digging their own grave by coming out in support of the anti-national elements. It is difficult to understand why the self-proclaimed secular leaders, media, and commentators do not wish or even attempt to arrive at the truth on the happenings on the JNU campus. Why there should not be a problem if someone shrieks for the destruction of India? If one can be arrested for inciting communal clashes just by calling for no idol-worship, why should one not be arrested for inciting anti-national feelings? There is no reason the government should take action against the innocents. But there is no reason to vilify the police action until the accused are not proven innocents. It seems the arrest has got more traction and unnecessary hype than the blasphemous acts of anti-national sloganeering of these students with perturbed mind, which should have been criticised. One may support the Kashmir issue, but how can one celebrate a terrorist, convicted by court, as a martyr? Given this perspective, it is incumbent upon any national government to maintain peace and stability within the country, and not inflame passions. In this case, the matter is more serious because it is known that there are groups within India who cooperate with terrorists from Pakistan. In these dire times, India needs to finely distinguish between dissent and treason, rather than surrender its precious freedom to express ideological dissent, and give in to foreign terrorists. Retaining this cherished liberty should not prevent India from dealing with any domestic terrorists according to the due process of law.

Deepak Kumar Rath