Are We in Our Own Country?

Are We in Our Own Country?

(English version of Article written by Sri MVR Sastry, Editor, Andhra Bhoomi )

MVR Sastry,  known for his punchful writing,  wrote a hard hitting article in Telugu daily Andhra Bhoomi. This is an English version of it. 

Truth has yet again become causality in the implosion of frenzied emotions.

Pakistan had orchestrated serial bomb blasts in Mumbai through its stooges and massacred innocent Indians in cold blood.  Yakub Memon, who played a major role in the massacre was hanged last year after two decades of procrastination. All Indians are happy with the dispensation of justice, though delayed. But the minions of Pakistan, petty  minded pseudo- intellectuals and some crooked politicians in India howled off their lungs from roof tops  against the  hanging of a convicted traitor.

            Hyderabad Central University is in the centre of focus in the wake of protests staged by the fans of Yakub Memon in the university campus for his hanging. In the sanctum sanctorum of the temple of learning, they held prayer meetings for the traitor who slaughtered hundreds of innocents, they howled and wailed beating chest condoling his death in funeral processions holding placards displaying ‘if one Yakub Memon is hanged every house will have a Yakub Memon’. This has shocked the conscience of the nation.

A student from the same university took a serious umbrage to these activities. He did not physically disrupt the actions of admirers and fans of Yakub Memon. He did not physically assault any one. He did not even scold any one. He had simply posted on his face book expressing his anguish in his own way as to how heinous it was for these rowdy elements to indulge in violent protests in the university campus for this sinister cause. There is nothing objectionable in it. If a traitor can be openly supported and can be eulogized as a martyr by a group of students, why does another student not have a similar freedom of expression to condemn it?

            Yakub’s aficionados did not think so. In a midnight attack on his hostel room, a gang of thirty fanatic followers of Yakub assaulted the student who protested. How grievously was he hurt is immaterial here. It is admitted by those very student leaders themselves that the student was pulled out his room, beaten black and blue, dragged to the security post and made to apologize for the post in the face book. He was forced to remove his comments from his face book page.

Is it not high-handedness and tyrannical? One can understand if this incident happened in Hyderabad in Pakistan and a Pakistani was hanged by India and if an Indian student there supported the hanging and Pakistani students assaulted him. It is the state of affairs there and it may be seen as a reflection of fierce nationalist sentiments of the people of Pakistan. Don’t we have the freedom to express nationalist views and condemn the anti-national elements in universities in our country?  Are the human rights and constitutional rights meant only for anti-nationals and not for nationalists?

            The particular student who was attacked is form an ordinary backward class family. He belongs to a caste that qualifies him for the so called ‘social justice’ sloganeered by our great intellectuals day in and day out. His mother tried to get justice for her son from the university.  The anti national elements in the university obstructed her efforts to get justice.  She was forced to knock the doors of court of law, which sought an explanation from the university. University suspended five of the students form the hostel. When the protests were going on against the suspensions, one of them unfortunately committed suicide.

            Whole of India focused its attention on the University since then. Everybody is expressing freely their own views on the happenings in the university and on the background of the unfortunate suicide. There is nothing wrong in it. One cannot reject ones right to expression. One cannot insult one’s sentiments and emotions even. The merits and demerits of those arguments are not a point of debate here.

Interestingly, mother of the student who committed suicide confirmed that their caste is ‘vaddera’. His father confirmed that this caste falls under BC communities. If this is true, the dead student was not a Dalit. Media propaganda that the studentwas a Dalit scholar is undoubtedly false.

            Well, it is not appropriate to say that the agitation regarding the injustice to Dalits is not correct just because the dead student Rohit was not a Dalit. The same sense of social injustice and inequality that is bothering the Dalit students elsewhere in the country is also acutely paining the Dalit students and faculty of this university too.There is no doubt that these feelings have to be understood with necessary sympathy and solidarity by all those who strive for the welfare of the society and try to mollify their mental agony.  There are many reasons for this impatience and dissatisfaction among Dalits built up over a period of time. There could be many irregularities committed by university too and some of its decisions and actions may also be inappropriate. The manner in which Dalit students were suspended is not beyond suspicion. All these matters should be investigated thoroughly. Culprits, whoever they may be, should be punished. The atmosphere of unrest dominating in the university campus should be put to end and the undesirable tendencies must be stopped.

     There can be no second thought on this. However, the common man who is silently witnessing how the university campus has become a political battle field has simple questions.  Aren’t the misdeeds committed by the admirers of Yakub Memon responsible for the entire issue? Why nobody is talking about it? Don’t we have to punish the perpetrators for destroying the sanctity of the university campus? Don’t we need to condemn the attack on the student who questioned these elements? When Islamic terrorism is spreading its wings worldwide through ISIS agents and some of those agents are caught in Hyderabad too besides many other places in the country and when Pakistan’s direct attack on Pathankot stunned the country, if institutions of higher learning become a stage for terrorist supporters, shouldn’t we consider this as a serious national security issue?

            If bad policies of university officials are detrimental to students’ interests, they can protest for resolutions. Student bodies have every right to fight for taking strong action against the officers responsible for the injustice;they can go to any extent within their limits.

One fails to understand why union ministers are dragged into this controversy. If a student union brings to his notice the anti-national activities of the supporters of Yakub Memnon in their university campus, what is wrong on the part of   Minister Dattatreya in writing a letter to the concerned ministry to verify facts and take appropriate steps to stop such antinational activities? Isn’t it his responsibility as a Member of Parliament representing the local people? Has this letter anything to do with the legitimate agitations by the Dalit students and Dalit faculty for their grievances and rights. Is it not a treason to eulogize and take out demonstrations in praise of a condemned terrorist who is responsible for massacre of hundreds of people?  Isn’t it the bounden duty of Human Resources minister to instruct the university to examine the complaint by the fellow minister and take necessary action? Considering the importance of the matter, is it wrong to follow up periodically after six months on the status? How can it be termed as applying pressure on university to initiate inappropriate decisions? Is there a proof to show that the minister asked to take specific action against specific person? If that is not the case, why should the central minister be criticized? When the entire episode is wrongly portrayed as injustice against Dalits, is it wrong if the Minister clarifies that it is not a Dalit versus non-Dalits issue?

            When the student in his suicide note itself clearly indicated that no one is responsible for his death and asked not to bother anyone for his death, what kind of logic it is to insinuate that the central ministers are responsible for his death and demand for the inclusion of their names in the FIR and for their resignation?

            We should note that Rohit who committed suicide was not a coward. He was brave enough to proclaim that he would tear away any saffron flag that he sees and that he hates ABVP, RSS and Hinduism. He was a wise man who could find out that Vivekananda is a pseudo intellectual. It is difficult to believe that such a person committed suicide frightened by a single letter from Dattatreya and by normal reminders form ministry to the university. It is hard to believe that he would have decided to stop his just fight abruptly and commit suicide. It is preposterous to assume that Smriti Irani or Bandaru Dattatrya came in an invisible form to put a noose to his neck. There must be some strong reason behind his desperate act of suicide. What is it?

            “ASA, SFI anything and everything exists for its own sake. Seldom has the interests of a person and the organizations matched’. (ASA- Ambedkar Student Association, SFI – Student Federation of India)”This is what Rohit wrote in his suicide note and struck it out on his own!

When the student unions are insisting for inclusion of names of two central ministers in FIR, is it not appropriate to look into the role of those student unions whose names were referred in the suicide by Rohit? The Hindu reported that the sim card used by Rohit was missing. Did Smriti Irani came down form sky and took away the sim card used by him?

Is it not necessary to have a thorough investigation of all these doubts on the suicide? Is it that even the criminal punishments should be handed down to people as desired by the student unions even before the investigation?

            Kejriwal may have his own several political issues and hostilities with Smriti Irani in Delhi politics. He may have seen this issue as a good opportunity to express his resentment against her in specific and Modi government in general and grabbed this like a loaf of fish by a hungry cat. Part time politician Rahul Gandhi may want to bring down Modi government before goes to jail in National Herald case and get power back. Other political powers, which were ‘impatient ‘before Bihar elections may want to bury BJP in the coming election in the state. There is nothing wrong in assuming that all these are craving to get political mileage from the unfortunate death of the student. Whatever may be the plans of the political vultures waiting for opportunity to bring down Modi government, how can the university students and student unions allow themselves to be pawns in their political games? Is it appropriate to demand for removal of the central ministers without investigation even after the suspension of students is revoked?  Do student agitators determine who should be the ministers in the central government?

            We cannot foresee at this stage what twists and turns this matter may take in future. If writing a letter by central a minster to another minister itself is a crime punishable under The SC And The ST (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, and if it is an offence to describe  supporting and eulogizing a Pakistani traitor as wrong, one fail to predict where will these dogmas lead us to? 

The situation begs a basic question – Are we in our own country?

Original Telugu version is here:

http://epaper.andhrabhoomi.net/articledetailpage.aspx?id=4608363

http://epaper.andhrabhoomi.net/articledetailpage.aspx?id=4607963