******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
The NY Times coverage of Aishe Ghosh, the Students Union President of Jawarlal Nehru University in Delhi is mostly unbiased. Ms. Ghosh is a brave girl, who had stood against the Hindutva fascists, following a tradition set by her seniors like Kanhaiya Kumar, former President of the Student Union at JNU (Jawarlal Nehru University). It was set up in the 70's as a state run university to enable poor talented students from across the country to access world class education. There are many progressive intellectuals among the teaching staff and the students learn to question existing power relations and explore the causes of inequalities. JNU had produced many eminent politicians and government officials, besides law makers. The incumbent Finance Minister in Modi's cabinet is a former JNU student of economics. And the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury is a former student of JNU. The spirit of enquiry and questioning injustice naturally brings out Leftist political thinking. A visit to the JNU campus reveals the living activism - posters of Che, Bhagat Singh (the legendary leftist martyr, who was hanged by the British colonial authorities) and of course Marx, Engels, Lenin, Fiedel Castro and Mao. This progressive leftist atmosphere and the air of defiance is what makes the conservative, neoliberal and brazenly fascist leaders like Modi feel very uncomfortable. Many leaders of his party, the ruling BJP had called for clearing the university of Communist elements and converting it into a school to teach Hindu scriptures. One even went to the extent of suggesting that it should be raged to the ground. Modi had brought in a boot-licker as the head of the university, who had the mandate to clean the campus of "Tukde - Tukde" Gang, a Hindi acronym for breakers of the nation. But JNU students and teachers stood defiantly to defend the progressive spirit of the institution. A former president of JNU, Kanhaiya Kumar, who hails from a backward region of Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, was charged with sedition in 2016 and was arrested and trashed by lawyers supportive of BJP in the court premises itself, Modi's political outfit. But now, after 4 years of struggles,he had emerged a prominent voice against Modi and his Hindutva agenda. His freedom song, "Aazadi" reverberates across the country in protest rallies and Modi is worried about Kumar's soaring popularity. At a recent rally in his home state Bihar, when the three hundred thousand strong gathering urged him to sing his Aazadi song, the whole crowd broke in to a frenzy, singing Aazadi along with him. This is exactly what is worrying Modi and his party. Vijaya Kumar M _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
