Latest
DU Beat – Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper
Tag

JNU

Browsing
DUB Speak

JNU Sedition Row: A timeline and analysis

By

For most people, February 9th will be just another day in the calendar. But, in the history of student movements, this day will be known for the beginning of a remarkable battle between the sedition-professing state and the students, who advocated absolute freedom of expression. This row erupted after a public event organized by a few students corroborating the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and demanding the right to self-determination of Kashmir dominated the public discourse for months and in the process raised many plausible questions pertaining to nationalism, dissent, activism, politics, and policies. Yes, we’re talking about the famous (or infamous) JNU Sedition Row.

Here is a look at the sequence of events:

• A program organized by a few students, including Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya ,against the execution of Afzal Guru and for Kashmir’s right to ‘self-determination’ takes place on the evening of 9th February, 2016. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) protests against this event and a scuffle takes place. Meanwhile, a few media channels (mainly Zee News) that were present at the ground report that anti-India slogans such as “Bharat ki barbara di tak jung rahegi” and “Bharat tere turkey hongay” were raised and contested videos of the same are widely circulated.

• On February 12th, Kanhyaiya Kumar, then JNU Students Union(JNUSU) president is arrested by Delhi Police for sedition and criminal conspiracy. Many JNU students are booked for the same; five of them go into hiding. Protests in support of Kanhiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, and Anirban Bhattacharya erupt.

• On February 15th and 16th, there is mob violence outside Patiala House Court during the hearing of Kanhiya Kumar. Journalist, JNU teachers, Kanhaiya Kumar himself, and activists are assaulted by a group of lawyers.

• On February 17th, JNU faculty members start open lecture series on Nationalism and 133 eminent professors from prestigious universities, including Noam Chomsky, writes a letter condemning the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, and expresses solidarity with the students and faculty.

• On February 18t,h three office-bearers of JNU unit of ABVP resigned by stating disagreement over the Centre’s crass handling of the matter.

• On February 21st, all the absconding students return to the campus and offer themselves for surrender.

• On February 24th, Delhi Police arrests Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya.

• On March 24th Kanhyaiya Kumar returns to JNU amidst much media attention.

• On March 19, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are released on bail and subsequently address the huge gathering at JNU’s administrative block.

• On April 26th, varsity’s inquiry committee found 21 students guilty of breaking disciplinary norms, the Student’s Union and Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) rejects the punishments.

• On 10th and 12th May, rusticated students move to the Delhi High Court against their rustication.

• On May 13th, High Court stays the disciplinary action against the students.

A slew of confrontations and protests between students, teachers, and administration regarding multiple issues continued throughout the year.

The best and worst of media coverage
The reason why a seemingly small public meeting, which is typical of a politically charged campus like JNU, became a subject of prime time after prime time was not because the media was interested in discussing the controversial trial of Afzal Guru, the Kashmir problem or student politics, but because an incident was blown of out proportion to suit another agenda altogether. The narratives that many sections of media weaved reduced many complex issues into simplistic binaries and the dangerous Bush discourse of “you’re either with us, or against us” was created. The media trial that was run against students and against JNU as an institution itself incited violence towards the accused and jeopardized their safety. Multiple false claims such as: Umar Khalid visited Pakistan (except that he doesn’t hold a passport) and that he made 800 calls to Gulf countries in 4 days (which means 8.9 calls per hour) were callously thrown around. Mainstream media houses like News X quoted an unverified Intelligence Bureau document and announced Umar Khalid a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, but conveniently forgot to add a correction disclaimer when Intelligence Bureau denied any such findings. Even Home Minister Rajnath Singh made an unsusceptible statement saying that “The incident at JNU has received support from Hafiz Saeed“. With an enthusiastic circulation of morphed videos and jingoistic shooting matches, JNU row could be seen as a perfect example where certain section of media lost its credibility to some vested interests.

However, while it was the worst of times, it was also the best of times. Independent and alternative portals like Newslaundy, The Wire, ScoopWhoop, Catch News, National Dastak and India Resists provided the much needed unbiased coverage of the whole fiasco. Taking a stand against Zee News’s propaganda laced documentation of JNU issue journalist Vishwa Deepak openly resigned from Zee Media. Somewhere in the media frenzy, we also saw journalist Ravish Kumar’s Black Screen prime time episode which was an epitome of fair reportage.

Current status of cases
The sedition cases which were to be investigated by Delhi Police’s anti-terrorism unit, the Special Cell, are presently at halt. No charge sheet has been filed. Delhi Police has seen two police commissioners in the past year and it appears that except for BS Bassi (commissioner during February 2016 who filed suo moto cases against the students) no one is interested in further pursuing the cases. This indifference is understandable since the grounds on which the charges were filed are fragile.

What changed for the anti-nationals?
Kanhaiya Kumar reached instant fame after his arrest and the much broadcasted ‘Azaadi’ speech. He bagged a book deal with publishing house Juggernaut Books and subsequently released ‘Bihar to Tihar: My Political Journey’ on 1st July 2016. Kanhaiya Kumar has addressed multiple rallies across the country in past one year.

Umar Khalid is currently working on final semester of his Ph.D which is centered on the tribals of Singhbhum district in Jharkhand. Because his face was continuously splashed across the television screen for weeks, Umar became a familiar face and unfortunately still has a fair share of haters (both online and offline). Even though the Umar is a popular activist and has been invited as a speaker to several conferences and demonstrations, he still faces security issues as a result of the vilification.

Shehla Rashid Shora, Vice President of JNUSU 2015-16 spearheaded the stand with JNU movement and represented the university in all major forums. She has signed a book deal with Penguin Random House. Her book titled ‘I, Student’ is expected to hit the stands this year.

A year on, five of those six students at the heart of the controversy are still studying at the university except for Anirban Bhattacharya, who left after submitting his Ph.D. thesis. Currently, he works as a researcher with a Delhi-based think tank.

Questions that remain unanswered
It’s been one year since the arrests were made and an esteemed institution was equated as ‘the den of terrorists’. However, unlike last year, T.V studios are now busy covering the Uttar Pradesh elections, those self-righteous anchor-students who were baying for the blood of so-called ‘anti-nationals’ are today silent on the police and state inaction. The question arises: Should the media be held accountable for the victimization of students? Should Delhi Police, which actively raided hostels and made arrests be asked about the developments of the case? It is still unclear who were the people who raised the anti-India slogans or if at all there was any sloganeering.

However, what is clear is that Jawaharlal Nehru University students are stronger than ever: They are still dissenting despite the grills that are installed at the administrative block. Yes, their protests are not being televised but they sure are alive.

Niharika Dabral
[email protected]

Image Credits: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

 

Keep Reading
By
DUB News

The case of vilification of a university: Reporting from JNU

By

A student organisation, certain sections of media, and a pliant Police Force have allegedly collaborated to defaming the best minds of the nation. Here we bring before a rather nefarious nexus of the RSS-ABVP-NDA in deification of their sabotaged nationalism, which no one has told you before.

As the semester draws to close, the great Indian conspiracy of the vilification of  Jawaharlal Nehru University, the premier bastion of sheer intellect and knowledge in the entire nation by the ABVP affiliate of the ruling NDA government aided by the amenable Police Force and certain biased television channels seeking sensationalism can be viewed as the most remarkable event in the intellectual circuits.

The entire orchestra had been aimed to malign the dreams of countless students to be a part of the institution which has produced the best of politicians, bureaucrats and scholars. Certain media houses earned huge TRP portraying certain students as terrorists, calling the university “den of desh-drohis” and oversimplifying things to the people of India as “a choice between the support to the sacrifice of Hanuman Thappa and these ‘anti-nationals’.”

Evidently,  this was a bitter pill to  swallow. After our countless detours around the campus, we came across students who had no record of political carrier to unbiasedly get to the roots.

“I have been keeping a close scrutiny right from day one. It all started when a group of 10 left leaning students organised a peaceful event in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. The event was about to start when a group of ABVP activists, with some Zee News people, started sloganeering against the gathering there, abusing them as “desh-drohi”.  As the slogan war got heated, some face-covered people joined in with the separatist slogans like ‘Bharat tere tukre honge, insa allah, insa allah’. They were immediately asked to stop by the organisers. They left into nowhere.” A postgraduate girl and her friends were quoted as saying, on the promise of being kept anonymous.

An internal conspiracy, about who those masked men were, still remains blurry and covered in layers even after repeated efforts. The government, rather than to act sincerely, repeatedly has resorted to its neo-nationalism rhetorics. Even now, after the mysterious death of J R Philemon Chiru, the Manipuri student, and the recent case of a student who has been missing since 13 days now:

“A kidnapping case has been filed against 4 ABVP activists. The Police has not interrogated the accused ones and not even started the basic enquiry. The administration is silence on the whole matter and no action has yet been taken on the whole issue.” A postgraduate students was quoted as saying today. “It is selective elimination”, her friend added.

“Mr. Narendra Modi needs to realise that by defaming institutions and instigating hollow nationalism, he cannot hide his failures. He has also got to check the spoiled brat in ABVP, which in addition to damaging the party beyond repair, is costing the nation it’s cultural fabric. ABVP can only lead to Kashmir like situation in the rest of the nation” said another anonymous faculty, waiting on the bus stand.

There is anger, resentment and scope for a better and in-depth analysis of the situation. The on-ground situation seems different and the take of the media seems opposite. We, as rational individuals must make a more informed choice.

Nikhil Kumar

Keep Reading
By
DUB News

JNU Student went missing after an alleged tiff with members of ABVP

By

Darkness has clouded one of the most prestigious universities in the country as Najeeb Ahmed, a student of the School of Biotechnology of Jawaharlal Nehru University has been missing since 15th October, 2016 with no record of his whereabouts till date.

The incident was preceded by an altercation with members of the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Mahi-Mandavi hostel, where it was alleged that on the night of October 14, Ahmed slapped ABVP activist Vikrant Kumar, who had come to his room to campaign for the hostel polls. Later, when the students complained of violence being inflicted over Ahmed, the matter took an ugly turn. He was thus, found missing the very next morning from 11 a.m.

An FIR was registered for kidnapping and wrongfully confining a person at the Vasant Kunj (north) police station by Ahmed’s mother who rushed from her hometown Budaun (UP) to Delhi on October 16 after a receiving a worried call by his son on the night of October 14. According to a report by The Hindu, “The administration met with Najeeb’s family only four days after he went missing despite his mother having spent every hour outside the Administration Block requesting help to find her son.”

The Left-controlled JNU student union alleged the University for doing little to trace Ahmed and punish members of ABVP. In protest, around a hundred students tried to block the Nelson Mandela Marg the following week and later, confined the JNU Vice Chancellor M Jagdeesh Kumar and other senior officials in the administrative building for over 20 hours until he termed the blockade as illegal and warned that the “law will take its course” if they are not allowed to go.

According to a report by NDTV, the Home Minister has directed Delhi Police to form a Special Investigative Team to trace the missing student. Meanwhile, fresh sloganeering has started at the administrative block with an increasing number of students who have gathered at the protest sites and will continue to fight until Ahmed is found, safe and sound.

Shagun Marwah
[email protected]

With Inputs from Hindustan Times

Picture Credits: www.hindustantimes.com

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

Tricolour to be hoisted at Hans Raj College

By

Hansraj College will become the first Delhi University college to hoist the national flag in its campus. Is it propagation of a certain idea of nationalism by those in power?

Hans Raj College will become the first college in Delhi University to hoist the national flag in its premises. The decision to hoist the tricolour, the request for which was made by college principal Rama Sharma to college alumnus Naveen Jindal, comes in the wake of the nationalism debate that raged after the JNU controversy in February this year. At an event to mark the 69th founder’s day of the college, the decision was made public by industrialist and founder of the Flag Foundation of India, Naveen Jindal, who shared the stage with the varsity Vice Chancellor Y K Tyagi and other notable alumni like Om Prakash Kohli, the governor of Gujarat.

Jindal filed a writ petition at the Delhi High Court in 1995 contesting the order of the Commissioner of Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, who invoked the erstwhile Flag Code of India, prohibiting him from flying the tricolour at his factory premises. The court having considered his plea asked the government to constitute a committee which eventually mandated that the citizens, by the virtue of having the fundamental right of expression, have claim over the national flag and can hoist it on days other than Independence Day and Republic Day. The committee, headed by Dr P.D. Shenoy suggested changes to the code which eventually culminated in the formulation of the Flag Code of India (2002) which gave citizens the right to hoist the tricolour on private premises in accordance with a certain protocol on days other than gazetted holidays. The national flag positioned at the centre of Connaught Place was also installed by the tycoon who was influenced by the liberal usage of the American flag during his years at the University of Texas where he was president of the student government.

The decision, which emerged from the Hans Raj principal’s request to have the tricolour by 26th January 2017, can be viewed as the result of an informal meeting among the Vice Chancellors of 42 Central Universities and the then HRD minister, Smriti Irani, in the month of February. The backdrop of this meeting was the JNU imbroglio, allegedly involving anti-national slogans, hurting national sentiments and its highly questionable media coverage. The gathering took the decision to fly the tricolour on college buildings of central universities to instil a feeling of nationalism among the student community and the youth. On similar lines, the residential Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) in the country have been asked to follow suit.

That the premise behind the argumentation of the Human Resource Development Ministry (HRD) is based on inculcating nationalist feeling among the youth is bizarre in its own way. A certain idea of nationalism and not nationalism per se is being attempted to be appropriated through symbolic means by those in power. The symbolic nature of the tricolour which was designed by freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya, was meant to create an open space within every citizen to have the collective conscience of belonging, along with having one’s own individual idea of the nation. The imposition of an idea of the nation, which is being promulgated by the HRD, has already garnered success in the way in which the non- Kashmiri students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, are demanding the tricolour on the institution’s premises to feel ‘protected from the fringe elements in the valley’ as if the tricolour doesn’t belong to the Kashmiris and is exclusive in nature. This exclusivist approach by the ministry limits the idea of the nation and grants the right of its formulation to just certain individuals in Lutyen’s Delhi.

That the hoisting of the national flag has been a failed experiment to instil the ‘feeling of nationalism’ is evident in the ways in which student eruptions happened in institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad Central University, where the national flag was already hoisted.

The hoisting of the tricolour in the current political atmosphere is not to be viewed in isolation since certain ideas are being pushed alongside such symbolic installations at educational institutions. If Hans Raj College successfully hoists the tricolour, a symbol which is being instrumentalised to push forward a specific agenda, then this will engender a phenomenon characterised by demands from other colleges in the varsity for the same. The tricolour stands for the rich cultural legacy and the secular ethos that the country preserved at the time of independence. It also symbolises the freedom struggle that strived for the freedom of thought and expression and celebrated mutual co-existence among the warring factions of the subcontinent. It also stands for secularism and inclusivity. In the current political environment, one needs to understand that the idea of nationalism that is being promulgated by the ruling order isn’t concomitant with the national flag, for the attempts to suppress dissent and free speech have been major components of the undercurrent that has characterised the need to advertise a certain idea of nationalism through the symbol of the tricolour.

 The government needs to learn from the JNU experiment and realise that political contamination of the national flag for the promotion of its version of nationalism will serve to jeopardise the academic ecosystem in varsities across the country, and curb space for dissent and scientific temper. A democracy essentially preaches the idea of pitting an argument against an argument rather than using force to crush dissent. The need of the hour is to offer space for research and create infrastructure rather than adorn the existing ones with political symbolisms.

Image credit: du.ac.in

Aditya Narang ([email protected]) and Sidharth Yadav ([email protected])

 

Keep Reading
By
Arts Faculty

Save DU holds public meeting at Arts Faculty against state repression on campuses

By

A public meeting, “Campuses on a Boil: State Repression and Coming Together of Struggles” was held on 7th April near Arts Faculty, Delhi University. The public meeting was a part of the Save DU campaign and was organised in collaboration with various Left students’ and teachers’ organisations.  The speakers who presided over the session included Shehla Rashid, Vice President JNUSU; Arindam Banarjee from Ambedkar University; Hany Babu and Prof. Apoorvanand from Delhi University; R. Gopinath from Jamia Millia, Rohit Azad and Surajit Mazumdar from JNU and  Ravi Kumar from South Asian University . Nandita Narain, President of DUTA and FEDCUTA was also one of the speakers.

The meeting highlighted increasing authoritarianism and state repression which is being felt across campuses. It provided a holistic overview of the issue by virtue of the speakers being from various universities and academic backgrounds. Prof. Surajit Mazumdar called the development model of India ‘inherently in-egalitarian’. He pointed out the deliberate attempt of the Government to delink higher education from an egalitarian social transformation. Prof. Rohit Azad from JNU explained how the government is trying to divide people of India in order to keep them from realizing the presence of huge economic inequalities, similar to the 99% highlighted by Occupy Wall Street protest, NY. He also urged the Left to be more inclusive.

Prof.  R.Gopinath from Jamia Millia raised concerns about the unavailability of space for student activism in the university. He also talked about how Muslim students face tremendous problems in protesting and participating in the current debates about nationalism. He condemned the stigma attached to muslims which inevitably and unjustly accords them the tag of being ‘anti national’.

Ravi Kumar from South Asian University also talked about the anti-people policies of the Government and the need to deconstruct and challenge the concept of ‘might of the state’. Prof. Hany Babu from Delhi University highlighted the systematic denial of opportunities in terms of employability and promotions to SCs and STs especially in Delhi University. He called the ‘campus boiling’ phenomena, an indicator of the fact that the students and teachers are doing the needful to keep the system of debate, dissent and struggle alive.  Other speakers also spoke on the same lines and reiterated time and again the essential need to form alliances against Government’s propaganda of communalisation and saffronisation.

The public meeting was then addressed by Shehla Rashid. She also urged everyone to fight a common struggle against the policies of the government to divide people on the grounds of caste and religion. Speaking about the issue which has erupted in NIT Srinagar, she spoke against the stigma attached to the ‘k’ word. She also spoke against the fact that soldiers are not allowed to make their unions.  Shehla also talked about the deifying of women in the ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ discourse while strategically denying women their rights. She questioned if the concept of Bharat Mata includes women like Soni Suri and Irom Sharmila.

Nandita Narain concluded the meeting  with her views about various issues such as those about the introduction of  FYUP and CBCS . She also requested the students of Delhi University to realise that they are the ones who have to take up the cause of the poor, the downtrodden and the oppressed.

The meeting closed with slongans of ‘Jai Bheem, Lal Salam’. A social Justice March is also scheduled to happen on 13th of April.

 

Featured image credits: Save DU Press Release/Abha Dev Habib

Tooba Towfiq

[email protected]

 

 

Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

DU’s deafening silence over JNU and Hyderabad University

By

Over the past few months, the country has seen a dramatic change in the student politics environment. Jawahar Lal Nehru University chalked out the condition of a religious and national mind while the injustice faced by Rohit Vemula at the University of Hyderabad ushered a new wave of student movements. While issues and ideas at both the places should have been dealt at the level of debate, the government decided to use their power in a ruthless manner.

However, another thread that binds both the universities together is Delhi University’s surreal silence. One would expect from one of the largest universities in the country, often looked upon for its high standards and prestige, to come out in support and to protect the vulnerable. Delhi University did none of that.

A huge issue erupted at the centre of which was the idea of nationalism. While people across the country discussed the issue strenuously, DU kept silent, almost to the point of ignorance. It was an indifference which was disturbing as it questioned the nature of education and the kind of critical thinking it should have fostered. A large number of institutions came out in support of JNU across the globe. DU decided to take none of the sides and instead turned a blind eye. While it would still have been agreeable to have a difference of opinion, the disappointment was an absence of it. It is true that students from DU did participate in the protests organised by various student groups, the University as such did not use its voice collectively to join the debate.

It is important to reiterate here that while a lot of universities signed petitions in favour of JNU, DU neither supported nor condemned it. In fact, very few discussions were formally conducted which also owed a lot to a fear that had been generated following the JNU row. Students were scared to organise any kind of events or discussions, especially those on the side of a new kind of understanding of nationalism which was being discouraged brutally by the state. Is this the kind of environment we should be nurturing at a central university? One would have overlooked this silence only if it wasn’t too evident. But in the huge, loud and fierce atmosphere of struggle carried out by students of HCU, AMU, TISS and others against all odds, it was a great disappointment to see DU quiet.

After the release of almost all students and teachers involved and an apparent settling down of issues, it is pertinent to ask some questions. How much of space are we left with for dissent? Is the fight that the students put ahead going to protect the spirit of debate and discussion? Or has the state artfully done what it has to by creating a fear psychosis in which one would question the culture of questioning the dominant in the first place? We as students of Delhi University, who have witnessed the sheer amount of indifference and ignorance that fellow students have shown, need to ask ourselves if there is something wrong with the education we are getting or have we already given up in this struggle of fighting for a freedom to speak and to ask questions.

Tooba Towfiq
[email protected]
Kartikeya Bhatotia
[email protected]
Image credits: youthkiawaaz.com
Keep Reading
By
DUB Speak

5 Steps to Become the Flag Waving DU Hipster Student Activist

By

1. Get the kurta right

Before you decide on the issues(s) you want to start hunger strikes on, you must get the look right to compliment your now-future leaner physique. Look into your father’s closet and find the oldest kurta that you can find. If your father is the only-shirt-pants wearing bourgeoisie, don’t worry, FabIndia will come to your rescue. Sources tell us that the brand was formed to supply DU-JNU student activists with socialist-chic clothing which can also be worn for their Pammi Aunty’s Diwali parties. Step it up with the thickest nerdy glass that you can find, regardless of your need for glasses. More accessorising opportunities come with the winter, when Nehru jackets and shawls become the ‘It Things’ to have. It goes without saying, a jhola is a must.

Tip: While kurtas are mostly unisex, lady activists can also wear khadi saris, monotone or tribal prints, at seminars and other occasions of importance where you might get photographed. Male activists can try cross dressing to up their game.

2. Networking at D School

Now, as a rule every student activist worth their swadeshi salt hangs out at D School. Transcending the North Campus-South Campus divide, D School is the K Nags and Satyaniketan for students with enlightened views. Now as activists, you must network with others of your community to know about the new cool issue to raise your voice for. And what better place than D School! Though it was established as a premier institute for studying Economics, actual students of the school are hard to find with students from all over encroaching their habitat. A burgeoning issue amongst actual D School students is the ‘Gair D Schooli Chatra Bhagao Andolan’, which as a defender of the secular public space, you must oppose.

Tip: Brownie points to you for hanging out at the JNU campus at times. Try to regularly post pictures of you with your JNU/media/professor friends on Facebook to let others know that your network is wide and radical.

3. Deciding on Your Issues

With the look right and the networking done, now you can decide on the movements you can lend your support to. Try to listen in on what is bothering your senior activists and try nodding your head to them. You might not understand them much initially but a quick Google search later will take care of it. Try keeping up with the news. Immediately make an account on change.org and sign petition after petition without any discrimination. Keep only a couple of issues as your primary ones but you can always make your presence felt in others. But try not to take up all the issues as your projects as this will only cause people to take you less seriously.

Tip: Read up on gender, sexuality, poverty, Kashmir and Israel. Your ability to quote case studies will decide your position in the hierarchy.

2a9f60e211a88b54d12aa2da4c4032ce90d5811250b19bdf43c5b245a80b6df2

4. Learn to talk Much without saying Anything and understanding Everything

Remember the time when the darling of your hipster circle was talking about something and all except you were nodding their heads? Then you did not read the previous point closely. Nod your head to everything; that is the single most important thing you can and should learn. The ability to let people believe that you know more than they ever can is necessary for you to leave any kind of impression. One of the ways is nodding along but a greater method is to actually talk a lot and mean nonsense. Engineered by Literature students to pass their exams, it has now been adopted by the larger artsy population as one of the languages they are fluent in. Learn to speak in paradoxes as soon as you can or you will remain in the training period for longer than you need to.

Tip: Take a recorder along the next time you go to a talk, which should ideally happen weekly, and listen and try to replicate the way the speakers were speaking there. Remember, practice is the only way.

talking-vampire

5. Learn how to belittle others because of their choices

While ‘Right to Choose’ and ‘Right to Express’ are one of the rights you must bring in any conversation and defend them whenever they are in danger, you must learn the proper way to judge people on their choices and letting them know that. Notice your classmates hanging out at Starbucks? Call them enabler of the war on Palestine. See them reading Chetan Bhagat and/or Durjoy Datta? Call their literary taste trashy and low. See them eating McSpicy Burger? Call them sell-outs to Multinational Corporations. See them parading their spoilt asses around in branded clothes? Scream BURGEOISIE! This may lead to multiple ‘unfriending’ on Facebook and subsequent stoning of your popularity in your college, but who cares about those merchant-minded dimwits when you can get popular in D School? This skill to belittle others will also come in handy later when you get promoted in the corporate world you joined right after college and want to make the minions know who the boss is now. Then you would also need to quash those two rights of your juniors mentioned above.

Tip: While still learning the ropes of the game, your senior activists may call out on the still lingering signs of your middle class upbringing at times. Don’t lose your patience and tell them “thank you, you are helping me mould my consciousness into the example of enlightened perfection that you project.”

tumblr_lgnmivB4271qdk87d

P.S.: The author is only half serious and would still like to enjoy his Keema Dosa and Iced Tea at D School.

Image courtesy: quickmeme.com, tumblr.com, thehindu.com

Enhanced by Zemanta
Keep Reading
By
Uncategorized

A Clean Sweep!

By

a clean sweep1

The World Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (WCARP) in partnership with the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) held a massive Cleaning Campaign in and around heritage sites in New Delhi to commemorate the International Day of Climate Action on 24th October. In association with 350 and Indian Youth Climate Network (IYCN), this drive targeted areas of Red Fort, Qutab Minar and Tughlaqabad Fort. More than 650 students from colleges of DU, JNU and Jamia Milia Islamia pitched in to clean the areas surrounding these heritage sites.

Says Sandeep Kumar, President of WCARP, “This cleanliness drive was a huge success. We had never imagined that so many students would be interested. In fact, a group of students asked me to conduct such a drive for bus stops and railway platforms as well. I could see a spark in the youth of this country to outdo the authorities and make Delhi a cleaner place to live in. Some students were extremely enthusiastic and wanted to take on the responsibility of keeping these monuments clean.”

The students were provided with broomsticks, gloves, chemicals and brushes to effectively do their job for the day and were also given free T-shirts and refreshments. Most students found it to be a highly enjoyable experience. Medha, a student volunteer says, “It was a memorable and satisfying day. We could actually be a part of the change in this country. Moreover it was an enlightening experience for me as well. Though I’m a Delhiite, I didn’t know there are as many as 174 monuments in my city.”

a clean sweep2

The key message of this drive was to “avoid plastic” and change the mindset of the people. The positive response to the initiative has led to plans for a second such attempt. “Upon request by the students, another drive is being organized on the 19th of November, 2009 at Purana Quila.”, says Sandeep. “So everyone who believes in the cause and missed out on this drive has another opportunity to pro-actively help change their world, be it in a small way.”

Keep Reading
By