JNU row is Kanhaiya’s karma against intolerant dharma
The Indian judiciary is alive and the lawyers kicking. JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and some journalists have been witness to this at the Patiala House court in the national capital, where they were thrashed twice by self-declared patriots.
Kanhaiya was arrested on February 12 on charges of sedition for his involvement in an event held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in support of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Though Kanhaiyas’s speech sounded pro-India, the home ministry says it has evidence of his links with Hafiz Sayeed. The evidence, which is nowhere in sight, might be too divine for any human eye to see.
But, a thousand miles away, sitting in his air-conditioned newsroom in the port city of Mumbai, media bigwig/one-man nation, Arnab Goswami has authenticated the evidence.
Results have been obvious. After the second hearing on February 17, Kanhaiya was sent to judicial custody.
Giving details about the court appearance, news agency IANS said: "Several journalists were again beaten up by a section of lawyers at the Patiala House Court - much like what happened on Monday - before Kanhaiya Kumar was brought there."
But then, for what reason was Kanhaiya’s speech treated as treason? Not an audible word of his sounds seditious.
As per Indian Express, the PhD scholar in his speech said: "We are of this country and love the soil of India. We fight for those 80 per cent of this country’s people who are poor. For us, this is desh bhakti. We have full faith in Babasaheb. We have full faith in our country’s Constitution."
If mere utterance of word Azadi somewhere is treason, then why did no one ever question star Shahrukh Khan when he campaigned for Airtel: Aise azadi aur kahan?
Intolerance certainly demands witch-hunting with no scope for logic and reasoning: you are with them or against them. But then, the world’s largest democracy can’t afford to hang everybody over bigotry.
If JNU students have links with Hafiz Sayeed, it could be true for the lawyers who attacked Kanhaiya. May be they wanted to eliminate the "credible witness" only to support the terror mastermind.
In an interview to Hindustan Times, Kanhaiya's parents have alleged that their son is a victim of Hindutva politics, whose followers chant: "Jo Afzal ki baat karay ga, woh Afzal ki maut marey ga."
On his landing in Tihar, Kanhaiya was kept in jail number 3. As per India Today, "It is interesting to note that even 2001 Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru was kept in the same cell, jail number 3."
While the controversy continues to escalate, HRD minister Smriti Irani wants the tricolour to be hoisted in every central university, as if Bharat has to conquer India. Somebody tell her both are the same.
The Modi government equally wants communication strategists to draw up plans for "image and perception management" over worries that controversies such as the intolerance row and the JNU incident are affecting the administration’s image.If Photoshop or Picassa help in image building, the digital-karma will end up establishing of the Faculty of Intolerance at JNU.
The prevalent intolerance is not against individuals like Kanhaiya, Umar Khalid, Rama Naga, Anant Prakash, SAR Geelani, Shehla Rashid Shora or any prospective Khan. It’s against the ideology of the right to freedom, tolerance and adventure.
The ongoing din silences every word of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who envisioned: "A university stands for humanism. For tolerance, for reason, for the adventure of ideas and for the search of truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards ever higher objectives. If universities discharge their duties adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people."
But then there’s still hope. India has been a civilisation of iconic karma, as preached by Lord Krishna to Arjuna in the Maharabarta.
Bhagavad Gita mentions this in Chapter IV, Verse 7-8: "Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya, Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha, Abhyuthanam Adharmaysya Tadatmanam Srijami Aham. Praritranaya Sadhunam Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam, Dharamasansthapnaya Sambhavami Yuge-Yuge." (Whenever there is decay of righteousness O! Bharatha And a rise of unrighteousness then I manifest Myself; For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born in every age.
Who knows some Kanhaiya could be that avatar in our age of intolerance? Wa Allahu Aalam: God knows best!