“Kaanch ki haandi ko kitni baar chadhaenge ?”
How many times will you put a glass bowl on flames and pretend to cook something in it? Last night, this question was asked by Kanhaiya Kumar as he addressed a charged gathering of hundreds of young JNU scholars who with joyful irreverence laughed at fact fudgers, video doctors, witch hunters, misleading leaders. And bluff masters who peddle ‘magical’ rings at railway stations. The language remained parliamentary and a civil invitation was issued to opponents to join a “tarkik” (logical) debate about issues concerning this nation. His nation and ours.
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And if we thought that the sight of goons boasting on camera just how they had beaten Kanhaiya Kumar till he wet his pants, was what defined nationalism in this country, we were wrong. It was the genuine mirth on scores of young faces as Kanhaiya spoke about his jail experiences and articulated his take on the politics of arm-twisting, that brought home to us this electrifying realisation. That bubbles, no matter how big they get, do burst. Lies are caught. And a hollow political idea must acknowledge at some point that its time will never come. And that the light of clear and present truth will show us ultimately how empty catchphrases really are.
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All you need to bring about this miracle is a bunch of ferociously smart young minds who can show you what lies beyond the farce of unparliamentary melodramas and hysterical chest-beating. Who can talk about martyred soldiers without using them as ideological baits. As real human beings, sons and brothers who come from impoverished villages and then die in wars they have nothing to do with. So who is taking accountability for dead farmers and soldiers? Why do we live in a country where farmers, or as Kanhaiya put it, “woh jo hamari roti ugaate hain” are so desperate that they kill themselves? Why is education for sale and why is it so hard for poor students to afford a degree? Why can’t we have a system where the children of a President and a peon can study in the same school? What is unpatriotic about wanting to shake the status quo and asking for a secular, fair and just country that respects the rights of all its citizens?
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In a culture where “bechne ki mansakita” (the mindset of buying and selling) is prevalent, why can’t we ask for substantial change that benefits not just a few but everyone? How can anyone take politicians seriously when their idea of dealing with dissent is limited to counting condoms in dustbins? When their idea of governance revolves around creating smokescreens every time a real issue begins to rear its head? Issues like the discontinuation of fellowships for researchers in central universities. The persecution and death of a Dalit scholar. The criminalisation of students who are then turned into seditious tools with the collusion of police and certain sections of the media.
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The points the speech raised were especially heartening to those who have watched with helpless rage, the systematic suppression of FTII students and the crackdown on JNU, on whistle-blowers. And writers who have been dismissed as pseudo intellectuals almost as if the ability to think and question is an affront to patriotism. How laughable is the idea that young scholars should not even talk about political issues when we have no issues with rapists and criminals contesting elections and winning them. And how hypocritical we are when we rant about the “tax-payer’s money” while discussing subsidised education but have no issue with the deepening link between poverty and illiteracy.
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The electric, infectious atmosphere during the speech recalled the stirring open lecture by Palagummi Sainath in the wake of Kanhaiya’s arrest. Sainath is an ex-JNU student too and one of the few prominent Indian journalists who dare to write on rural affairs, and the aftershocks of globalisation. The points raised by both him and Kanhaiya have established just how important inconvenient points-of-view are to the well-being of a nation. As Kanhaiya Kumar’s speech progressed, we understood the difference between saksharta and shiksha, literacy and education, propaganda and ideology, irrational agendas and irrefutable logic, between divisive slogans and the idealism that built this nation. Idealism that had the courage to face an armed-to-the-teeth state machinery and shout, “ham leke rahenge azaadi.” In this context, freedom from those who do not understand the meaning of diversity or show tolerance and respect while dealing with dissent.
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How reassuring that unlike student bodies like the ABVP that propagate the ideology of their political patrons, we have scholars who are not invested in the majoritarian gravy train. What a miracle that our system can produce a Kanhaiya Kumar. That he is not alone or broken or ostracised and is today a voice to be reckoned with despite physical violence and a media-fuelled witch-hunt. So yes, Satyamev Jayate has more meanings than one. And yes, we may have a Minister of Human Resource Development with a disputable degree from Yale but we also have an Omar Khalid pursuing his PhD in JNU on the state of tribals in Jharkhand and refusing a semester at Yale. This is a sign that young Indians are not oblivious to grass root issues. That they are willing to go the distance and even to jail for issues they believe in.
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What Kanhaiya, Omar and the laughing, cheering, fearless students of JNU have given us is hope. And in these bleak times when soap operatic dialogues pass for parliamentary debate, they have given us voices of reason. Of humour. The world of instantly trending ideas has found its new hero. All the songs ever written around the name, ‘Kanhaiya’ are being shared on social media. Cries of ‘haathi ghoda palki…” are beginning to echo across cyber space. But am going to sleep well tonight with just a few happy thoughts. That all is not yet lost. And that we still have spaces in this country that know no fear and where it can be proclaimed, “You cannot dilute our fight.”
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Reema Moudgil is the editor and co-founder of Unboxed Writers, the author of Perfect Eight, the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul-Indian Women, a translator who recently interpreted Dominican poet Josefina Baez’s book Comrade Bliss Ain’t Playing in Hindi, an RJ with Timbre Media and an artist who has exhibited her work in India and the US and is now retailing some of her art at http://paintcollar.com/reema. She won an award for her writing/book from the Public Relations Council of India in association with Bangalore University, has written for a host of national and international magazines since 1994 on cinema, theatre, music, art, architecture and more. She hopes to travel more and to grow more dimensions as a person. And to be restful, and alive in equal measure.