Uday Bhaskar - Why Involving Ex-Servicemen in the JNU Controversy is Potentially Toxic
The Indian fauj by its apolitical nature remains the last
bastion.
Maintaining this equipoise is imperative
The controversy triggered by anti-national sloganeering on
the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus on February 9 – attributed by
campus residents to an outsider group – has snowballed into a bitter and
emotive national debate outside and inside parliament.
JNU has become a no-holds barred/no-quarter given, zero-sum
battle over what constitutes ‘nationalism’ and how supposed transgressions from
the ‘norm’ must be dealt with. Many institutions have joined this charged debate and some
among them stand compromised or tainted. Here the conduct of the Delhi Police
and the lawyers who resorted to vigilantism in Patiala House and attacked JNU
Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar are a case in point. Some
media houses have also been guilty of the most deplorable lowering of
professional standards.
By unfortunate happenstance, the JNU controversy erupted
around the time when uniformed personnel have lost their lives in
counter-terrorism operations and both Pathankot and Pampore have become
synonymous with the surge of patriotic fervour – particularly in the
audio-visual and social media. An avalanche in Siachen led to the tragic loss
of more lives during the same period, including Lance Naik
Hanumanthappa, who defied nature and the odds to survive – briefly – before he
too alas, succumbed and was mourned by India.
Given this charged national mood and the anger over the
anti-national slogans at JNU that was stoked by some constituencies, it was
predictable that one cross-section of ex-servicemen would wade into the national
debate and become the guardians of nationalism and the national flag,
especially on TV debates. Every night, India has been witness to a
surfeit of righteous indignation over the university’s many
transgressions – some going back over the last 15 years – with this group
of veterans demanding atonement and more.
Pitting soldier against student: In an adroit manner, the brave soldier was pitted against
the ungrateful student (whose guilt has yet to be established) by some
manipulative media outlets. It is nobody’s case that anti-national
activity should be condoned. Yet it is a matter of both regret and shame
that the Indian political establishment has used national security in an
opportunistic manner.
As part of the corrective, it has now been mandated that the national flag will
fly atop every central university campus. Even the height of the flagpole has
been stipulated. When this was announced by the HRD minister, the reaction on
campus was ‘but we have always had the national flag flying from the admin
block so what is this all about ?’
To instil even greater nationalism, a group of
veterans recently met the JNU administration and suggested that an Army
memorial to commemorate the lives of those who lost their lives fighting for
the country be erected on campus – and thata tank could also be included as part of this visual
symbolism to teach students to love their country.
This intervention by some veterans, however well-meaning and
emotionally intense, is imprudent and has the potential to dilute the
apolitical nature of the Indian military – which remains its most admirable and
distinctive trait since 1947.
Over the past seven decades, rank political opportunism and
the lowering of professional rectitude has led to a weakening of national
institutions across the board. Beginning with Indira Gandhi in the mid-1970s
and the dark emergency phase, the bureaucracy, police, and lower judiciary have
progressively been weakened and subverted for short-term political
advantage. Subservience to the political dispensation of the day became
the norm and career-advancement carrots were dangled as incentive.
The rot that started in Delhi spread to the states and
education soon became the hand-maiden of politics. The deterioration of
educational standards in India and the increasing politicisation of education
per se, including rampant privatisation is reflective of this corrosive trend.
In short, political compulsions have led to a distortion of constitutional obligations
in relation to institutional probity and this malignancy is most stark in the
case of the Indian police and lower judiciary.
The JNU controversy which could have been contained – if
left to the university administration – snowballed largely due to the political
overtones it acquired, starting with the manner in which student organisations
closer to the ideology of the BJP were allowed to set the agenda. The
alacrity with which the local police invoked sedition charges was a direct
product of this process.
Military must remain in its domain: The current involvement of military veterans – even though
modest in numbers – has the potential to introduce a political and ideological
tenor into the Indian military through osmosis. While Prime
Minister Modi himself has repeatedly asserted that the Indian constitution
is his guiding document and that there is no other holy book for the
government, the national debate and churning that is now symbolised by the JNU
controversy has deeply divisive overtones.
Is the majoritarian (Hindu) sentiment the new lodestar of
the Indian polity? And if indeed it does prevail at the hustings, what
should the orientation of the Indian military be? Nurturing the abiding,
inclusive national identity and defending the principles embedded in the
constitution – that are above any single political party or socio-religious
organisation – require an apolitical and professional military. The institution
demonstrated its constitutional fibre in the run up to the emergency imposed by
Indira Gandhi; General Tappi Raina, who was army chief at the time, drew the line – courteously but firmly.
The military must remain within the constitutional space
accorded to it and veterans would be well-advised to let teachers instil the
values that students need to acquire – including a critical faculty – in a
constructive manner. Universities, in turn, would be equally well-advised to
evolve their own guidelines and norms to avoid denigration of the nation.
Today, one group of veterans is incensed over the
anti-national slogans attributed to JNU and advocate a certain prescription.
What if another were to take umbrage at what happened in Patiala House and
recommend even more muscular redress?
The Indian fauj by its apolitical nature
remains the last bastion – as recent events in Haryana demonstrated.
Maintaining this equipoise is imperative. Advocating the displaying of tanks on
university campuses may generate TV ratings, but will do little to
further the cause of the nation.
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