Q&A: \'When politics decides your future, decide what your politics is\'

Aparajitha Raja, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University unit of All-India Students Federation, tells Sanjay Kaw that fascist forces are hell-bent on portraying JNU as a den of anti-national activities, but students will be a decisive force in shaping the future political discourse of the country.

Your take on the Jawaharlal Nehru University row…
All of us have received it as a breach of our university’s autonomy. The entire episode is a serious threat to the idea of a rational and progressive university as the fascist state wants to homogenise thought and curtail certain voices. The university space has to be progressive and open to all kinds of thoughts. We are all young minds studying in an institute known for excellence in higher education. The state machinery making all-out efforts to muzzle us is a serious problem.

Do you think that the controversy has earned JNU a bad name?
The entire episode has got us into the spotlight. A nexus between a certain section of the media is carefully building bad opinion about our campus. There is a clear propaganda going on against us. But there is another set of people who have neutralised the propaganda war against us. Today we have got support from neutral forces, not only in India but from all across the globe. I personally feel that no university should face a siege like the one JNU is facing. Some fascist forces are hell-bent on branding JNU as a den of anti-national activities. Initially, students wearing JNU jerseys were scared to travel in Metro and other modes of public transport. But the continuous onslaught on our freedom of expression has sharpened our resolve to take on the fringe elements. We are not anti-nationals. We are rational and thinking minds and the state cannot curtail our freedom.

What do you have to say about the February 9 controversial event…
I was there towards the end. Each and every bit about the event has been reported, but there is misreporting too, about whether it was a cultural event. I do not want to get into this debate. This was not the first occasion when an event was disrupted by the authorities. Our previous events, like showing the documentaries Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai on communal riots, Caste On The Menu Card and Court (the film which was India’s Oscar entry) were also disrupted by the authorities. Hyderabad University student Rohith Vemula was not allowed to screen a documentary on Muzaffarnagar riots. There is a pattern to all this. Our fascist government is hell-bent on crushing moderate voices in an undemocratic manner.

How do you look at the campus scenario after JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar was granted bail?
Mr Kumar’s bail was a moment of happiness for all of us. Two of our comrades are still in jail. Our politics should have more strength to take on issues. It is high time that the sedition law’s rationality is challenged as it has become a political tool for fascist forces. Our government is not only anti-dalit, but is also against adivasis and other minorities. We have to talk about the rights of Honda workers. We have to struggle against the budgetary allocations that the government has made for the education sector. These are just a part of the series of struggles we are going to launch soon. Time has come when we have to think about rights in different sectors.

Are politicians politicising the JNU controversy to meet their own ends?
We first need to see who is politicising the JNU issue. As far as we are concerned, we are not. Our conscience is clear, as we know our political ideologies. We have been attacked politically and we will challenge it politically. Our Union human resources development minister named eight students in Parliament. So who is politicising it?

There is new flair in students’ politics after Mr Kumar’s speech.
Mr Kumar had taken a strong line during his union elections, that there has to be a broad consensus on pressing issues concerning different sections of society. Our primary consensus is on fighting back fascist forces.

What do you have to say about the ongoing intolerance debate…
This is a very serious question, but it is not a new thing. The worst thing is that intolerance in the country started growing at a fast speed ever since the saffron brigade came to power at the Centre. Each day we have reports that people are being lynched and raped. We have riots in different places. There are khap panchayats taking law in their own hands... We can still handle a fascist government, but if our society becomes fascist, it is going to be very dangerous for the country.

How do you look at today’s students’ politics?
Students’ movements have increased during the past year. Inter-university solidarity has come to the forefront in a participatory avatar. Rohith touched the hearts of one and all in the country. We are a young country, so students need to play a revolutionary role.

You joined the campus four years ago. How do you see the change now?
JNU has always been like this. In the past, our unions passed resolutions on Palestine, world poverty and other pressing global issues. Since attacks on us have sharpened, we too have gained more strength to take on our enemies. When politics decides your future, decide what your politics is.

A high-level committee of JNU has reportedly recommended rustication of Mr Kumar and five others. How you are going to counter the authorities?
The so-called high-level inquiry committee has not been following the course of natural justice. The authorities are not telling us what charges they have levelled against the students. We do not even know what is the ambit of the inquiry commission. Our demand is that there should be an unbiased inquiry to know the truth.

Mr Kumar has been talking of both, the Left and Ambedkarite politics…
There is a strong solidarity between Ambedkarite and Left shades of politics to fight fascism, brahmanism and capitalism in India. We have never been absent in the fight against these forces in ground level movements. But the JNU row has not only energised us more but also given more visibility to our secular line of politics.