The conflict at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) campus where Right-wing student activists tore up posters, hurled abuse and shouted slogans against a group of students conducting a signature campaign in support of the JNU students in Delhi, reflects simmering tension on the elite campus. Is the IISc on the verge of a JNU–like episode? Are the students fiercely divided here as well?
An internal inquiry is being carried out by the management of the premier Indian Institute of Science (IISc) into Tuesday’s violence, which saw a few right wing students barge into a gathering of liberal and left leaning students collecting signatures in support of the JNU students. Hurling abuse, they vandalised the furniture, tore up posters and the sheets carrying the signatures which were to be attached to a letter the students planned to submit to the President of India.
As the ruckus threatened to get out of hand, security guards were called to defuse the situation which took the elite institute by surprise as it has never seen anything like it in the past. “This is an unprecedented incident at the IISc and is a clear indication of the shrinking of democratic spaces inside university campuses,” posted a student on social media.
Speaking of the fallout, a student leader representing the liberal and left leaning group, said the management had talked to them about the incident, and they had informed it about their views and stand on the matter. “It is looking at it as a purely internal affair and wants to settle the issue amicably,” he said, adding that the management also wanted all students, including the ones who created the ruckus, to express their views so that they could be discussed and debated for an inference to be drawn.
Right-wing students seen tearing up posters and the sheets carrying the signatures (Photo: DC)
Recalling Tuesday’s events, the leader said the students had launched the signature campaign as they believed everyone had the right to free speech in a democracy. “While we may disagree with what someone has to say, we must stand up for their right to say it,” he asserted. “It’s basically the right to stand up for what you believe in. People have not been given a chance to be heard fairly. Instead there have been a lot of knee-jerk reactions based on emotions when logic and rule of law should prevail,” he deplored.
Despite the violence, the left and liberal students seem willing to let bygones be bygones. “We don’t have a personal grudge against the students who created trouble, but we feel the entire incident was uncalled for especially in an institute like ours. We can always speak and discuss things instead of fighting,” the student leader contended, however protesting that the right wingers were not willing to give any room for discussion. “We are saying we are trying to discuss something and they are telling us we cannot do that. But why not? Let’s try to talk and figure things out. We may be wrong, but we cannot find out until we talk about it. We are not saying this is right or that is right. We want people to discuss and figure out what is right and how things should work in a mature system,” he maintained.
Willing to accept that the students who objected to the signature campaign had their own reasons for doing so, some of the liberal students said they were open to discussing their point of view as well. “Even a few professors supported us during the signature campaign and warned those opposing us not to resort to violence,” they revealed.
Coming out in support of the pro-JNU students’ right to their views, one IISc. professor said, “Whichever group is against them, it could have expressed its dissent in a democratic manner by simply counter-petitioning them and saying they do not subscribe to their views. After all, the group is only going to send a petition to the President. Nothing stops the other group from expressing dissent and countering with a petition of its own. This would have been the right spirit. It’s unfortunate that it all ends up in fist fights always.”
IISc returns to normal
Peace returned to the Indian Institute of Science campus on Wednesday. Having successfully defused the situation while it was still unraveling, the management of IISc, unlike the one in JNU, seems to be handling the issue calmly, calling it merely a conflict of beliefs among students.
Unlike at JNU, no police case was registered against the students for Tuesday’s violence and no police was seen on campus questioning or taking anyone into custody, which could have triggered more unrest. There were no communications from the Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD) either for an inquiry into the incident, that is being treated purely as an internal matter by the management.
The institute, however, did insist on the signature campaign being delayed by a day to allow things to settle down, according to the students. “The IISc. management asked us to hold back the signature campaign for a day on Tuesday immediately after the incident, but it was resumed on Wednesday and we successfully collected over 300 signatures on the letter we intend to submit to the President of India,” said a student organising the campaign.
We need to develop tolerance for dissenting voices: G.K. Karanth
Whether they are premier institutes or other institutions, I think they must not lose sight of the fact that there can be a multitude of ideas and ideologies. Even if someone’s ideas are in conflict, they should not forget to be decent to each other. Whether from the right wing or the left, I think no one should use their muscles to prove their point. This is not a healthy way of doing things in universities, research or other educational institutions. We need to develop tolerance for dissenting voices and there should be an appropriate forum to prove which voice is better and so on, which unfortunately the student community is also losing sight of and in more than one case, embarrassing the managements as a result. But then some managements also try to join hands with the powers that be, resulting in the situations becoming uncontrollable.
I think this country will have to re-discover the meaning of protest. Had Mahatma Gandhi been protesting today, there would have perhaps been some miscreant in the crowd shouting a few slogans and even he would have been discredited. In other words, I think when organising a protest it should be confined to what it was intended for originally and responsibility must be taken for any unintended outcome. If someone is gathering a crowd, he should make sure it is of like-minded people.
