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Cruelty and the Right Wing


Professor Mukul Manglik of Ramjas College, Delhi concludes his interview to Frontline with a quote from historian Howard Zinn: “Human history is not only a history of cruelty, but also of compassion, courage and kindness... and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is inhuman and cruel around us, is itself a marvellous victory.”

Struggle against Right Wing cruelty
Source: India Today
The students’ union, ABVP, had unleashed a lot of cruelty on the campus and the Professor was speaking about that.  He mentions in the interview that he as well as many other teachers feels intimidated by ABVP which physically assaulted some teachers during the agitation. 

ABVP is a student organisation that is affiliated to RSS and nurtured by BJP both of which take pride in Hindu culture and civilisation.  The teacher is placed on a par with god in the ancient Hindu tradition.  It then becomes extremely ironical and darkly comical that teachers in a college in the capital of the country feel intimidated by ABVP.

Violence is nothing new for RSS or BJP.  But when it takes violence from the streets and electoral arenas to the campus and lets even teachers be beaten up by students, the organisations become mere caricatures of what they profess to be.  In their eagerness to saffronise the country, RSS and BJP are vitiating the campuses.  This will have serious repercussions in the future.  The country may be saffronised but it will also be reduced into a snake pit of hatred and violence, petty thinking and regression.

Our hope lies in what Howard Zinn said.  Human species has survived in spite of all the cruelty practised incessantly by organisations, parties and other agents because there have always been people who defied cruelty and inhumanity.  The greatest challenge faced by India today, arguably, is the negativity propagated by the ruling party and its multifarious agents.  The negativity is cleverly concealed beneath the facade of development mantras.  A day will come when the people will understand whose development is being taken care of actually.  Then the tables will be turned.  Nobody, however great he may appear to be, can go on befooling a whole nation for a long time.


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  1. Abhijit RayMarch 17, 2017 at 3:25 PM

    Cruelty is not limited to RSS - ABVP alone. You do not talk about left violence in Kerala and West Bengal. That does not mean any violence is better than the other. But we must condemn both equally.

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    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 17, 2017 at 6:21 PM

      Violence of any kind is contemptible, no doubt. But the leftist violence is confined to Kerala and WB and it won't spread beyond those regions because the leftist ideology is breathing its last. Hence it doesn't pose much danger. On the other hand, the right wind is on the ascent now in the country and all sorts of Senas are mushrooming. It is a dangerous trend. That's why I chose to focus on that.

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