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.
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.
ReplyDeleteViolence 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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