17/02/2016
Campuses in Kerala are as noisy and clamorous as a covey of evening birds, thanks to politics being an inevitable ‘tiffin item’ for every Malayalee. They have never remained silent whenever an issue of national importance cropped up.
And, that’s why when no voice of protest rises from college campuses in Kerala against what is happening at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, the silence becomes quite loud and the indifference apparent.
It is strange and uncharacteristic of the students in Kerala that they remain silent and out of sync when universities and campuses across the country are simmering with anger against the way in which students at JNU are treated by authorities, especially the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of the students’ union at JNU, on charges of sedition.
In the past, students in Kerala were always hypersensitive to the socio-political developments across the country. Be it anti-establishment, anti-capitalists or anti-fascists, they never shied away from the heat of the battle. The history of the state reverberates with the powerful slogans emerged from the campuses. In the statewide strikes against the Pre-Degree Board, generous sanctioning of private colleges and in the many protests against fee-hikes, we have seen how campuses boiled over, spilling into the streets.
What could be the reason for the strange apathy of the students in Kerala toward a burning issue which is gaining momentum by the day?
It cannot be that the student fraternity has overnight become all too self-centered and studious to miss a political opportunity to have a crack at the Bharatiya Janata Party government. It is also not because of the mushrooming of inorganic engineering colleges in the state.
Is it because the young generation lives an ‘App-ified’ life, too digital and technology-driven to go beyond the chats and trolls to respond to any attempts of authoritarian rule? Is it because the young Kerala generation is too consumerist and commercialized that they have lost the connect with the ground realities of a society? Is it because we don’t read as much as the earlier generations did and have let go of critical thinking? Or, is it because we have become just too shallow?
Or, is it because the young generation has made the cyber-streets their battlefield? Almost all Malayalam social media sites are flooded with pictures, comments, tweets and angry protests against the JNU issue, while the campuses and streets wear no sign of any agitation.
It is true that all student demonstrations and protests in the state have always been political, and traditionally almost all of them have been led by the Left. Though the CPM leaders have addressed the students at JNU, the state leadership has so far kept mum about the whole issue.
One wonders if it is a premeditated silence since the Assembly polls are just around the corner. With the BJP set to make inroads in southern districts, the Left Democratic Front in the state cannot afford to give the Hindu nationalist party even a toe-space, and watch them jostle their way right into the tent.
Taking out statewide strikes in protest against the sedition charges against Kumar and joining the JNU bandwagon against the BJP could boomerang in the imminent Assembly polls, as the general public could see any pro-Afzal Guru move as ‘anti-national.’ It could boost the fortunes of the BJP in the elections.
We are rarely taken aback by the response and reaction of students in Kerala to political developments in the state and across the country. If a political protest broke out anywhere in the country, it surely made ripples on campuses in Kerala.
The genesis of the students’ movement in Kerala can be traced back to the freedom struggle as students actively took part in anti-colonial demonstrations in the beginning of the 20th century. By the middle of the century, student protests were more or less focused on educational reforms and by the late ‘50s and all through the ‘60s, student movements became more organized and they waged many pitched battles against the authorities for their rights. In the following years, student organizations became an integral part of Kerala politics. Since then college campuses have always been a hive of political activities and many have lost their lives as party fights often turned bloody. The death of Rajan, who was an engineering student during the Emergency, in police custody is an important and emotional episode in Kerala’s political history.
But now, even after an array of intellectuals and eminent professors from universities across the world, including Noam Chomsky, has signed a letter condemning the ‘culture of authoritarian menace that the present government in India has generated’, not a soul has moved in the campuses in Kerala.
Notwithstanding the protest and strikes in New Delhi and elsewhere in the country, unperturbed and quiet flows the Nila. No leaf sways in our leafy campuses. All that we have seen so far is a muted march to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram by the Students Federation of India members.
The silence is conspicuously loud, and pregnant with questions.
It is indeed sad to see our campuses fold up as though following a script when they fall silent on important and critical issues.
But then, student politics has become a puppet show of the Machiavellis. Gone are the days when students were the hope and harbingers of a better tomorrow. Gone are the days when red was red, and silence was quiet.