Image Courtesy:nationalheraldindia.com
The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has among its alumni, scores of prominent individuals recognised the world over for their leadership qualities in social, political, scientific, economic, academic, artistic, and journalistic circles to name a few. But those award winning personalities must be now wondering if they missed what their alma mater is now offering its students, and teachers.
Still hailed as one of the most rational spaces for scientific, socio-political thought, JNU has now announced a two-day webinar on ‘Leadership lessons through Ramayana’. The webinar will go live on May 2 and 3 from 4 pm to 6 p.m. Registrations are now open and the web link confirms that, “this webinar is strictly for JNU Faculty, Staff and Students.” It has been organised by JNU’s School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies and School of Sanskrit & Indic Studies. It will be conducted by Professor Santosh Kumar Shukla from JNU’s School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies and Professor Mazha Asif from School of Language, Literature and Cultural Studies.
What is interesting that this Ramayana inspired leadership webinar is a collaboration with The Ramayana School. The ‘school’ has a page on Facebook and calls its work an :”initiative to take Lord Rama’s life – The Ramayana,” to the schools, colleges and corporates with meaningful value-oriented workshops, reflective exercises and quizzes.”
https://www.facebook.com/pg/theramayanaschool/photos/?ref=page_internal
The webinar was proudly announced by JNU’s Vice Chancellor Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala, who quotes Mahatma Gandhi as saying: “About Rama, in 1946, Mahatma Gandhi said: He is one without a second. He alone is great. There is none greater than He. He is timeless, formless, stainless. Such is my Rama. He alone is my Lord and Master.”
“Mahatma Gandhi emphasised how Lord Rama taught us to uphold truth, justice, equality even under adverse circumstances, there is a great deal to learn from Ramayana to enrich our lives particularly during these challenging times of coronavirus,” Mamidala had said.
This perhaps inspired him to bring lessons from the Ramayana to the scholars and teachers at JNU: “JNU organizes leadership lessons from Ramayana. All from JNU are welcome,” he said.
JNU to organise ‘Leadership Lessons From Ramayana’ session, says VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar https://t.co/7dOHPBRNlh
— Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar (@mamidala90) April 28, 2020
That the university has undergone many changes in its tone and tenor, along with some policies since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) first came to power in 2014 is a matter of public record. Jagadesh Kumar Mamidala, was appointed JNU’s VC in 2016.
Interestingly, Rajiv Malhotra, a right wing NRI author and commentator was appointed as an “honorary visiting professor at the Centre for Media Studies” at JNU in October 2018. A month later he was invited to deliver a lecture organized by the School of Sanskrit and Indic studies on Sanskrit non-translatables, recorded a Reddit post.
New agency ANI quotes JNU VC Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar: “Some people have asked me why there is a webinar on leadership lessons from Ramayana at JNU. During the lockdown period we have conducted several webinars related to COVID-19. This is a part of such series of webinars that we have been conducting,”
According to news reports the university had also organised a webinar on challenges and solutions to Covid-19 recently where over a thousand people from India and abroad had reportedly participated.
Students and faculty of the Jawaharlal Nehru University have always been at the forefront of civil society protests against draconian laws and stood tall against hate speech and bigotry. They have been attacked continually, the latest being a serious assault in the campus in January 2020. The attacks continue in court cases, and from right-wing media, on many fronts. Two prominent JNU scholars, Dr Umar Khalid, And Dr Kanhaiya Kumar have for long been charged under various laws including the draconian UAPA, and have been accused of sedition.
Perhaps things will be better at the varsity once the leadership lessons from the Ramayana have been internalised. There is no word yet on a possible edition where lessons from the epic Mahabharata will also be featured in a JNU webinar soon.
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