Image: The Hindu

Delhi High Court has stayed all disciplinary action against JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya and all other students coercively acted against by the administration on April 25, reported ANI.

Twenty students had gone on an indefinite hunger fast in protest from April 27-28 onwards. This protest was still continuing until today though as many as nine had to withdraw due to failing health.

While news agency PTI reported that the HC had put on hold JNU’s disciplinary action against Kanhaiya and others till their appeal against University order was decided the by appellate authority, Sabrangindia.in after speaking to advocates who appeared for the students was told that, the appellate authority is the Vice Chancellor (VC) himself. The order is being viewed as a bid to bring temperatures down and end the impasse with the university administration refusing to even dialogue with the protesting students. In any case, students have been given a window of a fortnight to approach the High Court if the 'appellate authority' rules again, against them.

In oral observations, the Delhi High Court said it would hear Kanhaiya Kumar and the JNUSU's pleas only if they ended their hunger strike. The HC order puts on hold the disciplinary action of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), including rustication, against Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others till their appeals against the order is heard and decided by the varsity’s appellate authority. Until 8 p.m. the order was still being finally worked out.

Justice Manmohan reportedly is recording an undertaking given by the students, who have filed writ petitions challenging the university’s order following a report of the High-Level Enquiry Committee (HLEC), that they will withdraw their ongoing hunger strike and not indulge in any further agitation.

The court also said that if the JNU Vice-Chancellor, who is the appellate authority, rejects the appeal of students, the decision would not be given effectfor two weeks. This will enable the students to move the High Court again to challenge the decision. Three or four batches of petitions were filed by students challenging the penalties imposed on them by JNU for their alleged role in a controversial event organised on University campus on February 9.

Based on the HLEC’s report, JNU had taken varying actions, ranging from rustication to debarment from the varsity and imposition of fines, against the petitioners and other students and research scholars.

The High Court had earlier this week asked the JNU administration to explain the decision for rustication of two students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, who were also accused of sedition, and submit relevant documents as well as the five-member HLEC’s report. Mr. Kumar — who was slapped with a fine of Rs.10,000 — Mr. Khalid and Mr. Bhattacharya are currently out on bail following their arrest on charges of sedition in connection with the February 9 event marking the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Delhi High Court order

 
Timeline Hunger Strike

April 25, 2016: JNU rusticates Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya. Umar has also been fined Rs. 20,000 and Anirban barred from JNU campus for five years from July 23, 2016. JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar fined Rs. 10,000.

April 26, 2016: JNU students reject punishment, burn report

May 6 2016: VC issues an ‘appeal’ to students saying hunger fast is ‘illegal and ‘unconstitutional’ The VC also writes separately to the students (JNUSU) and teachers (JNUTA) against allowing 'outsiders' into the campus.

ABVP leader from the Delhi university had meanwhile been allowed inside the campus where he had reportedly shouted abusive slogans and also threatened to 'shoot' JNUSU leaders. Besides the VC and other senior administration officials are believed to have direct linkages with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

April 28: Students throw down the gauntlet and launch a hunger strike

Umar and Anirban move court against their rustication, court asks JNU administration to explain the decision for their expulsion and submit relevant documents as well as the report of its High-Level Enquiry Committee. The HC stays the fine of Umar Khalid imposed by the university and orders the university administration to file a counter affidavit and produce all the documents related to the HLEC and procedures adopted before the High Court.

May 10, 2016: A stormy Academic Council meeting is held in which the administration and VC was compelled to discuss the HLEC report. The meeting was then summarily suspended  or adjourned by the VC
 
May 11 2016:  The Registrar of JNU Pramod Kumar issues another appeal to the fasting students referring to the matters in the High Court wherein the HC has asked for all documents related to the HLEC meeting to be produced before the Court.

JNUTA send a memorandum to the Vice Chancellor. JNUSU also sends a memorandum to the VC.

May 12, 2016: Kanhaiya, others move HC against JNU action. Apart from Kanhaiya, the others who have challenged the order are Ashwati A. Nair, Aishwariya Adhikari, Komal Mohite, Chintu Kumari, Anwesha Chakraborty and two others. The JNUSU also challenges the attitude of the administration during the agitation.
 

The post Delhi High Court Stays Disciplinary Action against All Student Leaders appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Image: K Fayaz passed his PHD Synopsis Exam while on Hunger Strike

All Party Delegation of MPs to meet JNU VC Today as an Intransigent GOI and JNU Admin Remain Adamant,

Senior members of parliament (MPs) have been in touch with the JNU administration and will be meeting the VC Jagadesh Kumar to ensure that some negotiations between the fasting students –on an indefinite hunger strike since the night of April 27 — and the administration begin. The Left Parties, JD(U), Indian National Congress (INC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are all together coordinating the initiative. Senior parliamentarians are expected to join the delegation, names of which would be released and finalised shortly. D Raja, veteran parliamentarian, KC Tyagi, senior leader JD(U), Tapan Sen (CPI-M) and Pavan Kumar Varma are likely to be part of the delegation.

 
Meanwhile, since the afternoon on Thursday, the health of Kanhaiya Kumar, President of the Jawaharal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) president, Kanhaiya Kumar was very serious. This morning Kanhaiya Kumar has issued the following press release:

कन्हैया को आज भी डॉक्टर एम्स में ही रखेंगे। सीटी स्कैन व कुछ टेस्ट्स होने बाकी है । वे पहले से थोड़ा बेहतर महसूस कर रहे हैं, पर ज्यादा सुधार नहीं है। कन्हैया ने सभी शुभचिंतकों का शुक्रिया अदा किया है, और भूख हड़ताल पर बैठे हुए अपने सभी साथियों को अपना सलाम भेजा है। बीमार हालत में भी वे आज 2 बजे एड ब्लॉक पर होने वाले प्रोटेस्ट के बारे में पूछ रहे थे व भारी संख्या में छात्रों से जुटने की अपील की है। साथ ही केरल में 30 वर्षीया दलित छात्रा जिशा का बलात्कार कर जघन्य हत्या कर दिये जाने के विरोध में बापसा द्वारा दिये गये प्रोटेस्ट कॉल पर केरल भवन के सामने 11बजे से होने वाले प्रोटेस्ट में शामिल होने की अपील की है। जयन्त जिग्यासु,

मीडिया प्रतिनिधि,
कन्हैया कुमार
Meanwhile the spirits at "Freedom Square" Admin Block JNU continued to be upbeat even as Delhi's scorching heat took its toll. Supporters from all walks of life have been coming in to express support even as the cultural programmes every evening have kept spirits up. The JNUTA, the Teachers Association is on a Relay Hunger Fast today with other civil society activists.

Hunger Strike by Mumbai Students In Solidarity With JNU, Other Universities

The post All Party MPs to Meet VC JNU Today to Ensure Negotiations with Fasting Students appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
Even as the indefinite hunger strike of over 20 student leaders of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNUSU) continued, the General Body Meeting (GBM) of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Association (JNUTA) resolved at a meeting yesterday to have a one day token hunger fast in support of the students and against the “JNU Administration’s moves towards a more authoritarian and discretionary mode of functioning.” Sources told Sabrangindia that the exact date of the token hunger strike would be decided soon. It would be probably on either May 2 or 3. The JNU administration had, last week dished out punishments utterly disregarding due process in the inquiry against students for the incident on February 9.
 
On April 28, as the indefinite hunger strike had not even completed a day –unrelelenting in its vindictiveness –the JNU administration served Anirban Bhattacharya with yet another notice for a supposed “offence” he committed in August 2015! Anirban… The notice can be read here

The Modi Government had No Answer to Our Issues and Questions: Kanhaiya
Kanhaiya Kumar has written this on his Facebook post put up around 3 a.m. on April 29 says,
“यह मुल्क एक दुखद और भयानक दौर से गुजर रहा है. जो लोग ताकतवर हैं उनको कमजोरों की बन रही एकता से डर लग रहा है शायद यही वज़ह है कि खुद को दुनियाँ की सबसे बड़ी पार्टी होने का दावा करने वाली BJP और उसके समर्थक के पास हमारे सवालों का, मुद्दों का कोई जवाब नहीं बचा है तो वो चरित्र -हनन पर उतारू हो गए हैं. उनको घबराहट हो रही है कि एक गरीब इंसान गरीबी को दूर करने का उपाय क्यों सुझा रहा है इसलिए वो हमारी पहचान को निशाना बना रहे हैं. कहते हैं कि पब्लिसिटी चाहिए, हवाई जहाज से घूमता है, एप्पल का मोबाइल है. मैं इन बातों को गैरजरूरी समझता हूँ इसलिए कोई जवाब नहीं देता क्योंकि पब्लिसिटी तो मोदी जी ने अपने फायदे के लिए दी ताकि लोगों को उनके असली मसले से ध्यान भटकाया जा सके और जब आप यह कर पाने में कामयाब नहीं हो पा रहे तो आपके भक्त मुझसे किराया का हिसाब मांग रहे हैं. साहब, ईमानदारी से इस देश की आम जनता के सवाल को लेकर जब आप संघर्ष करते हैं तो इस देश की जनता ऐसी है कि आपको अपने सर-आँखों पे बिठा लेती है और आपके जुमलों को भी सच मानकर ही इस देश की जनता ने आपको अपना बहुमत दिया है. कृपया जनता के मुद्दों पर काम करें दूसरों का चरित्र हनन से लोगों को रोटी नहीं मिलेगी. जेल में डालने, लाठी मारने और गाली देने से शिक्षा और रोजगार का मसला हल नहीं होगा. मेरे पास तो I-Phone नहीं है अगर होता भी तो क्या इससे देश की गरीबी का सवाल खत्म हो जायेगा? मोदी जी आपके लखटकिया शूट से चाय वाले की हालत नहीं सुधरी है. हमारा सवाल व्यक्ति का नहीं समाज का है इसलिए व्यक्तिगत चरित्र-हनन से आप हमारे संघर्षों को नहीं मिटा पाएगें. ‪#‎Rohith के साथ भी यही किया गया लेकिन सामाजिक न्याय की लड़ाई आज भी जिन्दा है. समाज बदलने के इस संघर्ष को तेज कीजिये, आज JNUSU के मार्च में शामिल होकर शिक्षा और लोकतंत्र को बचा कर समाजिक न्याय को स्थापित करने में अपनी भूमिका निभाइये. ‪#‎NoMoreRohith ‪#‎StandWithJNU
 
On April 27 the day the indefinite hunger strike began Anirban wrote, “We have been found “guilty” of “arousing communal, caste or regional feeling”. “Communal”, “casteist” and “regional”. One could add “anti-national”. In these times of unreason, universal lies and fiction, words today have acquired new meanings. Meanings that are meant to conceal, to distort, to falsify, to turn the world “upside down” (as Galeano would say).Speaking against casteism today makes one a “casteist”. Speaking against communalism today makes one “communal”. And I suppose, raising difficult questions about Kashmir immediately makes one “regional” if not more. And doing all of this or even less can make one an “anti-national”.

Lest we forget, Rohith and his colleagues in ASA were also called the same – “casteist”, “communal” and “anti-national”. So, just like Rohith and his colleagues in HCU, today, if we or anyone speak up against “brahmanical collective conscience”, we are called “casteist”! That's what the HLEC has accused us of; speaking against the “brahmanical collective conscience”…..So, killing adivasis at a genocidal proportion to sell off the country’s resources to foreign companies at pittance today is called being “sovereign”. Lynching Muslims in the name of the ‘holy cow’ is called being “secular”, if not “scientific”. Declaring that no one killed the Dalits in Bathe-Bathani is called being “constitutional” while inventing the bogus of ‘love jihad’ is to “empower women”!

However, to speak of justice, of a society free of every form of oppression and exploitation, today is called being an “anti-national”. What is demanded of us instead, is our silent, obedient consent. And that of course is celebrated as “nationalism”!

Orwell said, “In a time of universal deceit – speaking the truth is a revolutionary act.” And that's all that we need to do today. Speak truth to power. Reject in toto the lies and farce of the HLEC dictated to our puppets by those from Nagpur. We need to stand united to preserve our democratic space against the incursion of unreason and lies, against the assault of Manu & Market. Not a step back!
#FightBackJNU
#StandwithJNU

Here is student leader Chintu Kumari’s speech at the Mashaal Juloos on April 27:

Chintu Kumari speaks @ mashaal juloos against HLEC report, JNUthe Jawaharlal Nehru University

The post One Day Hunger Strike in Support of Fasting Students: JNUTA appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Ironically neither reports of the Inquiry Committee nor the reports of the High Power Committee are available in the public domain. Sabrangindia.in had been the first to do a thorough analysis into Magistrate Sanjay Gupta’s report into the incidents at JNU ordered by the Delhi government. This can be read here.

According to reports selectively leaked to the media, Anirban Bhattacharya has been rusticated till July 15, and ‘ordered’ out of bounds for five years from campus from July 25 onwards; Umar Khalid rusticated for one semester and fined Rs 20,000; Mujeeb Gattoo rusticated for two semesters; Kanhaiya Kumar fined Rs 10,000;Ashutosh Kumar ordered ‘withdrawal from hostel for one year and also fine of Rs 20,000; Komal Mohite directed out of the hostel till July 21.Banojyotsana Lahiri and Drupadi Ghosh ordered out of bound of JNU for five years and Saurabh Sharma fined Rs 10,000.Besides, Chintu Kumari, Anant Prakash Narayan, Rama Naga, Gargi Shweta, Aishwarya Adhikari, Reyazul Haque, Rubina Saifi among 14 who've been fined RS 20,000.

President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU) Kanhaiya Kumar, who has become an icon now against the vincidtive actions of the Modi government said this yesterday:

 
Meanwhile, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers Associsation (JNUTA) has in a strong communication to Vice Chancellor, Jagadesh Kumar, severly chastised and castigated the running of JNU under his stewardship. The entire letter, signed by President JNUTA Ajay Patnaik and Secretary Bikramaditya Choudhary can be read here. In this letter, the JUNUTA says,

“The teachers of JNU have once again come in front of your office to express their strong protest at the unacceptable attitude adopted by the University Administration under your leadership towards the running of the University. We can discern a clear pattern from the University Administration’s actions that indicates its preference for a highly discretionary and centralized system of governance over a democratic and norm-based one. Indicative of this is the fact that the University Administration has adopted a stony silence to several concerns and issues raised by the JNUTA.

“The decision to impose extremely harsh penalties without fair enquiry in relation to the events of  February 9 only serves to prove our point. The JNUTA has pointed out the lack of credibility of the HLEC enquiry process at every stage since its inception and thereafter. It violated the principles of natural justice leading to a situation where students did not or say could not even participate in the enquiry.

You have also been made aware of the fact that this need not have been the case if the established norms and procedures for such enquiries had been followed. The JNUTA’s position has been vindicated by legal luminaries like Justice A.P. Shah and this too has been brought to your notice.

That the Administration chose not to address the issues raised and instead went ahead with imposing harsh penalties on students implies that it would rather make JNU a ruthless penal institution than an upholder of fundamental and foundational principles of running a University.  Institutional sensitivity and efforts to restore normalcy on the campus are buried in the whole exercise of “teaching a lesson” to the students.”
 
The JNUTA has been standing tall against the Administration’s attempts – pressurised by the Modi Government and the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) to break the back of the university’s autonomy and character. An earlier communication of the JNUTA can be read here.

The post Academics Challenge JNU VC: Countdown to Hunger Fast By Students Begins appeared first on SabrangIndia.

I have come home a little while ago from Jawaharlal Nehru University after listening to Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya take back the night. As I drove home  through the quiet streets of Delhi after midnight it occurred to me that somebody should whisper into Narendra Modi’s ear that he should now start stocking up on sleeping pills. (Maybe Baba Ramdev’s enterprise makes some that he could prescribe to the Prime Minister, unadulterated). With young people like Umar and Anirban as his adversaries, the Prime Minister can only have sleepless nights ahead of him. It is perhaps fortunate for him that the team from Madame Tussaud’s came by and did their job yesterday. Because from now on, his real skin tone will only envy the lustre of his wax work. Umar and Anirban, and their friends, took away the little remaining shine that Modi had left at midnight.

The matter of the continuing detention of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharjee, two students of Jawahar Lal Nehru University, was heard in a Delhi sessions court this afternoon. The arguments in Umar and Anirban’s defence, made, systematically, methodically, with adroit attention to legal detail, by their advocates, Jawahar Raja and Trideeb Pius, convinced the honorable judge that not only do Umar and Anirban deserve bail, but that no offense under Section124A (the law of sedition) can be made out against the two accused at this stage. The bail order read, without rhetorical flourishes, without references to film songs or medical theories, like a bail order should, attentive to points of law, sensitive to questions of justice and judicial propriety. The combined might of large sections of the media, the state apparatus, and a vicious public witch-hunt – all of which were bent on painting Umar and Anirban as nothing short of ‘terrorists’ buckled against the weight of their steadfast refusal to implicate themselves or anyone else in complicity with cooked up charges, the solidarity of all those, students, faculty and others who stood by them, and the clear, reasonable arguments of their advocates. The very heartiest of congratulations are in order, to Umar, Anirban and their families, comrades and friends, to the legal team that represented them, and to the thousands of students, teachers and others who have stood by them, in JNU, in Delhi, across India, and indeed all over the world.
 

Students in Solidarity with Umar Khalid and Anirban. Image, Courtesy, Samim Asgor Ali
 

And regardless of whether or not News X, Zee News and Times Now once again predictably fail in their journalistic responsibilities by not giving an accurate report to their viewers about what actually went down at the Admin Block (rechristened ‘Freedom Square’) last night, by the time the sun rises, video uploads of Umar’s and Anirban’s speeches will have already gone viral down the alleys, eddies and wind-swept sands of social media. Millions of people will know, by listening to two exceptionally intelligent, brave and humorous young men as they sip their morning tea, that this regime’s days are numbered. We can start counting days till the Modi regime falls like the badly sculpted statue of a mediocre dictator of a banana republic after a peoples’ uprising.

The challenge that Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of JNUSU, had thrown to this evil regime in his post-bail speech a few days ago came bouncing back when Umar and Anirban spoke a few hours ago, like a storm returning to the shore bearing the memory of a wave. When they spoke, Umar and Anirban put their shoulder to the wheel. They made history take a crazy, beautiful new turn. Everyone who was there at JNU listening to them, watched and felt things turn. We were all transformed.

Will the spooks in plain clothes who must have been lurking behind trees and pillars, conspicuous with their shoes, bush shirts and safari suits be writing worried notes through the night to their superiors, even as those like me sit through the night taking stock of what we just witnessed? I imagine them whispering into the crackle of their walkie talkies –  “Boss mamla bigad gaya hai. Yeh Umar, Anirban, Kanhaiya, Shehla, Naga aur Asutosh, aur yeh Rohith Vemula ki rooh, aur na jane, aur kaun, yeh sab sarkar ko mazaak bana diye hain. Modi ji ki to khilli ud gayi hai. Aur sangh to bilkul expoje ho gaya, unki to half pant hi utar gayi. Isliye ab full pant par aye hain. Aur boss, kai jagah to ham bhi hans padhey, in baaghi cchatron ko sunte-sunte, kai jagah to ham bhi ro padhey. Bahut dam hai is Umar aur Anirban ki baton mein. Man mein ajeeb si deshdrohi gud-gudi ho rahi thi boss, apne aap. Yun hi. Karein to cya karin”

[ “Boss things have gone all wrong. This Umar, Anirban, Kanhaiya, Shehla, Naga and Asutosh, this haunting spirit of Rohith Vemula, and who knows how many more – they have all made a joke out of the government. Modiji has been made into a laughing stock. And the Sangh (RSS) is totally exposed, they have dropped their half pants (thats why they are thinking of trousers). And boss, in some places these rebel students made me laugh, they even made me cry. There’s substance in what Umar and Anirban are saying. It makes for a a crazy seditious tickling feeling under my skin, just like that.So what the hell should I do?” ]

The air crackled more than the walkie-talkies of plain clothes policemen do. It crackled with an infectious electricity. I saw faces bright with the infection of ‘azaadi’. I saw a nocturnal bouquet of gleaming blue Ambedkarite and red Communist flags fluttering together in the cool breeze like the festoons of some primeval rite of spring. I heard laughter, slogans and songs. I saw dancing. I saw tears of joy. I saw a sea of luminous eyes and smiles. I saw a young woman cradle a sleeping feral puppy and raise the loudest of slogans next to me. The puppy slept blissfully, knowing it was safe. The students were as awake as they could possibly be, and they too knew that tonight, they were safe, that Umar and Anirban were safe, and safe home. No one looked tired or exhausted, not even Umar or Anirban, who had just come back from a month in jail.

Earlier in the afternoon, Anupam Kher, Modi’s court jester, had come to JNU on a ‘pest control’ mission, to show a bad film and attempt to feed his hungry narcissism. I do not think he went away satisfied. After all, he had to face a gathering of mostly empty chairs. I hope he comes again, and listens, for a change. Picture flop nikli. But no one stopped him. No one was rude to him. He tried to squeeze some milage out of what he thought was the absurdity of giving a heroes welcome to people out on bail. He forgot, that the BJP president, Amit Shah was out on bail when he was elected president of his party.
 

Courtesy, India Resists

Celebrations at JNU began early, as soon as the news of Umar and Anirban’s bail order became public.
Image, courtesy, Pankhuri Zaheer

Meanwhile, by late afternoon, everyone had heard the news of the bail order, and JNU began celebrating. Holi, the festival of vibrant colours, began a few days earlier than usual. The spring whose arrival I had first noticed on the  13th and 14h of February, when the campus had  just begun to find its language of solidarity for Kanhayia (who had just been detained) and the other students who had gone underground (including Umar and Anirban) had become by now a heady, strong, intoxication in the air. Aaj masti thi. Rang tha. And like the song says, aaj fir jeene ki tamanna thi, aaj fir marne ka irada tha.

Umar spoke about everything. About the things that worried Anirban and him in jail. About the barbs he was thrown about having a Muslim name. Umar spoke again with great feeling about being reduced (like Rohith Vemula had said) to his ‘immediate identity’. But he gave this declaration a very profound depth this time. He said “what if I were, in fact, a believing Muslim, a bearded, skull cap wearing young man from Azamgarh, what would have happened to me, and what would I have experienced”, he underlined the need for all of us to stand with solidarity with any person unjustly confined against their will, regardless of their identity, regardless of whether or not they were believers, agnostics or atheists, regardless of whether they held opinions that we might disagree with.

He spoke condemning the slogans of ‘bharat ki barbaadi tak jang rahegi, jang rahegi’ that had been raised by some people on the 9th of February at the fringes of the programme ‘Country without a Post Office’, that he, Anirban and their friends had organized. But then he said, that the real reason why the RSS must be so mad at the airing of this slogan is because it amounted to a momentary distraction away from the fact that if anyone can take this country towards ‘barbaadi’ (‘destruction’) it can only be the RSS and its ‘parivar’ (family), and so, they are really cut up about having to share the credit for ‘barbaadi’ with any competitor. This had the audience roar with approval. And then Umar said, if a battle has to continue, it will do so until the RSS is destroyed. Because RSS ki Barbaadi mein hi Bharat ki Aabadi hai. The word Aabadi means both population as well as prosperity. We could say it suggests the ‘well being’ that lets a people be themselves, realize themselves. It is in this sense that Umar held out to his listeners the clear vision of a society free of the fascist, casteist, communal and hierarchical stain of the RSS. The ‘Aabadi’ of JNU, the assembled mass of students, had no problem understanding what Umar meant.

Umar ended his speech by taking Narendra Modi head on. He referred to the prime minister’s speech yesterday in a forum of so-called Sufis calling for peace. Umar said “Modi’s peace is the peace of the graveyard, a state of being bereft of justice”. He asked us all to disrupt this false peace, this unjust stable tranquility. He reminded us, paraphrasing Bhagat Singh, that a state of war already exists – the war of those in power against those without power, a war by the state against students in JNU, against workers in the Maruti factory, against adivasis (indigenous people) being driven out of jal-jangal-jameen (water-forest-land) by big capital, against soldiers made to fight unjust wars and battles, and against women, against dalits, against minorities, even against animals (he was referring to the violence unleashed by BJP politicians against a horse in Uttarakhand) and against everyone who questions the brute force of power and money.

A special round of applause broke out when Umar’s little sister, Sarah Fatima, made her own impromptu speech, saluting her brother, his friend, Anirban, Kanhaiya and the brave students of JNU. She reminded everyone that the struggle will not end until every person gets justice, until Prof. S.A.R Geelani, Saibaba and all other political prisoners are released. Her immense confidence, her pluck, her total faith in the love of all the young people around her made this twelve year old girl the mistress of her moment. I have seen her before, in rallies and marches, carrying flowers and signs in support of Umar and all the detained students, and what has always struck me is her beaming smile. She never looked the part of the suffering family member of a person in prison. She looked like a kid full of beans, eager to take on the world. Her optimism, her courage and her gentle, beautiful audacity will remain an inspiration. It will help us find ways to keep our spirits high whenever things look down.

When Anirban’s turn to speak came he started by leading the crowd through a whole host of slogans. His slight, frail frame, and quiet voice took sprung into a high octane, high velocity string of words that curved spiraled as they rose like the flight-path of some magnificent bird. Once the slogans were done, Anirban came back to his down-to-earth, friendly, resolute self. He spoke about how a lot of policemen had asked him, “Yeh Umar Khalid ka mamla to samajh mein aata hai, par Bhattacharjee, aap ?”, “We can see what makes Umar Khalid involved in all of this, but what dragged you into this mess” proving, as Umar had said earlier, that they were actually far more annoyed with his three fold treason – from his assumed religious identity, nationality and caste. Interspersed with anecdotes about the strange interplay between the real and the surreal aspects of their experiences in the last days, Anirban built up to a rousing set of rhetorical challenges – “If the taking away of the mid day meal from the starving, drought stricken peasants of bundelkhand is nationalism, then, yes, we are anti-national”, “if the suppression of the rights of maruti workers is nationalism, then, yes, we are anti-national”, “if the farce of ‘Make in India’ that sells a phone that doesn’t work with a tricolor screen made in China is nationalism, then we are anti-national”, “if the screaming of the cries of ‘bharat mata ki jai’ by VHP goons while raping Christian nuns in Odisha is nationalism, then we are anti-national”, and so on.

Anirban and Umar reminded their audience that the real reason why the Modi regime and the RSS-BJP-ABVP hate them is because they think. As Umar said, quoting a poem by Brecht, (and obliquely referring to the proposal to station tanks in universities to install ‘patriotic’ feelings) the real problem with JNU, and with all the universities and public education that the BJP government is trying to destroy (by slashing UGC support to the tune of 55%) is that they are all places in which young people think.
 

General, Your Tank is a Powerful Vehicle
It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.
But it has one defect:
It needs a driver.
General, your bomber is powerful.
It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.
But it has one defect:
It needs a mechanic.
General, man is very useful.
He can fly and he can kill.
But he has one defect:
He can think.

           Bertolt Brecht
 
Anirban ended by asking us to keep that ‘criticality’, that power of questioning alive. The night ended as every night must, with questions and song.

And so, a day of great expectations has ended in a night of celebration. And now its almost dawn.

Perhaps the morning that comes after this night will bring with it a new set of challenges. Perhaps the regime will ratchet up its venality. Perhaps it will go after teachers. Perhaps it will find new targets, other places of learning to march into. Or, perhaps it will realize that there is some wisdom in just letting things be. Perhaps it will rein in the dogs of war and viciousness it has unleashed. Perhaps it will build more statues, plant more flagpoles, destroy more flood-plains and forests to please cults and clients. Perhaps it will continue to waste our time. Whatever  it does, it will know, that we, the people, have tasted the sweetness of a small but significant victory. And we are hungry for more.

Umar and Anirban are home. I hope they are sleeping well. I hope their comrades have resisted the temptation to keep them up through the night to tell them one more story about Tihar Jail. They need rest, and all the energy they can gather. because this is just the beginning.

Abhi to bas angrai hai… (this is just a flexing of muscle)
You know the rest of the slogan, don’t you?

Wouldn’t it be appropriate to end a great day and a happy night with a song. This one goes out to Umar and Anirban. From all of us. [Thank you Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.]
 

Jai Bhim. Lal Salaam. Inquilab Zindabad.

Courtesy: Kafila.org

The post Mera Piya Ghar Aaya: Joy at JNU as Umar and Anirban return appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya have both been granted six months interim bail by the Sessions Court, Delhi.

Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh granted the bail plea of Umar and Anirban and directed both the accused to furnish Rs 25,000 as surety amount.Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Friday granted six months interim bail to JNU students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, slapped with sedition charges by the Delhi police. The Delhi police comes under the direct control of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), New Delhi.

Additional Sessions Judge Reetesh Singh granted the bail plea of Umar and Anirban and directed both the accused to furnish Rs 25,000 as surety amount. The two students had earlier moved the sessions court seeking bail on the grounds that since the co-accused and JNU student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar has been granted bail by the Delhi High Court in the present matter, both of them are entitled to be released on bail on the “ground of parity”. They had also told the court that allegations levelled against them of raising “anti-national slogans” hailing Afzal Guru are “false” and that they should be granted bail on these grounds.The duo further stated that they “have deep roots in the society” and would not flee from justice during the investigation.

Both Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya had raised the plea of parity with the JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who has been released by the Delhi High Court on an interim bail for six months. The applicants also said the incident, commemorating the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, did not attract the criminal provisions of sedition. The prosecution had contended that the allegations against the accused were grave and they were the main organisers of the event, in which some “anti-national” slogans were also raised. The intention of the two students, who were in judicial custody, was to “create hatred” against the established government, which attracted sedition charges, according to the prosecution.

The post JNU Controversy: Umar, Anirban granted six months interim bail by Delhi court appeared first on SabrangIndia.

भाषा, किसी भी संस्कृति का अहम चिह्न है और इस लिहाज से वैसे भी संघ और उसके हिंदुत्व के समर्थकों की भाषा, लगातार उनकी संस्कृति की पहचान रही है। पिछले 30 सालों में आरएसएस या विहिप से जुड़े कट्टरपंथी-विक्षिप्त लोग, लगातार मीडिया में अपने सम्पर्कों के दम पर नौकरियां जुगाड़ते आए हैं और आज ऊंचे पदों पर हैं। यह सायास ही नहीं है कि तमाम मीडिया, इस वक्त हिंदू कट्टरपंथ और अंधराष्ट्रवाद को भड़काने में लगी है। अनिल दीक्षित नाम के इस शख्स (पूर्व पत्रकार कहना, पत्रकारिता का अपमान है) उसी श्रृंखला की छोटी सी कड़ी है। हालांकि अनिल दीक्षित ने काफी फजीहत होने के बाद, यह पोस्ट डिलीट कर दी, लेकिन उसका स्नैपशॉट हमारे पास है। यही नहीं, इन सज्जन ने लम्बे समय पहले नौकरी छोड़ देने के बावजूद, सोशल मीडिया पर अभी तक ख़ुद को एक बड़े अखबार में सम्पादक स्तर का पत्रकार बताया हुआ था, पोस्ट पर विवाद के बाद, इन्होंने अब ख़ुद को पूर्व पत्रकार कर दिया है। हालांकि इनकी भाषा और सोच से पत्रकार होने की हल्की सी भी गंध नहीं आती है। इनकी भाषा का संक्षिप्त विश्लेषण इस तरह देखिए…

जेएनयू में वामपंथ की काली कोख  
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दरअसल यह मुहावरा, काली कोख, सिर्फ वामपंथ से वैचारिक विरोध से नहीं आता है। यह महिलाओं के खिलाफ भी छुपे हुए नज़रिए का प्रतीक है। वरना कोख, जो कि ओवरी के लिए प्रयोग होता है, उसकी जगह स्रोत का कोई और विकल्प भी इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता था।
इनकी भी धुनाई चाहिए, वकील करें या जेल में कैदी  
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जेल के अंदर किसी व्यक्ति को न्यायिक सुरक्षा प्राप्त होती है, जो अदालत और संविधान की शक्ति से संचालित है। साफ है कि अनिल दीक्षित नाम का यह व्यक्ति आपराधिक प्रवृत्ति का व्यक्ति है, जो क़ानून को या संविधान को कुछ नहीं समझता।
ये लौंडे कैदियों का कई रात 'काम चला' सकते हैं 
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हालांकि इसके ज़रिए इस मनोरोगी ने एक तरह से समलैंगिकता के समाज में होने को मान्यता दे दी है, लेकिन यह बात यह यौन उत्पीड़न और यंत्रणा के संदर्भ में कर रहा है। मतलब साफ है कि यह व्यक्ति बदला लेने के लिए किसी के यौन उत्पीड़न का सही मानता है। मतलब मूल प्रवृत्ति में ही यह ख़तरनाक़ मनोरोगी है और कभी ख़ुद भी ऐसा कर चुका है या कर सकता है। इसको पागलखाने भेजे जाने की ज़रूरत है। हैरानी है कि इसको ऐसे बड़े अखबार ने सम्पादक बनाया था।

बलात्कार का मज़ा  
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जिस तरह से यह व्यक्ति बलात्कार को किसी वैचारिक विरोध की सज़ा के तौर पर इस्तेमाल करने का हिमायती है। कल को संभव है कि यह वैचारिक विरोध किसी महिला की ओर से आए, तब भी यह ऐसे ही तरीके का समर्थन करे। ऐसे व्यक्ति की जगह भी जेल या पागलखाना ही है। ज़रा सोच कर देखिए कि किसी भी स्थिति में बलात्कार को सज़ा के तौर पर देखने वाला व्यक्ति आखिर कितना समझदार हो सकता है।

इसकी भाषा के विश्लेषण के आधार पर यह व्यक्ति न केवल यौन कुंठित है, बल्कि हिंसक रूप से मनोरोग के स्तर पर है। इसके जितनी जल्दी हो इलाज की ज़रूरत है। दुर्भाग्य यह तो है ही कि यह एक बड़े मीडिया संस्थान में ऐसे पद पर रहा, जहां और लोगों पर भी असर डालता रहा होगा, बल्कि बड़ा दुर्भाग्य यह है कि यह देश ऐसे ही लोगों की पागल भीड़ में बदलता जा रहा है।

(लेखक, पूर्व टीवी पत्रकार हैं। टेलीविजन, रेडियो और प्रिंट समाचार मीडिया में एक दशक से अधिक का अनुभव, फिलहाल स्वतंत्र लेखन करते हैं।)

The post पूर्व पत्रकार, वर्तमान हिंसक मनोरोगी! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Facebook page firsr had the ‘journalist’ describing himself as a Deputy Editor of Dainik Jagran, After journalists phoned and questioned the paper he changed this to “former Deputy Editor.”Within hours of journalists and activists circulating and questioning Dainik Jagran on the post, the post too has been deleted.

In a shockingly worded post, that can be interpreted as incitement to violence against the students, he says,

“The two traitors to the nation – Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya – who have emerged from JNU’s dark womb, will today be presented before court by the police. As they have been charged under section 124A, the question of a bail to them is out of the question…. They too should be thrashed, whether by lawyers or other prisoners in jail. These boys could ‘service’ the prisoners for many nights, the same way the accused in the Nirbhaya case were forced to ‘service’ them. Prisoners can help them ‘enjoy getting raped’. This way the traitors will also realise how an Afzal cannot be born in every home. Nationalists like us are thirsting for action.”

His facebook page says that he is a practicing lawyer who worked in senior journalistic posts earlier. He studied ‘Political Philosophy’ at the Dr. BR Ambedkar University, Agra.

The original FB Post by (Dr) Anil Dikshit in Hindi:
“डॉ. अनिल दीक्षित
जेएनयू में वामपंथ की काली कोख से पैदा देशद्रोही उमर खालिद और अनिर्बान भट्टाचार्य को पुलिस आज कोर्ट में पेश करेगी, धारा 124ए में फिलहाल तो जमानत मिलेगी नहीं… इनकी भी धुनाई चाहिए, वकील करें या जेल में कैदी। ये लौंडे कैदियों का कई रात 'काम चला' सकते हैं, जैसे निर्भया कांड के दोषी चलाते थे, कैदी उन्हें 'बलात्कार का मज़ा' महसूस कराते थे। इस बहाने इन्हें पता भी चल जाएगा कि हर घर से अफज़ल यूं ही नहीं निकल सकता। हम देशप्रेमियों की भुजाएं फड़क रही हैं…
https://www.facebook.com/akdagra?fref=nf

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