Stop this farce. Student politics isn’t anti-national

If the RSS and its extended parivar didn't hate Jawaharlal Nehru so much, they could have read him. If they did, they'd find possibly one of the best definitions of nationalism, much needed by them as they try to ride roughshod over a university named after him. 

“Nationalism is good in its place,'' Nehru had said in Discovery of India, “but it is an unreliable friend and an unsafe historian. It blinds us to many happenings, and sometimes distorts the truth, especially when it concerns our own history.” 

It is certainly distorting the BJP government's view of what anti-national is. 

It is not anti-national to espouse faith in the Constitution or to say that he doesn't need a certificate of patriotism from RSS, like Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNUSU president jailed for “sedition”, did. As he said: “We belong to this country. We love this country. We fight for the 80 per cent of the poor population of this country. For us, this is nation worship.” 

JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar Speech against RSS before arrested

If you have been living under a rock or watching only a particular TV channel which has appropriated the nationalist cause, watch the complete speech (see below). Kanhaiya Kumar is not anti-national. What is anti-national is to quote from a fake Twitter handle and allow a criminal like Hafiz Saaed to call us out.

It is not anti-national for teachers to regard their students as family, as Ajay Patnaik did. It is not anti-national to support your students as JNU teachers did, even finding time for humour (I urge all who have not done so to watch the brilliant Ayesha Kidwai speak of being "touched by the nation" when speaking of being harassed by goons). 

See it here:

Ayesha Kidwai Speaks on Behalf of JNUTA

It is not anti-national to define nationalism the way Nivedita Menon did: "We don't say, Kashmir hamara hai, par Kashmiri hamare nahin. We don't believe a nation pre-exists. We believe a nation is a daily plebiscite. It is a struggle for the soul of India. It is a joint struggle. Campuses are in ferment. Our weapons are twitter handles. Our weapons are the words and the moral strength."

It is, however, anti-national to call journalists anti-national for marching in solidarity with JNU students, as a certain police commissioner did. 

It is not anti-national to study at JNU, coming from all over India to learn from the best and get a shot at the Great Indian Dream, a world-class education at a fraction of the price of the West. Listen to Shehla Rashid, JNUSU vice president, asking for the voice of JNU to be echoed through social media, and talking about what desh prem is. ''Ha, hum tax payer ke paise par padte hain, Ambani ke paise par nahin... Hamein azadi chaihye deshdrohiyon se, WTO se, jaatwad se, gender dsicriminatory laws se, 377 aur sedition jaise ghatiya kanoon se, Armed Forces Special Powers Act se, har tarah ke soshan se, aur ek per cent ki ghulami se.'' 

Listen to her here:

JNU Crackdown: Watch Student Union's Vice President Shehla Rashid Speaking

It is, however, anti-national to assume that it is thanks to the personal largesse of the minister for human resource development.

It is not anti-national to report on the assault on JNU even though men dressed as lawyers threaten "leave or you will be harmed''. It is, however, anti-national to kick and beat up young people after identifying them as JNU students. 

It is anti-national to equate nationalism with being pro-government.

It is anti-national to describe JNU women students as ugly call girls.

It is anti-national to forget your own roots in student politics - yes, surprising though it may seem, some ministers in this very government cut their teeth on university politics during the Emergency.

Remember you were young once.

You could have been Kanhaiya Kumar.