Left-leaning JNU teachers are now criminals for Delhi Police
It has been reported that the Delhi Police had sent a list of 21 "Left-leaning" teachers to the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). The JNU administration has not denied it, though the police, as usual, are pretending nothing has happened.
Does the Delhi Police, semi-literate in such matters, know what Left-leaning means? Nehru, after whom the university was named, has often been accused of being Left-leaning and even Left, and wore that accusation as a badge of pride.
Krishna Menon was often called a leftist, and was proud of it. He stood for the Lok Sabha with Left support.
I am a bit confused about the term Left-leaning. Is the Left not Left-leaning? Which Left is not leaning left? Is there a Left which is centrist-leaning? Or a Left that is right-leaning?
Many of us are just Left, straight up. We are not leaning any which way, despite the police's colonial mindset. If we are Left or Left-leaning, so what? Under the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression (Article 19 of the Constitution), there should be no curb on speech and expression, unless it infringes on public order and laws.
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| Is the Left not Left-leaning? Which Left is not leaning left? |
There is no bar on being Left-leaning. The Left Front was in power in West Bengal for 34 years, while the Left Front is still in power in Tripura, and has been for a very long time. In Kerala, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) has been in power several times, and is tipped to win again. The communist and Left parties are represented in Parliament, legislative assemblies, and so on.
Who has authorised the Delhi Police to make a watch list of Left or Left-leaning teachers in the JNU? Under which law has this been done? We know we are not popular with the ruling coalition. They are not popular with us, especially after the last motivated assault on the JNU.
But democracy is about respect for diversity, for regard for dissenting views, which is why many different streams of thought contend. This is not colonial India, though the Delhi Police resurrected the sedition law to apply it to the JNU students.
But no Left-leaning list will frighten us, though we would demand to see this list, as well as knowing who thought up this hare-brained scheme. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Delhi Police et al may please note: You are attacking the wrong university once again. We are always ready to defend our rights.