The other ‘anti-nationals’: ‘Azadi’ has many meanings at Kolkata's Jadavpur University

In its more than 50-year-long history, Jadavpur University’s sprawling campus spread over 60 acres has been no stranger to student demonstrations. It was only in 2014 that the "Hok Kolorob" (Let there be noise) movement galvanised the university as students demonstrated against then-Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, who attracted much criticism for calling in police to break up a non-violent protest.

Over the past few days though, a different movement has sprung up.

On February 16, a group of students decided to take out a rally to protest against the events in Jawaharlal Nehru University on February 12, in particular against the booking of Kanhaiya Kumar by the police on charges of sedition. It was a move to express solidarity, as one of the organisers Shounak Mukhopadhyay pointed out.

This was the same rally which soon came into the crosshairs of the media, ostensibly because some members of the rally raised slogans for Kashmiri self-determination and in support of Afzal Guru.

“The main aim of the rally was three-pronged – to protest against saffron terror, state terror and this narrative of anti-national which the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have started,” clarified Mukhopadhyay. “This was our common minimum programme – we had deliberately decided not to avoid any connection with Kashmiri nationalism as there was a lack of consensus on the issue.”

Many definitions

Mukhopadhyay said that a very small group of people had raised what were called “anti-national” slogans during the rally on Tuesday. But the consensus in the university is clear that “Azadi” as a slogan is far more complex than how it has been interpreted.

“Drawing a map of a country does not automatically mean I have to accept it as ‘my’ country,” said Jubi Saha, one of the protesters of the original rally. But student activist Dibyokamal Mitra took it a step further: “’Azadi’ is a right of the citizen to their land. And here I deliberately mention ‘land’ and not ‘country’. Tell me this, why should students not have the freedom to discuss the issue of Kashmiri self-determination? Why should we not discuss the atrocities which the Kashmiri people have endured under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act? Is all this anti-national?”

But it can have different meanings as well. “Since 2010, we have fought for a variety of causes. We organised protests against the Nirbhaya gangrape in 2011, fought against the criminalisation of homosexuality in 2012. ‘Azadi’ does not only imply freedom for Kashmir, Nagaland or anywhere else. It means freedom...freedom from oppression, from patriarchy, from caste violence,” said Mukhopadhyay.

Posters torn down

The next day, February 17, saw violence on the campus. A separate group of students, carrying the national flag and shouting slogans like “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Stop eulogising terrorists”, barged into the university and tore down posters and festoons which they deemed anti-national. There were minor clashes between them and opposing groups of students.

“We were all engrossed in a meeting when we suddenly heard these slogans,” recounted Mukhopadhyay. “We came out to see what was happening. There was utter shock at first before we immediately put up a barricade in front of them. We wanted to make a non-violent protest because had we resorted to any sort of provocation, there would not have been any difference between us. But...,” he paused, and his voice hardened, “in retrospect, we should not have been shocked. This is the ideological viewpoint of the BJP and the RSS. They have no interest in debates and critical discussions. It was an utterly condemnable incident.”

The genesis could have been on social media, said Mitra, where rumours spread on various Jadavpur University groups that students, deemed anti-national, would not get jobs. “This linking of jobs to nationalism may have led to the counter-rally," Mitra said. "But the the protesters carrying national flags even tore down posters which called for freedom to the oppressed tea-workers. The other interesting fact is that I do not remember seeing even a single woman in the rally.”

Violence narrowly averted

Things came to a head on February 18 afternoon. Inside the campus, a large mass of students, chanting slogans against right-winger forces, settled in front of Gate 4, one of the main entries to the campus. This was in a response to another counter-rally called by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad who wanted to march to the gate and protest against “anti-national” slogans raised within the university.

With tempers rising high, the Kolkata Police barricaded the ABVP protesters around 100 metres away from Gate 4. The protesters, comprising mostly middle-aged men waving the tricolour and carrying posters of Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, were not a happy lot. “How dare you protect the ‘Deshdrohis’?” roared Biswajit Paul, one of the protesters at the rally to police. “This is a conspiracy forged by the Naxals with ISI help,” said another protester named Gora Chatterjee, referring to Pakistan's intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence.

The air was thick with slogans in Bengali and in Hindi:

“Deshdrohir kotha bollei, petano hobe. (if you talk like a traitor, you will be beaten)” and

“Deshdrohi ke ghar ghar mein ghusenge aur nikaalke maarenge (we will enter the houses of traitors and beat them up)”.

Some sneaked through the barricade and lay down on the ground, daring police to pick them up. A few protesters preferred not to give their name, saying they were “Bharat” and their names were “Hindustan”.

Inside Jadavpur University, the large group of students that had congregated remained firm that they would not allow ABVP’s protesters inside the university. “In a way, it was incredible,” said Mitra. “There was a broad Left unity in the university – individuals who did not even have any affiliations to any forum turned up. The leaders were not deciding what to do. It was spontaneously decided by everyone present there that they would block the entrance and not allow the counter-protesters to enter.”

A two-hour long standoff ensued but the police kept firm. A few ABVP protesters broke through the barricades but stopped before they could come close. The Jadavpur University protest march also spilled over on the main road. But an unprecedented event happened – many teachers came out on the street and formed a human chain to ensure their students would not come to harm.

“You have to come out for your community when you see things like this happening,” said Sumita Sen, a teacher in the Women’s Studies departments and one of those present in the human chain. “A university is a place for freedom of speech and ideas. It is a place where young minds should be encouraged to question the world. Disagreements may occur but it should be answered with dialogue.”

There was a brief interruption when a separate third rally, comprising a few Congress flags arrived on the scene as well. But the police stepped in there as well and did not allow them to come close to Jadavpur University. Finally after a long standoff, both the ABVP rally and the Jadavpur University rally went back to where they came from, thus ending a precarious situation.

Online threats

There might now exist an uneasy calm, but the debate around nationalism continues at the University. “I support the Constitution of India.” said Mitra. “ But that does not mean it is set in stone. It should change with times and we must learn to have these debates about it. The Constitution should change with people, but not vice-versa”

But the battle has now shifted to the online world in an ugly manner. Triparna Dey Sarkar, a student from the Arts department, was also at the February 16 rally. Her Facebook profile was shared on a group called “Narendra Modi Sena West Bengal 2” and she has been on the receiving end of hateful threats.

“I have received and continue to receive threats of rape...even death threats,” said Sarkar. “The language which they have used is utterly obscene and derogatory. It shows the level of crassness among their supporters. Every Jadavpur University student is not anti-national.”