I am a student

I remember my 12th class days when I was mugging my books. Boards were around the corner . My only aim was to get a decent percentage. Get a seat in a reputated college of Du. So was the case with many such students who were preparing for their entrances like JEE , NEET , AIIMS , CLAT .  We wanted that our parents should proudly beat their chest , with their heads high, a vigour in their voice say ' my child's future is bright , he is today studying in one of the top educational institutions of India' .

Today when I write this blog , close to two years have passed . I get up in the morning and read in the newspaper- students of DU , IIT's , NLU's are on the street. Students are protesting against increased jnu fees . Their teachers are on strike demanding their absorption'. We now fear, who will teach us. The central government does not care a shit about it . Students who protest against CAA are fired pallet guns. In such a scenario , a student who studied hard to get a seat in an institution of his dream today feels cheated.

One sudden day , My friend calls me and says 'These JNU students are anti national , they destroy public property'. He argues  'why can't they pay such minimum rate of hostel fees. They get subsidised education and they demand Azaadi .They want to devide the country' . He interrupts me as I try to defend JNU students . I didn't get annoyed . I can relate such uninformed days . The days when I was in my school , watched those flashing one hour debates of MOdia abusing these JNU students . I cut my phone , decide to write a blog . A place where my friend won't interrupt me . I know I might be abused or get a few  friendship breaking threats. Those friends with whom I have also abused JNU students. However , I feel that this won't happen but the popular phrase - 'Modi he to mumkin he ' strikes me . Using what Socrates said , true reason , I decide to pour my wrath out . I sit to write a blog.

People fail to understand the relevance of JNU as an institute . They disregard the fact that almost half of the JNU students are poor who in spite of all odds clear the entrance . These students want to get a degree and become a part of an institute which has produced great academians . They cannot pay those increased fees . They protest, they are beaten . Media houses flash them as anti nationals . Students like me who dream to clear JNU entrance recieve a call from our parents ' 'You wanted to give entrance of such an universities where students don't study , they do protest' . But you know , this is the point . The state doesn't want the students to study . They want them to come on streets, put in their sweat, shout their voice out. They are beaten in return, pallet guns are fired on them .

Why does the government want to increase the fees when it has more than 5000 crore of education cess left with it. The reason why they want to do so is , they want to kill the very culture of JNU . They want to make it a private University where a selective crowd of rich brats will come who won't protest, won't ever raise their voice against anything which government does. Increased fees will effect future of a student who is a first generation learner of his family, whose father is a labourer , a farmer. It won't effect a student who comes from a well enough family. Many students come from remote areas and badly want to get a seat in such prestigious institutes, they get selected as well because they don't want to be a labourer , a farmer . They don't want to be someone who is promised the most but gets nothing in return .

Isaiah Berlin talked about the concept of slippery slope. This principal is true with regard to JNU fee Hike . They have today increased fee in JNU , sooner they will do so in DU and all other universities . How will a middle class child study then . Education will slip on this slope . Plato in his republic wrote , one of the prime reason why Athens lost against Sparta was - 'Education was privatised . It was the privilege of few' . So he wanted that every one should get education from state . But the present government wants to restrict it to few.

Continuing the hunt of destroying educational institutes, government's next target after JNU was DU . More than 4k ad-hoc teachers were removed from their jobs. When they protested , police threw water canons on them . They are today sleeping outside VC office in this shivering cold . Singing songs of solidarity, demanding their absorption . There are teachers who have spent their life as ad-hoc and one fine day , government decides to remove them .

A government which claims it to be secular brings a citizenship act which is against The principle of shared identity which our constitution entails . Forget that , Students in Jamia , in AMU protested against CAA . Police fired pallet guns on them . It broke library glasses and fired tear gas on students who were  hiding .  It went into AMU girls hostel . Many students got injured . Several of them were detained .  This shows the cruel side of this government . It wants to shut every voice against it .

Government forgot that Jamia Campus was not a border or an area where terrorists were killing innocent people , it was an university campus where students were protesting . The right which the constitution gives them . The right which no one can take from them .

The modi-shah led BJP government is thinking that the Might is always right but the might no longer remains right once people starts protesting against it . The whole of country is burning today . Assam , Bengal , Kashmir is under riots . There are voices challenging government in some north Indian states as well. The government should not forget that the famous Ramleela Maidan protest in 1975 started from a hike in hostel mess fee. It took the form of a total revolution . Public voted against Indira Gandhi . She lost the general elections.

The most ironic thing is that the party which rose to power from the stage of Ram leela Maidan demanding total revolution is today doing the same which Indira Gandhi once did. It is crushing every voice of dissent. But until when . The throne give pleasure only till it is supported by people .

I am a student, I have read in history that every movement any Indian has ever prided themselves upon was started and kept alive by students.

We have not forgot GDP fall , we still remember your failure to provide employment. We remember 'Indira hatao' slogans. It won't take much time for us to chant the slogan 'Modi hatao' . After all its democracy , people make leaders and destroy them as well .