[MTC Global] Curbing Academic Freedom [Your View]

Curbing academic freedom

BJP’s attack on St Xaviers Principal betrays its insensitivity to dissent and lack of faith in autonomy of institutions of higher learning

The open e-mail of principal of Mumbai’s prestigious St Xaviers College to his students, slamming Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model and praising Congress initiatives like Food Security Bill has set the cat among pigeons, triggering a controversy and a nationwide political debate. The provoked and outraged BJP, which has approached the Election Commission, has invoked the question of ethics in using educational institutions for churning political debate. By doing so, the BJP has questioned the autonomy of institutions of higher education and their right to intellectual freedom. It is irrelevant if theeducational institutions are partly or fully funded by the government. They are places that are expected to not just churn out good academic results but also inspire critical thinking rooted in the socio-economic and political ground realities among students. In that light, the conduct of the principal is justified and no amount of hair splitting over whether he was well within his rights to air his views or whether it was proper for him to use the college website to do so can de-legitimise the right of educational institutions of higher learning to bring political debates on campuses in pursuance of making youth socially and politically conscious. This is exactly what the Mumbai college principal has done, not airing his partisan views, but offering a rational and comparative critique of Gujarat’s corporatized model and the Congress’ model of social welfare schemes. It does not amount to influencing students; it only inspires them to think, view things critically and take their decisions and in doing so the principal needs to be congratulated for having done his job with a sense of responsibility and fair play.   The stung BJP’s over-reaction to the principal’s e-mail is flawed for several reasons. First of all, it smacks of hypocrisy. Campuses across the country are thriving homes to students wings of all political parties, even with the added disadvantage of criminalized goons joining ranks of such student wings. The BJP is no exception; infact its own units of student wing ABVP has been accused of using intimidation and violence to coerce students and even threaten faculty members on a number of occasions. The politics on the campuses of key institutions has often played a palpable role in election campaigning and politicians have used campuses for their rallies and speeches. A year ago, when Narendra Modi descended on Delhi University’s Sri Ram College of Commerce to sell his Gujarat model, did it not amount to bringing political debate to the campus? Should the BJP memory be so short term as to forget that to make Modi SRCC rally possible, not only did police had to use water cannons and lathi-charge to push back students democratically protesting against his visit but also the saffron brigade’s student wings had to go on an over-drive of bullying tactics to seek revenge and silence the dissenters. So is the BJP trying to say that bringing political wings and encouraging a culture of political hooliganism in campuses is fine but inculcating healthy debates about politics is unacceptable?  Second, the BJP’s claim that the college principal’s letter amounts to influencing minds of students is not only preposterous but also ridiculous. The principal has not asked his students to vote or not vote for any particular party but simply dissected the Gujarat model, explaining the pitfalls of reliance on corporate sector for economic growth and talked about the significance of emphasis on social sector in India, through which he praises some existing government schemes in social sector. He ends up by asking students to think and take their decisions. There is no element of coercion. Besides, such an argument that ‘an educational institution’s head offering his critique of socio-political issues amounts to influencing students’ is to undermine the intelligence of students and their capacity to engage in a crucial debate. In a country where BJP is fighting elections purely on excessive pumping of money to inflate its image and that of its prime ministerial candidate through well oiled propaganda machinery, advertisements, advertorials and paid news, it makes a mockery of things to presume that provoking a rational debate among adults of voting age is akin to influencing. Thirdly, the communal colour that the BJP has been trying to give to the principal’s e-mail smacks of a xenophobic tendency and this must be discarded immediately before it has its dangerous spill-over effect.  Fourthly, and more importantly, educational institutions cannot be isolated from the politically surcharged atmosphere or from the socio-economic ground realities of the country and the world. Promoting a healthy culture of debating and discussing adds to the health of these institutions which churn out not only pass outs ready to pursue their respective careers but also leaders engaging in political and social issues. It would do the right wing, which believes less in looking back at the course of history and more in re-writing it, to read the pages of history not very long ago and see how various educational institutions and the movements that sprung within played a crucial role in the freedom struggle of the country, also during the infamous period of Emergency that the BJP loves to talk about to silence the Congress.  The BJP opposition to the letter and the entire furore over it stems from its genetic DNA of intolerance. It is not about questioning the methods employed by the Mumbai college’s academic, much less about challenging his views; it is indeed about opposing the very idea of dissenting views and democratic thoughts, the ability and legitimacy of anyone to offer a critique that does not augur well with its own unprincipled ideology. Besides, it also challenges the very rationale of thinking.

 

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Educate, Empower, Elevate

Prof. Bholanath Dutta

Founder, Convener & President

Email: president@knowledgecafe.org

            president@mtcglobal.org