Paranjapes book offers insiders account of JNU affairs
New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Just because Indias academic and intellectual circles have seen Left-wing intolerance for long it would be a grave mistake to substitute it with Right-wing intolerance cautions JNU professor Makarand R Paranjape in his book billed as an insiders account of the varsityIn JNU Nationalism and Indias Uncivil War Paranjape seeks to find the truth behind the controversies that have plagued the JNU especially since the last six years – from anti-nationalism to arrest of student leaders to the disappearance of a student who to date remains untracedParanjape says his book is neither merely a collection of anecdotes or personal experiences nor is an exercise in institutional historiography or hagiography but an informed insiders account of the cataclysmic changes in the JNU during 2016-2021He feels the image of the university has taken a severe beating in the last five years so much so that many parents do not wish to send their children to study thereWhile the book published by Rupa deplores the ideological hegemony and intolerance of the Left in JNU arguing that it has brought the university to such a sorry pass it also makes a case for not simply substituting the dogmatic Left with the doctrinaire RightThere should not be an attempt to merely substitute the Left with the Right but a comprehensive reform should be facilitated which will include a better administration cleaner campus and better amenities he suggestsThe book pleads for restoration of civil disagreement in place of bitter opposition dialogue rather than irreconcilable conflict It proposes remedial strategies of dealing with differences along with intermedial hermeneutics to negotiate extreme positions and bipolar oppositionsThe book begins with the outline of the wider context The national even worldwide debates on liberalism and nationalism form the core of the first chapterIn the next chapter the author narrates how he joined the JNU under somewhat unusual circumstances and also recounts his culture shock at confronting its time-warped Leftist politics which I considered a combination of delusion and opportunismThe third chapter is about the events that led to those fateful days in February 2016 Starting on February 9 the university entered a phase of turbulence when a rally was taken out against the so-called judicial murder of two convicted criminals Afzal Guru and Maqbool BhatThe chapter goes on to recount the slogans that were shouted on campus the clash between two student groups and how the JNU came for all the wrong reasons into national and international limelightParanjape also talks about the lecture on nationalism that he delivered at the Teach-in on March 3 2016In this most comprehensive and augmented version of my talk I record how I confronted the then JNU Students Union JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar he writesIn the books epilogue Paranjape mentions how for a change the JNU campus went quiet not because of political unrest or student protests but because of a global pandemicIronically the Left always endorsed and espoused what has been called JNUs anti-hygiene politics It made for an open but somewhat dirty campus But with the novel coronavirus pandemic it is hygiene – clean hands and face masks – that sees our best defence And of course vaccination he writesAccording to him this pandemic may also serve as an opportunity to be the JNUs inflexion point cleansing it so to speak of excessive Leftist and Right-wing politicsPerhaps the COVID-19 pandemic will do what the administration couldnt reboot JNU comprehensively he says PTI ZMN RDS RDS
New Delhi Mar 30 PTI Just because Indias academic and intellectual circles have seen Left-wing intolerance for long it would be a grave mistake to substitute it with Right-wing intolerance cautions JNU professor Makarand R Paranjape in his book billed as an insiders account of the varsityIn JNU Nationalism and Indias Uncivil War Paranjape seeks to find the truth behind the controversies that have plagued the JNU especially since the last six years – from anti-nationalism to arrest of student leaders to the disappearance of a student who to date remains untracedParanjape says his book is neither merely a collection of anecdotes or personal experiences nor is an exercise in institutional historiography or hagiography but an informed insiders account of the cataclysmic changes in the JNU during 2016-2021He feels the image of the university has taken a severe beating in the last five years so much so that many parents do not wish to send their children to study thereWhile the book published by Rupa deplores the ideological hegemony and intolerance of the Left in JNU arguing that it has brought the university to such a sorry pass it also makes a case for not simply substituting the dogmatic Left with the doctrinaire RightThere should not be an attempt to merely substitute the Left with the Right but a comprehensive reform should be facilitated which will include a better administration cleaner campus and better amenities he suggestsThe book pleads for restoration of civil disagreement in place of bitter opposition dialogue rather than irreconcilable conflict It proposes remedial strategies of dealing with differences along with intermedial hermeneutics to negotiate extreme positions and bipolar oppositionsThe book begins with the outline of the wider context The national even worldwide debates on liberalism and nationalism form the core of the first chapterIn the next chapter the author narrates how he joined the JNU under somewhat unusual circumstances and also recounts his culture shock at confronting its time-warped Leftist politics which I considered a combination of delusion and opportunismThe third chapter is about the events that led to those fateful days in February 2016 Starting on February 9 the university entered a phase of turbulence when a rally was taken out against the so-called judicial murder of two convicted criminals Afzal Guru and Maqbool BhatThe chapter goes on to recount the slogans that were shouted on campus the clash between two student groups and how the JNU came for all the wrong reasons into national and international limelightParanjape also talks about the lecture on nationalism that he delivered at the Teach-in on March 3 2016In this most comprehensive and augmented version of my talk I record how I confronted the then JNU Students Union JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar he writesIn the books epilogue Paranjape mentions how for a change the JNU campus went quiet not because of political unrest or student protests but because of a global pandemicIronically the Left always endorsed and espoused what has been called JNUs anti-hygiene politics It made for an open but somewhat dirty campus But with the novel coronavirus pandemic it is hygiene – clean hands and face masks – that sees our best defence And of course vaccination he writesAccording to him this pandemic may also serve as an opportunity to be the JNUs inflexion point cleansing it so to speak of excessive Leftist and Right-wing politicsPerhaps the COVID-19 pandemic will do what the administration couldnt reboot JNU comprehensively he says PTI ZMN RDS RDS
