DEATH TO FASCISM, POWER TO PEOPLE

A disease is spreading across India, a disease called nationalism! The Brahminical Fascist idea of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan is the ‘sacred thread’ within which the Indian nationalism is trying to get constructed. This is in continuation of their nefarious design of Akand bharat where there is no place for religious and ethnic minorities, OBCs, dalits and the indigenous people. For the past 15 days the disease of nationalism is spreading across India and whoever questions this Parpania Fascist idea of India is called Anti National. The brahminical Fascists put forth Hindutva as their ideology and indulge in a deceptive patriotic sloganeering, projecting themselves as the only alternative. The parliamentary left as well as the revolutionary and democratic forces who are steadfast in their struggle against Hindu Communalism, do not clearly demarcate their ideology and organization – v z. Parpaniam (Brahminism) combined with, Fascism. With the result, the offensive loses its sharpness gets scatters and misses the target. Hinduism is not a religion but it is an ideology of Brahminism that upholds the institution of socio economic oppression called caste system. If RSS says that we are imposing Brahmanism, people will reject it. That’s why they are using the mask of ‘hindutuva’ which is a synonym for Brahminism. That’s why they are imposing a single Brahministic culture of Hindi, Hindu and Hindustan, the base for the Indian Nationalism. Whoever opposes this model is called anti national. That’s how Comrade Rohith Vemula and Comrade Kanhaiya Kumar are called Anti nationals.

On the evening of 9^th Feb, some individuals organised a programme named ‘A country without a post office’ on two major issues. One is about the judicial murder of Afzal Guru and the other one about the self determination of Kashmir. As usual the right wing forces (ABVP) came to disrupt the event, however one must note that unlike many previous incidents where ABVP would get permissions withdrawn and create a ruckus, this event was disrupted and attacked in a meticulously planned manner, in front of the media. ABVP’s roadblock should also be seen as a part of that. We stand with the democratic right to debate, discuss and organize programs. As universities are such democratic spaces to question which affects the country such as AFSPA, land acquisition bills, militarised zones of this country, oppressed nationalities fight for right to self-determination, budgets, cutting down of subsidies for farmers, students, and of course colonial outdated laws like sedition etc.

We see this witch hunt and state terror on JNU and persecution of student activists under the baseless sedition charges is just a small step in the RSS agenda of saffronization of education. Still, since a major controversy has stirred up due to certain slogans raised in the cultural programme, we will clarify our position on the same. ‘Pakistan zindabad’- It was never raised by anyone. This shows how the rightwing backed news channels are party in concoction of evidence that lead to the media trial. ‘Bharat tere tukde honge, insha allah, insha allah’ and ‘Bharat ki barbadi tak jung rahegi’- These are unnecessary and unwanted slogans not backed by any ideology. The organisers should have been more careful and not let their platform be hijacked by such sloganeering which diverts the whole issue of ‘judicial murder of Afzal Guru’ and ‘the right to self-determination.’ However we maintain that such slogans, that can be perceived as divisive, come from a particular material, historical and social context and there is a history of oppression that stirs up this anger. Also such sloganeering, which is an expression of dissent can never be criminalized. ‘Tum kitne Afzal Maroge, Har Ghar se Afzal Nikalega’, ‘Kashmir maange Azadi’- this expresses anger over the state violence and long struggle of Kashmiri people. The violence and militaristic presence has led this anger to exist and survive. The ‘right to self-determination’ of nationalities is nothing new, and has been there against this monolithic idea of ‘nation’ and sloganeering by students who come from various parts of this country represents contending views, and expression of dissent can never be criminalized in a real democratic country.  

On Self-Determination & the Kashmir Issue: India is not a nation but can be called as a country or sub-continent. It is a prison house of nationalities like Kashmiris, Tamils, Nagas, and Assamese etc. The Indian nationalities are forcefully united not by any mutual understanding or agreement. These borders that mark the territory of India are a consequence of a transfer of power from the British to Indian elites that actively engage in imposing its hegemonic Parpania agenda and destroying the various cultures that are unique to different nationalities within India. One has to acknowledge the situation specific to Kashmir- the Indian and Pakistani occupation of the valley has been violent. The Indian state through its army has terrorised the people of Kashmir. From a situation like that a demand for self-determination should occur systematically through referendum as the name itself suggests. As long as the aspirations of the common people of Kashmir are reflected in the verdict, it will be a fight for self-determination and not another separatist movement. In this light we should note that just like the Indian occupation, Pakistan has also occupied a part of Kashmir. Religious fundamentalists instigating separation from Pakistan/India should not be mistaken for common people who want self-determination. One can take the example of Amannullah Khan, who like Maqbool Bhat, was fighting for self-determination in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to illustrate this point further.

Why This Attack on JNU? We argue that the current attack on JNU was not just a result of a programme on Afzal Guru or because of pro-azadi slogans; this crackdown can be explained by the RSS plan to saffronize higher educational institutions in the country. When FTII protested against the appointment of a sanghi as their director, they faced the same consequences; when APSC from IIT-M conducted study circles that were critical of the Modi govt, they were banned too and the exact same end was met by ASA of HCU as they screened Muzzafarnagar Baqi Hai and protested against Yakub Memon’s judicial murder. Every time this saffron government sees dissent breeding in university campuses, they take it as a threat that can expose the real anti-people nature of the state and it tries to crush the movement with full force. Universities are such democratic spaces to interrogate the issues of society and debate the contending world views. The nation does not mean a piece of “land” or a “map”, it consists of PEOPLE. These heavy-duty attacks are making things seem more controversial than they should be and act as perfect diversions from upcoming RSS agendas that will be reflected in neoliberal state’s policies. Since the discussion on JNU has occupied center-stage most people didn’t notice the ‘Make in India’ week that was happening in Bombay or about the 5000 workers protesting at Honda plant, one can only wait what the upcoming budget has to offer.

Even after the so called independence in 1947 August 15, India is run by the Colonial laws. Section 124 A is a regressive colonial remnant (Bhagat Singh was hanged using sedition) that is put to use by the state as and when required to crush dissent. We have seen how sedition cases were slapped on 3000 protestors against Kudankulam nuclear plant, earlier on Dr. Binayak Sen, and then Com. Kovan for his songs criticising the state run TASMAC liquor outlets by the fascist Jayalalitha government. This happens in ‘independent’ India. Fascist regimes ban not just freedom of expression, but also freedom to THINK, and criminalises right to DISSENT. It is clear in the current case on JNUSU president and two of the organisers of the programme and others on 9^th have absolutely no grounds for forming a sedition case either. We see how the sanghi project of branding JNU to be a hub of anti-nationals is hinged upon a campaign propagating Islamophobia and demonising voices of dissent that expose the same concept of Hindu rashtra. Just like the RSS has made use of ‘Hindutva’ as an ideology that justifies violence, it is playing the ‘nationalism’ card in this case. The judiciary is granting bail to culprits like BJP’s O P Sharma and the lawyers Vikram singh Chauhan, Yashpal Singh who were seen attacking journalists, while the bail for JNUSU president is getting delayed over & over again. The state apparatus is also turning a blind eye to the massive destruction of state property and disruption to public service delivery, in the Jat agitation for reservations.

Two Grave Threats to India: On the one side, Modi government is accelerating with the anti-people policies like shut downing welfare schemes; handing over the higher education to Global capital (WTO-GATS), fund cuts (17%) to the higher education (college’s fees are increased by more than 200 times, fellowships and research scholarships are scrapped, research funding reduced drastically) and selling out the public sector unit shares. The reforms in the labour bills seem to install slavery legally for the interest of global and Indian ruling classes (refusing to implement five ILO conventions). Buzzwords like “Smartcities”, “Make in India”, “Digital India”, “Teach in India” and “Start-up India” pave the way to make the country’s interests subservient to imperialism. Overall, our country has been pushed towards the final closure of the recolonization process. On the other side, saffronization of education, pushing the Sanskrit and Hindi language, Garwapsi program, Holy cow agenda, Dadri incident (beef), attacks on Dalits, legitimizing mythology as science and so on are fuelling the communalization in India . These are all the strategy of sangh parivar to push the Hindu-Hindi-Hindusthan agenda. The Hindutva and recolonization are the parallel process and one is essential for the other. In other words, Hindutva is nothing but the agency to the Global capital today. The students are criticizing the brahminical caste system (Hindutva) and pro-corporate (anti-people) economic policies of Modi government. These two are primary source of intolerable burden on the working masses. The real anti national are the ones who are communalizing the people using caste and religion and selling out our country through anti-people policy and suppressing student community who are fighting for the rights and betterment of working masses.

Comrades and friends, fascism can only be defeated by the political consciousness and unity in our struggle. The current students’ movement in JNU needs to assume a radical nature to face this grand failure of democracy. A real democracy can be built by industrial revolution and scientific revolution. For this the intellectuals, students, labourers, peasants should unite together and uproot the brahminical fascism from this country. We have seen how student activists are being witch-hunted under sedition, how the police have no substantial grounds to build cases on and how all organs of the brahminical fascist state are engaging actively in an aggressive persecution of the dissenters. Not much can be expected from pseudo-leftists who are playing safe games and defining the entire movement by statist argument of nationalism. We therefore give a call to the students to join the revolutionary organisations. We must assume a more radical nature of politics to fight saffronization and all other plans of the RSS in the near future. Let us chase the right wing forces like ABVP from the campuses. Let us unite to ensure the democratic space in academic fraternity and student’s rights for social change.

#FIGHTFORJNU #FIGHTWITHJNU