Guest Editorial: JNU and its Tradition(s) of Dissent

By Malavika Binny
Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India has oft been portrayed as a space of intense
academic activity, Left politics, intellectual debate and class questioning in India, and quite
recently it has also been embroiled in a controversy over what has been termed as an antinational rhetoric by certain sections of the media. The first two weeks of February has
witnessed a cultural meeting condemning capital punishment, the arrest of the JNU Students
Union (JNUSU) President Kanhaiya Kumar on charges of sedition, the slapping of sedition
charges and issue of arrest warrants against student leaders and JNUSU office bearers and
one of the biggest student marches in the history of independent India. As the month
progressed, two other students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya surrendered to the
police and what unfolded was a sustained but seething protest movement wherein the
students, not only of JNU but also of universities across the nation and around the world
showed extraordinary resilience and a steadfast resistance against an university
administration who allowed the police a free hand on campus and a central government
which used every arrow in its quiver to gag the movement.
The convergence of the Justice for Rohith Vemula movement and the JNU protest
movement, the swelling international visibility of the students movement, the evidence of
doctored TV footage of the February 9th event, media personnel being roughed up, the news
of Kanhaiya Kumar being brutally beaten up inside the premises of the Patiala Court, the
formidable unity put forth by the JNU Teachers association and the relentless social media
support from JNU alumni, sympathisers and supporters of the movement led to a
considerable shift in the public opinion on JNU. Kanhaiya Kumar received a heros welcome
when he was granted bail by the Delhi High Court and through a mesmerizing speech which
made him an overnight sensation, he explained that JNU fights for not freedom from India
but freedom in India. JNU celebrated an early Holi with the return of Anirban and Umar to
the campus and they too did not hold back in articulating their definitions of freedom and
nationalism. The movement was not only historic in terms of the questions it raised on the
meanings of nationalism, the validity of sedition laws, the problematisation of capital
punishment, questioning of media-ethics and the role of student activism, but it also
witnessed the birth of new forms of protests - professors organising open air teach-ins in
front of the administrative block on JNU campus, students marching with and giving flowers

to those who opposed them, the JNU faculty forming a human chain to protect the students
and the Azadi square on campus witnessing talks and speeches of every shade of the political
spectrum.
The backdrop of the JNU protest movement gives us a unique opportunity to interrogate the
universitys history and its many lineages of dissent. Dissent , in this case, must be understood as any
notion which challenges the conventional and the normative; be it the celebration of LGBTQ
identities, dhabha culture, challenging of patriarchy and brahmanical hegemony, the presence of a
strong North Eastern discourse and so on within the campus. The protest movement also offers a
vantage point to take a critical look at the fissures and contradictions within JNU. Is the campus as
inclusive as it is portrayed? Has the relevance of Marxist/Left politics diminished in JNU? Is there a
divide between the high towers of academics and ground reality on campus? Why does JNU remain
as an island of gender and social justice in not-so-just surroundings or is it not so? These are but some
of the questions that can be and needs to be raised at this juncture. Articles which critically engage
with the theme of dissent (political, social or cultural) in JNU were invited. A special emphasis was
placed on not glossing over the not so smooth edges of the university; also the authors have dealt with
most issues through personal narratives which induce an air of vitality into the articles.
In this issue, Meera Gopakumar explores the idea of sedition vis vis the freedom of speech in a
democratic nation against the backdrop of the clamour of the binaries of nationalism and antinationalism. Tintu K.J. engages critically with the theme of capital punishment and the state and the
ways in which the JNU administration assumed the role of a proxy-state during the protests. Umar
Khalid speaks candidly of his political convictions, concerns and journey so far without mincing his
words against state oppression in multiple forms. Kanad Sinha responds to Prof. Makarand

Paranjapes claim of the lack of mediality in JNU through an exploration of the universitys
cultural life through his own personal experience and probes the Mahisasur myth and its links
to JNUs culture of accommodation. Keisha Kashyap lays bare the challenges of stereotyping and racial discrimination faced by the students from the North Eastern states of India
in both JNU and the capital city of Delhi. In one of the first interviews after he was released
on bail, Kanhaiya Kumar speaks to Vani Mecheril on the problematic of Left politics and the
way forward. Tintumol Joseph writes an intensely personal account of dance in JNU, while
Gourab Ghosh in a well-articulated essay traces the history of the LGBTQ movement in the
university. Deepshika Boro probes the image of the body politic of the nation and the nonrepresentation of the North East in the mainstream as opposed to the accommodative space
provided by the university for North Eastern students in particular and pluralism in general.
Anirban Bhattacharya in conversation with Tintu K J and Malavika Binny critically analyses

the role of Left politics, Neo-Liberal tendencies of the Indian state in the recent past, the role
of student politics and the need to forge larger solidarities. Azhar Amin captures the JNU
protests in a vividly engaging photo essay with every snap telling and re-telling a thousand
stories. Ashrukona Deka in a brilliant article problematizes the inter-play of nudity, power
and gender in a response to the bizarre allegations of Gyandev Ahuja that JNU students
indulge in naked dancing and use 3000 condoms, 500 abortion syringes and 2000 liquor
bottles every day. On similar lines, Uthara G writes a fitting reply to actor Mohanlals
comments on the JNU crisis and the need to go beyond superficialities and the opportunism
of allying with the power hierarchies of the day. We have two riveting political cartoons in
the issue by Nassif Muhammed Ali .We have also included Debaditya Battacharyas article
The Independent Intellectual which was first published on the Caf Dissensus Everyday
blog which

is yet another response to Prof. Paranjapes claim of the unquestionable

legitimacy of elected governments and the issues with such an approach. Shruti Venukumar
examines the different stands of the many Left parties and organisations on the issue of
Kashmir so as to debunk the idea of a monolithic Left in JNU.
All through the issue, there has been a conscious effort not to refract JNU through the lens of
only the present crisis, but to represent the multiplicities and contradictions within, to bust
certain myths about the institution while being self-critical in the process, while we earnestly
try to understand what dissent is within the context of the university and in the larger
context of the nation. We hope you will enjoy the issue and enrich it through your comments
and feedback.
Bio: Malavika Binny is a doctoral scholar at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU. She
specializes in and is madly in love with Ancient History and her research interests include
gender, caste, histories of science, medical traditions, archaeology and architecture. She has
published articles in both academic and non-academic journals and loves walking barefoot in
the rain.