After nationalism, JNU to hold talk on ‘azadi’

Following the conclusion of a month-long lecture series on “nationalism” in the JNU campus which is at the centre of a row over the February 9 event, teachers have now decided to hold a series of presentations on “azadi”.

Soon after the controversy erupted on campus over an event against the hanging of Parliament convict Afzal Guru in which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, the teachers decided to conduct open-air nationalism lectures on the hotly debated subjects for the students.

“Now that the month-long nationalism lecture series has concluded and three of our comrades who were in jail in a sedition case for raising their voices are also back on campus, we will begin the second lecture series,” said Ajay Patnaik, president of JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA).

“The title of the series will be ‘Azadi: Different Meanings of Freedom’, beginning on March 21 and the first lecture will be taken by Partha Chatterjee,” he added.

Following JNUSU president Kanhiaya Kumar’s speech on his return to campus, an “azadi anthem”, demanding freedom from various ills of the society including poverty, casteism, corruption and dowry harassment, has garnered huge popularity on campus.

Romila Thapar, Tanika Sarkar, Prabhat Patnaik, Mridula Mukherjee, Jayati Ghosh, Amit Sengupta, and Makaranad Paranjpe, among few others, were some of the eminent academicians who delivered lectures on nationalism at the administration block, which has been the protest venue for students ever since Kanhaiya was arrested. Some of the topics taught in the lecture series were gender and nationalism, dalits and Hindutva agenda of nation-making, university and nation; political culture of fascism; sedition and nationalism; and what’s left of the nation; history and nationalism: then and now.

Kanhaiya was released from Tihar jail on an interim bail on March 4, while the other two students — Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya — walked free on March 18.

The varsity, whose high-level enquiry committee had found the trio guilty of violation of discipline norms, along with a few other students, is expected to take a final call in the coming week regarding their punishment for their alleged role in the February 9 event.