19 February 2016

To,
The President, JNUTA
Sir:
I'm so sorry to have to miss the important meeting tomorrow because
of a prior commitment; I am to leave early in the morning for Shillong
for a conference. But I do wish to table three items for everyone's
consideration, even as we try to safeguard the reputation, autonomy,
and sanctity of JNU, as well as protect its students and teachers from
state repression.
1) I would like to move a resolution to condemn the commemoration
of Afzal Guru under the false pretexts of holding a poetry reading -- or
to support such a motion in case it has already been tabled in an
earlier meeting, but not acted upon. I have formed the opinion, after
talking to colleagues, that that many share this view.
Furthermore, I think the hijacking of JNU for the agenda of
separatists is something that many colleagues do not wish to
countenance, let alone abet. It would be a perverse kind of logic to
argue that in the name of democracy we support those who launched
an attack on democracy (the Indian Parliament). Similarly, why would
a teacher of JNU let her university, expressly formed with a view to
promote "national integration," be turned into a site of national
disintegration by a few mischievous elements?

2) This is indeed a time for unity among the JNU teachers and
students, but how is unity to be achieved? Surely not by silencing and
browbeating those who disagree with the dominant voice on the
campus? It was shocking and offensive for a very senior Professor and
Dean to pull rank and bully a colleague in his attempt to silence her.
Another colleague said words to the effect that she was out of her
mind. Doesn't this really smack of a "witch hunt," both deeply
distasteful and sexist? Thankfully, the colleague who made the latter
remarks has apologised, but the former very senior colleague seems
unrepentant. Let us not resort to name-calling those we disagree with
or try to bully them into silence or submission. Surely, that is not
democratic either.
What we need is a hermeneutics of trust and generosity, not of
suspicion or hostility. If we cannot accomplish this in our own campus
or put our own house in order so to speak, what right do we have to
preach to others about the virtues of tolerance.
3) I am afraid the battle that we are in the midst of is not one between
tolerance and intolerance. Instead, I see it as uncivil strife between
two or more types of intolerance. We are in the midst of competitive
and escalating intolerances, which can be diffused not by attacking
each other each other, but by mutual understanding, harmony, and
fellow-feeling, even if these may be on the basis of a common
minimum programme. Else, I am afraid, we may be facing the
prospect of a deep rift, if not a split, in our own ranks.
[Kindly excuse any typos; this is being written under duress, with a
pressing time constraint, after two different events, one at the

SahityaAkademi in the morning, and another at IIC in the evening,

where I was an invited speaker.]
Yours sincerely,
Makarand R. Paranjape
Professor of English, JNU