The Left, of course, was vehement in its condemnation while the Congress vice-president, Rahul Gandhi, demonstrated his sympathy for the students’ cause after his practice run at Hyderabad University. Bred in the RSS laboratory, they are determined and persevering even as people schooled in more civilised ways of debate often seem to be at a loss on how to meet the new challenge. But if it is the nature of the Indian to be argumentative, as Amartya Sen suggests, he or she cannot be satiated by the monochromic world and India’s place in it the Parivar propagates. Let it not be said that liberals were guilty of sleep walking to their doom.Perhaps the “argumentative Indian” will save the day.What is required is a long-term counter strategy. What has happened in these ministries is an open book, with the BJP ideologues wielding the stick. Partly, it will depend upon the longevity of the Modi government, partly on liberals’ resoluteness. The irony is that, thanks to Mr Modi’s penchant for marrying technology to promote myths, instruments of social media such as Facebook and Twitter are being used to mount a buzz of subversive ideas that mock reason. Third, there must be widespread promotion of the essence of what the Parivar is preaching, a Hindu rashtra that outclasses all other beliefs. Not only is the Nehruvian idea of India suspect, but the nation’s ancient miracles, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi subscribes to — such as planes flying, and plastic surgery and transposing heads performed routinely — must be recognised as immutable truth.However, opponents of Mr Modi must not restrict new technology to election time.
The combine led by the Janata Dal (United) in the last Assembly elections in Bihar demonstrated that two can play the game by getting the better of Mr Modi with his own medicine.Beyond the drama of the arrest of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ plastic spoonUnion president, Kanhaiya Kumar, by Delhi’s police force lies a set of circumstances that were godsend to the Bharatiy Beyond the drama of the arrest of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union president, Kanhaiya Kumar, by Delhi’s police force lies a set of circumstances that were godsend to the Bharatiya Janata Party government determined to make an example of the JNU. As if acting on cue, minister for human resources development, Smriti Irani, chimed in that any insult to Mother India would not be tolerated.On the other hand, the Parivar ideology, presided over by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is single dimensional.Indeed, many of the country’s intellectuals opposing the new trends do not fully realise that how determined the BJP ideologues are in converting people to their cause.Some BJP leaders are more frank than others in denigrating JNU, but it is no secret that this hallowed institution stands for everything that is the antithesis of the set of beliefs the broader Sangh Parivar espouses. It has been, above all, a secular institution wedded to upholding academic standards and, like all student hubs, tilts to the Left.Public reaction thus far is what one would expect. Returning honours and awards is one form of token protest and a recognised method of expressing opposition.On the other hand, the indoctrination of the young can play an outsized role in influencing a new generation.Indeed, in view of the determination shown by the Parivar, the counter-offensive must be matched by rationalists and true nationalists organising an endeavour on a national scale.If the police action at JNU serves as a warning to the liberal intelligentsia of the danger it is in, it would have served a useful purpose
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