Procrustean Bed* Awaits JNU Community

Resist it through Historical Referendum on 20th April
Denigration of the wisdom of common students of the campus is unacceptable but understandable. Misplaced attempts to undertake spineless, anonymous and naïve acts in the name of common students discredit their voice. This could be and should be avoided and resisted. Motivated and vitiated news reports in media violate sacred canons of journalism and appear to be part of a design of those political forces who find JNU’s stature as an institution of eminence and stature an eyesore.

If institutions like JNU are allowed to cave in to such tactics, it takes a colossal toll and abets “institutional crimes” like the one noted by the Delhi High Court, which referred to "the utterly indefensible conduct" of the present regime, terming it as akin to "the writ of a monarch in medieval times" "who could run unquestioned" and who was "accountable to none". Such a regime is indeed "disquieting", the court observed. The Referendum is an occasion to undo the pre-planned assault and to retrieve JNU’s honour. A large number of students in JNU have been denied the democratic right to participate in student elections so far, here is an opportunity undo the same.

Student community of JNU of all shades must ponder over the ulterior motives that are manifest in the pattern of such acts and their reporting which appears as “paid news” to give it a bad name, in a calculated move to kill JNU in installments. Disruptive actions and unruliness witnessed in the campus a while ago is unbecoming of students. It is a consequence of glaring ignorance about what constitutes a considered political intervention and an inability to see through the objective of such machinations. Miscreants of dubious hues may be forgiven for their flippancy; after all, they have been deprived of political education by the higher judiciary. This unprecedented Referendum is the submission by the student community of its public approval/disapproval of current state of affairs. It is also an exercise in political education.

Notwithstanding one’s academic pre-occupations, if one is a student of JNU and has never ever participated in its election process, it is indeed a matter of regret for a life time. What will one tell the coming generations about the vibrant political culture of JNU. If one has participated in it, the proposed Referendum on 20th April becomes all the more significant for the JNU student community. The present regime is anti-student, anti-woman, anti-worker and anti-environment. It’s a Referendum to change the rot in the present system that is brutally changing the landscape of the JNU both literally and figuratively.

In its megalomania, a psychopathological condition that is characterized by delusional fantasies, the present regime has pre-decided the role and thoughts of the student community on seminal issues of national importance, to be apolitical and expects them to act like an anti-politics machine. The present regime, it acolytes and beneficiaries want students to be of same shape and size. It wants them to be put on Procrustean bed*. Any attempt to reduce men to one standard, one way of thinking, or one way of acting, is called placing them on Procrustes’ bed, and the person who makes the attempt is called Procrustes.

Procrustes was a robber of Attica, who placed all who fell into his hands upon an iron bed. If they were longer than the bed, he cut off the redundant part; if shorter, he stretched them till they fitted it. You know, for sure, who is this Procrustes in the JNU campus.

This Referendum provides a historical opportunity to participate in an election process to resist impudent efforts to fiddle with the JNU Act and Statutes against the wishes of the JNU community. Over the last several years, vested interests have developed in the campus some of whom have been exposed; some others would be exposed if and only if JNU gets a new regime.

Referendum is an absolute inalienable right of the people to decide and determine the path and destiny of the University, to choose anew and change its direction. This democratic process invites you to join hands with the student community and the larger JNU community in a moment of crisis. All sane common students have a duty to protect JNU and its glorious heritage from the civil rights robbery, which was attempted recently, by participating in the 20th April Referendum.