Flashbacks from JNU

Having spent over four decades of my life in an unbroken stint of service at JNU, I find it impossible to be objective about the place where I have experienced ecstasy – most of the time – and suffered rare  fleeting moments of agony – mostly towards the end.

Bliss it was indeed, to be young and teaching at JNU circa 1971. I was not yet 25, had just finished my PhD and had two years of teaching at Delhi University under my belt when I ‘rejoined’ the School of International Studies. We continued to be located at 35 Ferozeshah Road/Sapru House and the rest of the New Schools functioned from what is now referred to as the Old Campus near Munirka and the wilderness that was yet to be transformed into Vasant Lok, Vasant Kunj and dare I add bits of Vasant Vihar?

Excitement was palpable and infectious in the air. The milieu was open, hierarchies were abhorred and the team at the helm was a perfect  one. Handpicked bright youngsters were invited to join interdisciplinary departments and the semester system adopted was refreshingly different from the end of the term all-important exams guaranteed to stifle originality and cripple the spirit. That was the season when more than hundred flowers bloomed. The star studded academic galaxy boasted the likes of S Gopal, Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra and CP Bhambri among others. Students drawn from all over the land had firebrands like Jairas Bonaji, Sunit Chopra, Rajendra Prasad, Prakash Karat, Ramesh Dixit and DP Tripathi.

The Emergency changed all this. Suppression of dissent was brutal and scores of students were jailed. To the credit of the students, the flag of Resistance was kept flying through those dark days. Freedom of expression was regained in 1977 when Mrs G was humbled in the elections but JNU was never the same again. Rumors of ‘betrayals’ by colleagues and fellow students never could be disproved conclusively and by the time Indira Gandhi returned to power, it was clear that the JNU was not her favourite institution anymore. A procession of Vice Chancellors, beginning with BD Nagachaudhari and ending with MS Agwani, marched through the campus, persons who had no sense of ownership and appeared motivated solely by exercise of ‘power’.

1983 marks another watershed in the history of JNU. Student unrest provoked by ham-handed handling of the situation exploded in an ugly fashion with the VC and rector gheraoed and humiliated resulting in closure of the university sine die and loss of an academic year.

By the end of the first decade, there wasn’t very much new to differentiate JNU from other Central Universities. It was trendy, and in many eyes pampered by the government but the new fangled inter disciplinary schools were taking too long to take off. Older constituents like the Institute of Russian Studies that provided the core of the School of Foreign Languages and School of International Studies were most of the time reluctant bedfellows. The scientists kept their distance from the social scientists.  Slowly and grudgingly it was conceded that an island of excellence could not be created or survive in a turbulent sea of inequality.
Today all this seems to relate to another prehistoric age – fragmented chronicles of wasted times. JNUites never tire of boasting about their unique culture – secular, egalitarian, progressive, free from gender bias and encouraging unceasing intellectual battles where contending ideas and ideologies dazzle. To be honest, this mind set reflects narcissism and nostalgia more than reality. Memories of shared dreams and struggles handed down by the ‘veterans’ of lost battles fought long ago have yielded place to larger than life myths and mirages.

The times are changing. An MBA abroad or a career in media-preferably electronic is the first choice of smart kids. Those who have access to foreign university give the JNU Entrance exams a miss. Constitutional provision of Reservations for SC/ST has been expanded to include the OBC and this too has impacted on the character of the JNU. Social Justice may not have been ensured by such well meaning schemes but academic standards certainly have been compromised. No one dares to speak ‘politically incorrectly’ but JNU’s fall from grace in international rankings speaks volumes.

When JNU was set up, it had an exceptionally democratic structure. Students and the faculty were given representation in various ‘decision-making’ bodies-academic as well as administrative. Over the years this has been systematically eroded. The Citadel of Red has become the Bastion of Red Tape.