Controversy and Jawaharlal Nehru University

If you visit a University where the roads are surrounded by greenery on both sides, where you can find people in every nook and corner exchanging ideas, then yes, you are at JNU. Nowadays, when you hear about Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), you are reminded of many issues and controversies. From the warcry of sedition charges to the rise of the #Metoo movement, many issues around JNU have come into the limelight, through the media or because of the government. A university which is renowned for its excellent higher education, that promises philosophically nuanced and socially pertinent education, that has a magnificent campus with several eatery points, diverse political views, and many notable alumni, that was recently praised by the NAAC and accredited with A++ – why is this university in the limelight for the last two years for all the wrong reasons, and why has this left an indelible tag on the institute and its students?

Sedition Controversy

On February 9, 2016, a cultural evening was organized by 10 students. According to India today, anti-India slogans were raised at the protest meeting. After JNU administration ordered a disciplinary inquiry against the meeting in that Delhi police arrested the JNU student Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid on charges of sedition and criminal conspiracy under IPC section 124. Soon this matter gets hyped in media where the world is divided into two halves where one supports JNU. While other against it. But till now, it’s not confirmed who raised the Anti-India slogans.

Attendance row

   A recent issue comes into the limelight where the JNU administration made 75% attendance compulsory for the students. This move can be seen as a reason to cut the wings of the students who got time for the politics. While the students of left or right wing say that JNU administration creates this huddle just to stop the campus politics. While if the students who failed to attend class can easily be expelled with solid reasons. This is not the first University which is making this rule. Banaras Hindu University, Hyderabad University, and Delhi University also made 75% attendance compulsory.

Meetoo movement

In recent days a #meetoo movement is taking place in JNU. Where the women students are breaking the ice and expressing how she was harassed by the professor Joshi. Last week eight women filed police complaints against a professor in the School of Life sciences but it took many days to arrest the professor for speedy he got the bail. While the students are fighting for the safety of women. The administrations are favoring the professor. The students who are in the advanced degree program and departmental science labs are also suffering from the harassment.

The teacher hold’s major portion of a researcher or postgraduate student in project’s works grant funding, job recommendation, publications but if the professor starts using his power for a wrongful mean then there is a need for a war cry. The women who are in such a prestigious university is suffering from this harassment problem so what happens with others.

So if next time you meet a student who is from JNU doesn’t doubt his/her patriotism. They are also patriot as any Indian is.