It was sometime in the summer of 2015 when I visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus for the first time. I was in my second year of graduation in Delhi University, and till then, had heard about JNU only through newspapers and my professors, some of whom had studied there. The first thing in the campus that attracts you are the beautiful handmade wall posters. It was through one such graffiti that I got introduced to Comrade Chandu for the first time.
I am not aware of how many of these wall posters have survived in campus now, since last year, the JNU administration ordered whitewashing of walls citing Defacement of Property Act. So much has changed over these years, and only for the worse. The University, which was known for academic excellence and student activism, is now being labelled by many, including those in power, as home of the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang‘, den of anti-nationals, and what not.
Today, we are witnessing rapid changes in socio-political and economic spheres, with the anti-Muslim communal pogroms that took place in the Capital only a month ago. The victims of the violent episode are still awaiting justice. Now, we are facing a major healthcare emergency with the threat of the corona pandemic, which is exposing us to new challenges.
As the Government orders a 21-day countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel virus, we see thousands and thousands of daily wagers walking towards their hometown from Delhi on foot, devoid of basic necessities, while we sit comfortably in our homes observing the lockdown. Amid all this, I am reminded of Comrade Chandu, who once said in a speech,
“Our coming generations will ask us for an answer, they will ask us, where were you when new social forces were being unleashed, where were you when people who live and die every moment, every day strived for their rights, where were you when there was an assertion of the marginal voices of the society. They will seek an answer from all of us…”
These words echo and are only becoming more and more relevant with each passing day.
Chandrasekhar Prasad was born on 20th September, 1963 in Bihar’s Siwan. He finished his early school education from Sainik School in Tilaiyya, after which he got selected in NDA, but left it after two years, uninterested. He then joined the Patna University. It was during his days in Patna that he got associated with left politics and joined AISF, the student wing of CPI. From there, he moved to Jawaharlal Nehru University and joined Centre For Political Studies.
It was in JNU where he joined All India Students’ Association (AISA), the student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. He soon became active with student politics in JNU and emerged as popular student leader. He was elected Vice President of JNU Students’ Union in 1993-94, and later served as President of JNU Students’ Union twice. It is also interesting to note that this was the period when, with the fall of Soviet Russia and liberalisation of the Indian economy, many were writing off the relevance of Left politics. This is when young Turks like Chandu held the Red Flag high.
In one of the speeches he said,
“At this juncture of history, the content of history has moved far ahead and is trying for new languages, new voices, and therefore, one feels that at this juncture of Indian History, two visions of nation building are contending with each other. One that of a fascist, autocratic, totalitarian India, and the other of a democratic, secular and egalitarian India. AISA stands for the later. AISA stands for a democratic India.”
In JNU, he led many historic student movements, including the restoration of deprivation points, resisting fee hike, and privatisation of JNU.
In Gramacian terminology, Chandu was a true “Organic Intellectual”. He left JNU and joined CPI(ML) Liberation as a full-time activist, with a strong conviction to bring change in the rotten structure through grassroot politics. Bihar in those days was witness to a rise of criminalisation of politics as well as corruption under the self-righteous crusader of social justice Lalu Prasad Yadav. People from the Dalit community were massacred in erstwhile Lalu Raj, which claimed to champion the cause of marginalised voices.
Chandu decided to take MP Mohd. Shahabuddin head-on in his hometown Siwan. He challenged his supremacy and was gaining popular support among the masses. The CPI(ML) had given a call for ‘Bihar Bandh’ on 2nd April in 1997 to register protest against a range of issues, including lawlessness in the State of Bihar, and rising corruption. Chandrasekhar, along with Comrade Shyam Narayan, was shot dead on 31st March at JP Chowk, Siwan, by Shahbuddin’s aide while Chandu was addressing a Nukkad Sabha in preparation of the bandh.
A hawker, Bhuteli Mian, also fell prey to the bullets and collapsed in the firing. Following Chandu’s death, a storm of student movement took to the streets demanding justice and the arrest of Mohd. Shahabuddin. Chandu’s mother Kaushalya Devi, whom Chandu once referred to as Gorky’s Mother in one of his letters, travelled to be part of the dharnas and rallies to seek justice for her son. Shahabuddin was freed citing lack of evidence, while the shooters served life sentence. However, he has been locked up in jail, serving life imprisonment since 2015 in a double murder case.
During one of the JNUSU elections, Comrade Chandu had said, “Yes, I am ambitious – my ambition is to live like Bhagat Singh and die like Che Guevara.” True to his words, he lived like Bhagat Singh and died like Che Guevara. He continues to inspire generations to fight for social justice and a secular, democratic and an egalitarian India. We remember his revolutionary legacy as we pay him tribute on his martyrdom day on 31st March!
Laal Salaam Comrade Chandu!!