Little Stalinists

Answer this: Which of the following two groups is more tolerant, more relaxed and smarter about dealing with dissent 8212; the US airforce ...

Answer this: Which of the following two groups is more tolerant, more relaxed and smarter about dealing with dissent 8212; the US airforce USAF or Jawaharlal Nehru University8217;s student activists? Remember, the US airforce 8220;napalmed8221; Vietnam and 8220;shocked and awed8221; Iraq. Remember, too, JNU student activists consider these acts barbaric, not to mention undemocratic. Strange, then, that the sword arm of the imperialist hyper-power welcomed the CPI-M flag wavers at the Kalaikunda air base as exemplars of the same values USAF is pledged to uphold: the right to express radically different points of view. But, at JNU, India8217;s prime minister, who is apparently part of a global capitalist conspiracy, didn8217;t receive half an hour of simple courtesy in which to finish his speech as an invited guest. Arguments that hecklers are not part of the official JNU students8217; union may be true but they miss the larger points about this red brick zone of state-funded creature comfort.

First, the quality of JNU8217;s left wing student politics is extraordinarily poor. Agitpropist at best, it has nothing to offer by way of a 8220;radical8221; understanding of the new India. Second, and following from this intellectual bankruptcy, JNU8217;s Left shows all the signs of being little Stalinists reared in bourgeois environs: agitate if the hostel dal isn8217;t well-cooked, disrupt if a visitor is not an identifiable member of the orthodoxy. Third, many of these little Stalinists use the university as a subsidised study centre for taking the civil services examination.

Nothing wrong with little Stalinists wanting to become big officers. Except that the predominance of this ambition makes JNU an ordinary academic institution, not a centre of excellence, despite some top notch faculty. That leads to the question why JNU should continue to be so generously funded by tax-payers. Indeed, why it should even be on the engagement list of distinguished visitors. If you want a civilised audience, Prime Minister, address the USAF on how wrong the Iraq war was.