Along the quiet lane of Baba Gang Nath Marg in New Delhi lies an institution which makes it to the national headlines every year. The Jawaharlal Nehru University or JNU as it is popularly called is one of the most prestigious universities of India offering a plethora of courses to students across the country from different economic backgrounds.
Not to forget, some of the key figures in Indian politics and bureaucracy have been JNU alumni including the present Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Nobel Prize winner Abhijit Banerjee to name a few.
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Any Delhiite would have visited the green campus of JNU at least once, either as a student to attend the lectures of some of the best professors the country has to offer or just to gorge on the parathas and chai at Ganga Dhaba and sit near the amphitheatre inside the university premises.
Known for its high standards and active student politics, the university's tryst with hitting the national headlines for all the wrong reasons began on a fateful February night in 2016.
'Tukde tukde' slogans in the 'anti-national' university
This was the event which caused the biggest uproar on the campus over the past five years and launched the debate on sedition and anti-nationalism in the country. The row broke out barely a month after the appointment of current Vice-Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, whose tenure has been marred by controversies.
In a nutshell, a group of students held a protest inside the university premises against the death sentence of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. It was alleged that the then JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar and some left-leaning students protested despite the university administration withdrawing permission for it due to objections raised by ABVP students.
Videos surfaced on social media and TV news channels showing 'Kanhaiya and Co' allegedly chanting 'Bharat tere tukde honge' and other 'anti-national' slogans. Kanhaiya Kumar and other student leaders like Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya were arrested by the Delhi police.
The incident went viral and became the prime topic of debate across party lines for days. But television channels had fallen prey to fake news as it was later discovered that the 'tukde tukde' sloganeering videos were doctored. However, enough damage had been done and February 9, 2016, became synonymous with JNU.
The curious disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed
While the university was still grappling with the sedition row, a few months later on October 14, 2016, first-year MSc Biotechnology student Najeeb Ahmed went missing under mysterious circumstances. It was alleged that Najeeb had an altercation with ABVP members after which he disappeared. In 2017, the case was handed over to the CBI. Large-scale search operations were conducted and a reward was promised to anyone who found Najeeb.
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A few months later, a photograph surfaced on social media claiming that Najeeb had joined the Islamic State. The news spread like wildfire and JNU was all over the news again for allegedly hosting students who joined terror groups. Though the fact-checking website Alt News proved the image to be fake, fuel to the simmering sedition row had already been added.
Despite having probed the case from all possible angles, the CBI told the Supreme Court that it had found no clues on Najeeb. Over three years have passed since the student went missing but the case has been consigned to the backburner.
‘Freeloaders’ debate over 300 per cent hostel fee hike
JNU students were again seen on the roads in large numbers holding placards and banners protesting the steep hostel fee hike. The JNU administration released a draft hostel manual seeking suggestions from students for changes on October 3. The proposed manual increased the hostel fee and also sought a service charge of Rs 1700. The draft manual also included a dress code and hostel timings for students -- never before seen in the history of JNU. The proposed hike was close to 300 per cent.
Things got out of hand when "the changes were applied illegally despite students writing to the administration against it" according to JNUSU President Aishe Ghosh. Students gathered in large numbers and protested inside the campus against VC Jagadesh Kumar claiming it was an attack on the long-standing tradition of the university which allowed students from various economic backgrounds to receive quality education.
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According to the JNU annual report, 40 per cent of its students are below the poverty line. But the JNU administration’s fee hike nearly doubled the annual expense for students living in hostels to Rs 55,000-61,000 making it unaffordable to those 40 per cent. After large-scale protests by students, the JNU administration offered a partial rollback on the hostel fee hike.
However, another row erupted when a Swami Vivekananda statue was defaced by unidentified miscreants with objectionable messages like 'fascism will die', 'azaadi' and more. The fight for education now took an ideological turn and JNU students were again criticized for allegedly partaking in acts of violence.
Known for its active politics and freedom within the campus, the JNU debate has not discouraged students from joining the university. “Despite all the controversies, in fact precisely because of all the controversies, I knew JNU is and will always remain the best and the most conducive space to study social sciences,” says Deepika Matange from the MA International Relations batch of 2017-19.
Strikes, police deployment, media OB vans, lathi charges and use of water cannons have become an annual phenomenon at JNU. “Students of JNU and colleges across India have shown that to be a student is to question and to question means standing up to the authorities. And we are not afraid,” says Prateek, a Delhi University masters student who plans to pursue a PhD from JNU next year despite the controversies.