It will be symbolically apt to say ” Lefts Losing Ground in Campuses ” on a day (November 18) when president Ramnath Kovind delivered the convocation address at Delhi’s JNU once a forte of Left and Tukde gang..
Add to this what happened in the Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in TN. MSU has taken off the syllabus, the book “ Walking With the Comrades “ written by Arundhati Roy, for the Post Graduate Course. This book was a compilation of pollical articles written by .Arundhati Roy , for a leading English weekly from time to time, released in 2011.
The author , known for her strong liberal / anti-national views , under the guise of “freedom of expression” has projected in the said book, the action of the “democratically “ elected govts , against the, banned, Maoists as “genocidal “ war against the tribal. It further alleges , all the successive govts after 1947 have waged war against “ Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Communists , Dalits and Tribals etc.
This time , though as expected , the so called secular / liberals , led by DMK have protested / condemned , it was a “muted” affair. DMKhas gone further to vow it will bring this book back , if voted to power. Is it because the book “portrays “ the then PM Manmohan Singh and the Home Minister P. Chidambaram as villains , waging war against Tribals?
Though the Lefts have steadily been losing ground / relevance politically, they still hold considerable influence/hold in University campuses. The secular/liberal opposition support them openly while opposition, and take “half hearted “ action while in power. The action against the anti-national Maoists is “duty” of any govt and calling it as “ genocide” against a section of the citizen , warrants “ unequivocal” condemnation. Prescribing such books for any courses too should be treated as “ani-national”. The ABVP action in this case achieved the removal of the book.
The punch : The unveiling of the statue of Swami Vivekananda in the JNU campus, recently by the Prime Minister is one more proof of the “emergence” nationalist forces after long concerted efforts. But the fight is not over till past “wrongs” are fully corrected.
