Thought that the fight over JNU was between the anti nationals and anti-anti nationals, apparently not so! There is a new party in the fray and he is talking about money, his money. The anti-anti nationals are represented by the Government of India, Sangh Parivar and Arnab Goswami. The anti nationals are a burgeoning side,every other day some new group or individual gets added to this. So far Muslims, Dalits, leftists, AAPs, Secular, other minorities, meat eaters and people who lost faith in Modi belong to this list. but we all know that the current list of anti-nationals is not a complete one. More people and groups will soon find their way into that list. Amidst all this clarity, came this new confusion of a new 'We.'
Mr. Mohandas Pai has announced about a certain 'We' in his essay for NDTV, titled 'Dear JNU Students, We Fund Your Studies, Not Your Politics'. After meeting the 'We' in the title we have to keep listening to him till the last paragraph, only there he breaks the suspense to reveal to us that the 'We' of his are 'the taxpayers'. He is not clear whether by this taxpaying 'We' of his, he means only the income tax paying population or also include people who pay other taxes. Anyway let's not bother about minutiae, as no amount of it will help him to square this circle. There are many things inaccurate in his essay. But one mistake stands apart. I can't imagine how he arrived at this conclusion that he funds the teachers and students of JNU.
Before everything else, let's get this part correct. Mr. Mohandas Pai, you are not funding these students or teachers of JNU. Let's be absolutely clear about this. It is the state that does the funding, and the taxpayers themselves don't make a state. Our state happens to be a republic, which exists only for and with its citizens. It is the constitutional state that taxes people, and the individual who pays it cannot pick and choose his cause. Who told that you and your taxpaying 'We' could pay taxes with a conditional clause. I can think of thousand things that I want the Government to stop doing. I got every right to persuade government by democratic means, but I cannot dictate the way in which the money I pay as a tax can be used.
This abominable piece of propaganda from him is nothing but a fractal part of a familiar whole. Let this not blind anyone, even the myopic eyes, from seeing the whole. The Sangh Parivar driven government is trying stigmatize a group people by calling them antinationals, this time the victims are students and professors of a prestigious university. They are charged with sedition, are attacked in the streets, beaten up by the members of ruling party in courts with the police on watch, the home minister of the nation is presenting fake tweets as strong evidence against them, and are denied basic rights, Meanwhile the rationalizing industry is busy trying to justify the actions of the government by binging on jingoism. |
Having built his moral philosophy upon a bogus claim, Mr.Pai unleashes a torrent of lies and misinformation. He laments about the fallen state of JNU (which happens to be among the best universities in Asia), talks about an epic battle between an archaic left and the new assertive right, shows his disappointment with the rewritten history (I guess he prefer hearsay), and confirms that the left got ran over by history on which 'a thick layer of the middle class which is socially liberal and economically conservative' made their advent. Our good Lord of the era has already talked about the parable of 'puppies that goes under cars', and how we all feel bad about them. After making his best effort to prove that this was a conspiracy by the left to gain relevancy, and that the government just got prodded by an enraged public, he talks about moderation. This is the part where he is a liberal democrat, and he talks about the great tradition of free speech that exist in United States of America; a part which I think is strictly for decorative purpose. Of these centrist/apolitical Indians who are into the business of giving balanced views swear by cognitive dissonance. They want to be counted as liberals (and as democrats) in public, even if they are reactionaries in real life. After much skulduggery, he sums it up by a revelation of a 'We' and by talking about money.
This abominable piece of propaganda from him is nothing but a fractal part of a familiar whole. Let this not blind anyone, even the myopic eyes, from seeing the whole. The Sangh Parivar driven government is trying stigmatize a group people by calling them antinationals, this time the victims are students and professors of a prestigious university. They are charged with sedition, are attacked in the streets, beaten up by the members of ruling party in courts with the police on watch, the home minister of the nation is presenting fake tweets as strong evidence against them, and are denied basic rights, Meanwhile the rationalizing industry is busy trying to justify the actions of the government by binging on jingoism. And the latest attempt is from a cryptofascist, an attempt in shaming protesters. Your talk of money, no matter how big your purse is, will be enough to shame these victims. His view on this might get lots of support, but is still not an argument.