Beyond Education: The Persecution of Progressive Voices in India's Educational Institutions

“Scientific temperament is a process of thinking, method of action, search of truth, way of life, spirit of a freeman”.

— Narendra Dabholkar

New Delhi- Recently, in a letter released by the registrar's office of TISS, a Dalit PhD scholar, Ramdas, was suspended for two years and debarred from the institution. His entry into the TISS premises is forbidden for two years. His suspension has occurred during the celebrated "Dalit History Month," which marks the commemoration of Jyotiba Phule, Babasaheb Ambedkar, and Rahul Sankrutyayan.

Ambedkar Jayanti is widely celebrated by subaltern classes globally. On this day, even those who hold entirely different ideologies from Ambedkar's seem to commemorate his legacy, often for their shallow and partial interests. The current ruling regime in India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, is one of them. The BJP has been consistently attempting to establish cultural hegemony by diminishing democratic values and the autonomy of academic institutions. Ramdas's suspension is an example of this.

According to a statement released by the Progressive Students Forum (PSF), Ramdas received a show-cause notice from the registrar's office on March 7, 2024.

He was labeled "anti-national" for participating in a parliamentary march organized in Delhi against the National Education Policy (NEP). Additionally, his social media post encouraging students to watch the award-winning documentary "Ram Ke Naam" by Anand Patwardhan was deemed "anti-national" activity by the TISS administration.

Furthermore, other accusations were made against him by the publicly funded institution TISS. The press release mentioned, "Ramdas has also been accused of organizing the Bhagat Singh Memorial Lecture (BSML) at TISS with controversial speakers. BSML is an annual lecture initiated by PSF since 2018 and conducted by the BSML organizing committee. Over the past six years, BSML has had the distinction of inviting well-known academics, scholars, and human rights activists, including two Ramon Magsaysay awardees, P. Sainath and Bezwada Wilson."

Inviting well-known scholars for the annual lecture and participating in the march were deemed "repetitive misconduct and anti-national activities" for the Dalit PhD scholar Ramdas, according to the tyrannical administration of TISS.

For a student like Ramdas, who hails from a downtrodden community, this suspension represents a terrible attack aimed at suppressing progressive voices and has sparked sharp outrage among the student community. Ramdas is also the central executive member of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the joint secretary of the Maharashtra State Committee of the SFI. He is also the former general secretary of the PSF.

The ruling regime has turned academic institutions into their "RSS Shakhas." The continuous termination of progressive professors and the suspension of students have raised larger concerns among the masses. The Monist (Department of Philosophy) at Zakir Husain Delhi College invited RSS Pracharak Suresh Jain for a lecture on the topic "Buddha's Mahakaruna For Cosmic Wellness" on April 12, 2024. RSS Pracharaks are regularly invited for lectures, events, and discussions in academic institutions. These Pracharaks neither belong to academia nor any progressive circles. They are invited solely for the "Prachar" of the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Professor Laxman Yadav was expelled from Delhi University for his "Ambedkarite" thoughts. Professors at Delhi University are being pressured to join campaigns aligned with the ruling regime. Academic institutions have become the Agrahas of Dronacharya.

In one of his insights on the essence of education and its meaning, Dr. Ambedkar said, "Education is something that ought to be brought within the reach of everyone... The policy, therefore, ought to be to make higher education as affordable to the lower classes as possible. If all these communities are to be brought to the level of equality, then the only remedy is to adopt the principle of equality and to give favored treatment to those who are below the level."

His vision of education was far-reaching and remains relevant today. Education has yet to reach the grassroots level, to the subaltern classes.

Regarding the purpose of education, Dr. Ambedkar opined, "The aim and function of university education should be to ensure that the teaching carried out there is suited to adults; that it is scientific, detached, and impartial in character; that it aims not so much at filling the student's mind with facts or theories as at calling forth his own individuality and stimulating him to mental effort; that it accustoms him to the critical study of the leading authorities, with perhaps occasional reference to first-hand sources of information, and that it implants in his mind a standard of toughness and gives him a sense of the difficulty as well as the value of reaching the truth." He meant that university education should be impartial and scientific, benefiting the masses.

Dr. Krishan Gopal, a co-government officer of the RSS, was invited under the campaign "Viksit Bharat" by the Ambedkar Center of Zakir Husain Delhi College. These occurrences are alarming. Pracharaks are being invited to lecture on Babasaheb Ambedkar. Democratic values are disappearing from academic institutions. All of this indicates a larger paradigm shift towards militant Hinduism. The cultural hegemony being imposed by the ruling regime will hinder the progress of the masses for years to come. The nomination of Swati from the United Left panel was arbitrarily canceled by the JNU administration during the JNUSU elections. While discussing these instances of injustice and arbitrariness, over thirteen thousand students belonging to marginalized sections face dropouts. We now understand that students like Ramdas reaching the topmost educational institutions and pursuing a PhD is very rare.

Therefore, it is clear to progressive sections that the ruling regime will create barriers for future generations to achieve a certain level of scientific temperament and democratic values. The outrage and determination against the unjust suspension of Ramdas shall not wane. Students shall unite in their struggle against oppressive policies like the NEP. In conclusion, Dr. Laxman Yadav's words are highly influential; a feared teacher creates a spineless student, who turns into a dead citizen. This struggle is an analysis of spined and spineless citizens.

- Aniket Gautam is a final-year student in the Department of Political Science at Zakir Husain Delhi College, Delhi University.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of any institution or organization.