Priya Ranjan Sahu
A saying in Hindi goes: “Ulta chor kotwal ko dante” (the thief reprimands the police). But in the context of the attack on the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the roles of the thief and the police seem to be reversed, with the Delhi Police behaving like the proverbial thief against the backdrop of events that unfolded since the heinous attack unleashed by masked goons on hapless students on the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University late January 5.
JNU has seen turbulence since the Modi government assumed power in 2014. The university has seen police deployment day and night for long. Still, on January 5 the masked goons armed with sticks, iron rods, hammers and acid bottles managed to enter the campus through several gates and invade hostels, including women’s hostels. They assaulted students and teachers, and exited untouched, even as some police personnel meekly watched them exit.
A well-oiled network of supporters of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) tried to paint a narrative through social media that the goons were from the Leftist student groups that dominate JNU. However, video footages of the attacks emerged one after another pointing the needle of suspicion towards ABVP and other affiliates of the BJP, which is ruling the country. The footages spoke volumes about the inactivity and inefficiency of the system in preventing such as criminal act. Several students and leaders have gone to the extent of accusing the Delhi Police of complicity.
On Tuesday, Hindu Raksha Dal, a non-descript religious outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack on the university. And on a national television channel debate Anima Sonkar, Delhi joint secretary of ABVP, admitted that members of the parishad roamed about carrying lathis and rods in “self-defence”.
However, despite all these, the chances of real culprits involved in the attack getting arrested may be remote. That is because even before the investigation by the police began, the Union minister of state for home affairs, Nityananda Rai, said no BJP leader or worker can incite violence and asserted that it was the work of the Leftists, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party. It was an indirect instruction to the investigating agencies to not touch the ruling party and its affiliates.
Understandably, Delhi Police, which reports to Rai and his boss Amit Shah, has lodged FIRs against JNU Students Union president Aishe Ghosh, who herself was brutally beaten by the masked goons, and 19 others for attacking security guards. All these after Delhi Police itself failed to protect the students from the brutal attack and let the masked goons escape.
In the last five years, incidents such as lynching of innocents over matters of religion, caste, food and culture have recurred. Bizarre sights such as Union ministers garlanding or welcoming people accused of lynching have become ‘normal’ in India. Certainly, the attack by an organised gang of masked goons at such a prestigious educational institution of the country is shocking today; but it may be a new ‘normal’ soon. So will private armies of cadres to terrorise political opponents.
Heinrich Himmler, an architect of the Holocaust and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany said: “What we need to set up are a force, a private force that will essentially find anti-national elements, in beer halls, at universities, at jobs, and take care of them. There’s no need for the local police to get involved. Of course we’ll go by a list.”
So is there no need for police, which will look the other way anyway when organised goons strike at our doorsteps?
Himmler made this infamous remark in the pre-Nazi days. Are we heading in that direction? Time will tell.
–The writer is a senior journalist based in Odisha.