Ironies and barricades: How between JNU and BHU, we see the brutal distance that separates us as a nation | The Indian Express

Ironies and barricades: How between JNU and BHU, we see the brutal distance that separates us as a nation | The Indian Express

Written by Saikat Majumdar |Updated: November 22, 2019 11:11:59 am

Majumdar, author of ‘The Firebird’, teaches world literature at Stanford University, US.

Ironies and barricades: How between JNU and BHU, we see the brutal distance that separates us as a nation

At this moment, the two faces of student protest couldn’t be farther apart from each other. No denying that they are vastly different in scale and intensity, to say nothing of the fact that any activity in JNU is always on-camera nationwide in a way no other university in the country is.

In both JNU and BHU, students are protesting measures taken by the vice-chancellor and the university administration.

Two news items jostled against each other on the front page of Tuesday’s (November 19) Indian Express.
One, the JNU protests: “A visually challenged student said he was trampled on, an ex-student received five stitches on his head, a teacher said he was kicked and hit with lathis despite identifying himself.”