Work for a better India

The recent happenings at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi, India, is unfortunate and has invited political ramifications and wrangling across all of India.

The incident that took place at the campus, whether it was the pro-Afzal Guru or anti-India slogans are highly condemnable. The students whose education is funded by the Indian tax payer’s money have no right to support Guru and call him a ‘martyr’, and especially not considering the fact that he was the mastermind behind the Indian Parliament attack.

The event turned into a scuffle between the student council and the leftist organisations following slogans like “India will be broken into a thousand pieces” and “Our fight will continue until India is destroyed”.

The matter is still unclear as to who triggered such nasty anti-India activities, using a select student group. Students should be fair enough to realise the repercussions before they act on someone else’s advice. Being in an educational institution, they are well educated on nationalism, and should know better.

Freedom of expression does not mean to go ahead and say ‘anything’ against your own nation, praise the enemy, express justification for terrorism or a terror outfit. It is important that we understand the fact that freedom of expression should come by virtue of responsibility, nationalism and patriotism. Rather than raising anti-India slogans, the students should spend their time and energy to raise important issues like poverty, education and unemployment.

As the situation is still unabated, political parties are trying to score points by blaming each other using this incident as a tool. These political parties should realise that this incident is not a matter of catching votes or to score political points.

It is in the need of the hour that incidents such as what happened at JNU is condemned and stopped, otherwise it may spread to other parts of the nation. Considering what could happen if such incidents spread, it is high time that political parties bury their differences and work on a solution. They should stand united for the peace and harmony of a great democratic nation.

— The reader is an Indian office manager based in Abu Dhabi