Set to graduate soon, Jawaharlal Nehru University student Rahul Rajkhowa has decided to bid adieu to his alma mater in a way different from the others.
Instead of writing a long post on social media or shouting slogans at a public meet, Rahul decided to rap and “tell the Nation about the terrible decision-making skills of the JNU Vice-Chancellor”.
Uncertain future
Vocalist and guitarist for a band called Paper Boat, Rahul is a student of International Relations at JNU who was hoping to pursue his M.Phil at the university. But like many students in his batch, he will have to apply elsewhere, thanks to the administration’s decision of slashing the number of research seats by over 80%.
In his song, the Assamese student launches a sarcastic tirade against the Vice-Chancellor and the “orange party”, highlighting the issues students face at the university. “The idea came to me a few weeks ago when my friends were discussing future plans. It was then that the impact of the reduction in the number of seats hit us. It was my friends, students in their final year of M.A, who are the most affected. You study hard and plan to continue at JNU, but then because of one decision you are told to leave the university and not study further,” said Rahul.
According to Rahul, though many posts and protests had surfaced against the decision, students outside JNU were yet to understand the impact. The idea behind rapping about the issue was to target a wider audience.
‘Rap is misunderstood’
Rahul said that sending across a strong message was the purpose of rap music. “In India, we have a completely wrong notion about rap music. People feel that it is all about alcohol, drugs and money. But rap music was all about protests in the 70s and 80s when Dr. Dre and Ice Cube were rapping about police brutality against coloured people. I put that in the Indian context to highlight issues bothering us.”
About the impact of the song, Rahul said that original rap music will never get as many viewers as the cover version of a popular songs he posts. According to him, a lot more people should be listening to original protest music — something the Indian audience was gradually accepting.
“There was a phase between 2008 and 2012 when people were only making music about parties and drugs, but this has changed. People are now doing slam poetry and songs with a message, and they have a platform to share it,” said Rahul when asked about artists being more vocal about issues. He added that the youth have access to social media, which they need to use effectively to send across their messages at the right time.
His band, meanwhile, is popular for its blues music that picks up on issues like oppression, objectification of women, and class struggle.
According to Rahul, rap allows him to voice his opinion on specific topics. He had earlier rapped about a “racist dossier” brought out about JNU by some professors, which was well-received within the North-eastern community on the campus.
