At a time when JNU is battling the “anti-national” tag from certain quarters, teachers at the university started taking classes on “nationalism” in front of the administration block on the campus. The first class held on Wednesday was by professor Gopal Guru on “What is the idea of a nation”.
“The idea of nation is actually imagination and a promise given to the people. In 1947, the idea that was given to us was to create a decent nation, not based on rumours, insecurity, not any kind of indignity,” Mr. Rao told students. “The nation has to stand on some kind of egalitarianism. Nationalism is to see people don’t die hungry, farmers don’t commit suicide,” he added. The lecture went on for one hour. Classes on nationalism will be a regular feature. This call was given by members of the JNU Teacher’s Association.
“For the last many years, all kinds of issues have been discussed in the university but we were never targeted or called ‘anti-national’. It is now happening due to the current government,” said a student who attended the lecture. Meanwhile, classes have partially resumed.
The V-C had two days ago issued an appeal to the students and teachers asking them to not hold any strikes on campus.
The students have planned a march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on Thursday in order to demand Kanhaiya’s release. The student’s union has given a call to students to come out in large numbers and show solidarity with their president.
