JNU issue: Ethical or non ethical?
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The student rally or debate that took place in Jawaharlal Nehru University on 9th February 2016 has been the main topic for discussions for the past few weeks on national television and papers. This protest which took place on the grounds of the university has given rise to various arguments about the issue. On February 11th 2016 two days after the rally had taken place, Kanhaiya Kumar who was the president of the JNUSU, which was the university's student union, had been arrested on charges of sedition. According to the media the students who participated in the rally had made some statements that were "anti-national or pro-Pakistan in nature. Some of the statements made included "KashmirKi Azaadi tak, Bharat ki Barbaadi tak, Jang rahegi jaari" etc. To start off with I believe this issue has been overly exaggerated by national and social media. This issue has been misconstrued by many and I strongly feel that the charges against Kanhiya kumar are unreasonable in nature. Kanhiya Kumar in his speech spoke about various topics, including equality for women, the drawback of a cast based system etc. The main focus of his speech was however about the constitution of India. The JNU president in his speech had emphasized how much he respects and believes in the constitution of india and that he is only against the RSS or the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. In his speech he also mentioned about how he has no intent to please the RSS and receive any certificates for patriotism. Here I would like to remind to the individuals and the media making this issue a big deal, by saying that there is a difference between being Anti-government and Anti-national and I believe that kanhaiya kumar was simply against the government or the RSS in this case and I don't see how statements made against the RSS have anything to do with offending the constitution of India. India is said to be one of the biggest democracies in this world and with this issue in consideration, I believe this is hypocrisy at its highest. The first step towards being a democracy is to have freedom for speech and expression and in this case kanhaiya kumar and the other students in the rally were simply expressing their views against the death penalty given to Afzal Guru. I believe there is no point in calling our nation a democracy if the most fundamental requirement of a democracy in this case freedom of speech is not met. Overall I believe that the charges of sedition on which kanhaiya kumar was arrested on is non ethical in nature and I do hope that the charges on which he is arrested are reconsidered by the judiciary. I would like to conclude by saying that I agree with all the points that knhaiya kumar had pointed out in his speech, and I don't believe he should be prosecuted for sedition as he did not promote or preach any anti national slogans.
Saisharan Shankar
20153070
This is not a political theory class.
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