Bhakts (Modi Fanboys) are often accused of seeing the world in black and white. As per them, a person is either patriot or a traitor. The ones who support Narendra Modi are patriots while the Modi haters (even the occasional ones) are traitors as per them. Of course the Bhakt’s yardstick of patriotism is far-fetched and funnily absurd but there are times when even a naïve theory such as this seems like a well-established and validated concept.
Now picture this:
A bunch of JNU students organize a meeting in the university’s campus. The agenda of which is condemnation of the “Judicial Killing” of Afzal Guru. And this is what they chant:
भारत की बर्बादी तक
जंग़ रहेगी जंग रहेगी
The struggle will continue till the annihilation of India
कश्मीर की आज़ादी तक
जंग रहेगी जंग रहेगी
The battle will be on till Kashmir is seceded from India
कितने अफज़ल मारोगे
घर घर से अफज़ल निकलेंगे
How many Afzals will you slay, there will be an Afzal from every home.
पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद
Glory to Pakistan
So basically a bunch of JNU students led a protest in which they raised anti-India slogans. They lionized a terrorist. They vowed to fulfill his unfulfilled ambitions <As in bomb the parliament> The same bunch of JNU Students vowed destruction of their own country and expressed solidarity with Pakistan who is the exclusive sponsor of almost every terror activity on Indian soil. And this was no secret meeting of an underground illuminati. They did it in broad day light and on a public dais. Even for the politically disenchanted and indifferent, this will sound seditious.
Of course India is a democratic country where there is freedom of expression but then freedom of expression is not absolute, like every theory it has its special conditions too. Freedom of Expression doesn’t give freedom of sedition, freedom of treachery, freedom of conspiracy, freedom of fanning communal embers, freedom of upsetting the mood of the nation. The statements uttered by the JNU Students were either borderline treason or completely seditious.
Rajnath Singh was quick to issue stern words to the guilty and immediate notifications to the Delhi Police which resulted in to a massive crackdown on JNU students. SFI Leader Kanhaiyya Kumar was arrested along with a couple more. Today a dozen more JNU students were arrested by the Delhi Police. At a time when the politicians, activists and journalists of India should have come together to issue strict warnings to the ones talking against the interest of the nation, they chose to sing discordant tunes. While BJP has been extremely critical of the entire episode and looks in a mood to unsettle the so called student activists who promote the feeling of secessionism in the university, here is where the eminences of India stand.
Sitaram Yechury smells Emergency 2.0
What is happening in JNU? Police on campus, arrests and picking up students from hostels. This had last happened during Emergency.
— Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) February 12, 2016
Arvind Kejriwal warns the Government of a possible Student upheaval
No one supports anti-national forces. But targetting innocent students using that as an excuse will prove v costly to Modi govt
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) February 12, 2016
Rahul Gandhi is all for FoE
The most anti-national people are the people who are suppressing the voice of this institution: Rahul Gandhi in JNU
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 13, 2016
Lalu Prasad Yadav can’t let go of Dalit Politics
दलित/पिछड़ा समाज पूछता है कि क्या केंद्रसरकार ने 'JNU में देशद्रोह' की खोज रोहित वेमुला की आत्महत्या से उपजे आक्रोश को ढंकने के लिए किया है
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) February 13, 2016
For Rajdeep Sardesai, Pro Afzal chants is not sedition
Arresting JNU student leader is stupidity. Is Indian state so weak as to treat pro Afzal protests as sedition? Don't make heroes of them.
— Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) February 12, 2016
Barkha Dutt calls crackdown on JNU students an overreaction, an insane one at that
Surely the Indian State is more secure than to arrest a student for inflammatory slogans & send police to JNU campus. Insane overreaction
— barkha dutt (@BDUTT) February 12, 2016
Rana Ayyub is prophesying about a possible backfire
Dear Sangh parivaar, targetting the 'leftist' JNU by playing the Afzal Guru card is all set to backfire against the govt. #JNUCrackdown
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) February 13, 2016
Now let us come back to the original topic of discussion. The Traitor Vs Patriot theory, the standard Bhakt argument. I still don’t buy the Modi Fan: Patriot::Modi Hater: Traitor theory but the JNU students with their seditionist propensities helped us a great deal in exposing who the traitors of this nation are. And guess what, those who stand on the side of Modi coincidentally stand on the side of the country too. At least in this episode.
