Two articles by students of Sonepat-based Ashoka University in their in-house e-paper “The Edict” six days ago reveal a divide among students over a recent petition on “human rights’ abuses” in Kashmir.
Signed by some in the university community, the petition had been disowned by the university administration. The subsequent resignation of two of the signatories, both from the university administration, has become the trigger for the debate, with some students faulting the administration, while others questioning the Kashmir petition itself.
On October 18, two students posted in “The Edict” that while the university was vocal in its support to Jawaharlal Nehru University when its students were charged with sedition earlier this year, the administration’s response was one of unease when the students drafted the petition on Kashmir.
Discrepancy
“The discrepancy in the administration’s reaction to the university’s name being used in the JNU petition as compared to the Kashmir petition exacerbated the polarisation between the administration and the students,” the article said.
It added that the distrust between the administration and the students was aggravated due to a new e-mail policy soon after. The policy stated that all mass mails would be regulated by a moderator.
“In the face of all this, what has been most astounding is the faculty’s pervasive silence,” the article added.
Another article on “The Edict” by two other students on October 15 sought to relate the events differently.
The article said that even when the strongly-worded Kashmir petition of July 20 was circulated via mass e-mail by six Young India Fellows (YIF) — the group that does a one-year post-graduate diploma there — a YIF then in Kashmir objected to the tone of the petition.
“She highlighted the taunting language, faulty facts and statistics, as well as ‘the inescapable and serious legal repercussions of the loose usage of these terms.’ Additionally, she foretold that ‘[t]he carelessness of this letter will only strike a blow at Ashoka’s standing’,” the October 15 article recounted.
Article
The article recounted that another student contested the Kashmir petition on July 26, saying “the final draft contains multiple references to [uninformed and incomplete] sources”.
“He reminded the framers that by using phrases such as ‘extra-judicial killing’ and ‘Occupation’ in a derogatory fashion, [they] are guilty of the same bigotry and partisanship that [they] accuse the Indian state of,” the piece recounted.
Students said there are multiple opinions on the issue.
There is, however, one difference with the JNU controversy; they claim — the faculty is silent this time around. Vice-Chancellor Rudrangshu Mukherjee refused to comment.
Signed by some in the university, the petition has been disowned by the administration
