JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY- Image and Reality

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY Image and Reality Amiya Rao II THE seige of JNU in the evening of May 11 has to be viewed against this background. If reason had not fled giving place to venom, if the PhD student concerned had not been ordered to vacate his room but allowed to keep it for a few days more till his examinations were over or if the warden of the hostel had agreed to an enquiry as suggested by the students, the problem would have solved itself. "Why did you gherao the warden?" I asked a JNU student in Tihar Jail. "Because democratic methods do not work in JNU, only force, does; so gherao has become normal." As soon as the warden was gherao- ed in his house, the JNUTA butted in, threatening to boycott examinations due in early May. It was unusual for JNUTA to feel so concerned; it had remained completely unruffled when students under the SFI had gheraoed so many times so many professors, including the last vice-chancellor, Y Nayudamroa, and broken many locks and taken possession of the University's library. But this time it was SYS, not SFI. The Students' Union lifted the gherao, but put the Ph D student back in his room after breaking the lock. The teachers rushed to the vice-chancellor and pressurised him to expel the Students' Union president and general secretary together with the PhD student. The vice-chancellor did not want trouble from the militant teachers, knowing well their ability to intrigue which had driven his predecessor to resign in disgust; so he agreed.