Why JNU makes every struggle its business

NEW DELHI: Jawaharlal Nehru University was never going to be Delhi University. An unusual admission policy adopted soon after its establishment has ensured its very DNA is different. It also explains the diversity of its students' union and why it makes nearly every struggle-Vemula, northeast, Kashmir, adivasis, dams and nuclear plants-its business.

Students, teachers and even members of the administration agree that JNU ultimately owes much of its politics and its atmosphere, to "deprivation points" awarded to candidates from backward districts, women, transgender, Kashmiri migrants and those from defence backgrounds. Census data is studied to draw up a list of districts according to literacy rates, percentage of non-agricultural workers, even "agricultural productivity per hectare"; these are divided into "quartiles" one and two with points assigned. As AISA chief Sucheta De observes, in JNU, affirmative action begins even before reservation.

"There is representation of every part of India. And each group brings its own idea of the nation and nationalism," observes V Lenin Kumar, former JNUSU president who was ousted from SFI for disagreeing with CPI(M)'s stand on Pranab Mukherjee's candidature for presidency and Nandigram.

The 27% OBC reservation has also contributed to JNU's uniqueness. Incidentally, the All India Backward Students' Front, established to fight for implementation of this quota, also organised "Mahishasur Shahadat Divas". According to the administration, women account for 57% of the student population on the campus.

There are 141 quartile-I districts-most backward-with the largest numbers in Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh; and 144 in quartile-II. Some states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram, have only Quartile II districts.

"You will find students from Kalahandi (Odisha) as well as from St Stephen's," says former JNUSU vice-president Anant Prakash. The present general secretary, Rama Naga, is from Kalahandi while president Kanhaiya Kumar hails from Bihar. "Over the years we've had supporters of Godse, Charu Majumdar, Naga separatists, Manipuri rebels and Assam's ULFA," says Anand Kumar who has studied and taught at JNU.

And the different groups have always found ways to settle their differences without writing, as AISF's Aparajitha Raja puts it, "squealing letters" or ministers wading in.