Prime Minister Narendra Modi told a campaign meeting on Friday that Jadavpur University was a seat of “anarchy” rather than learning, and seemed to suggest that it needed “saving”.
He described the campus as a hotbed of “anti-national slogans”, an allegation that his administration had used a decade ago to crack down on anti-BJP students at JNU in Delhi.
Several academics associated with JU — which has consistently performed well in all-India rankings — condemned the Prime Minister’s remarks as ignorant and as an attack on dissent.
“Jadavpur University used to be respected worldwide. Nationalism was the cornerstone of the university’s foundation,” Modi said in Baruipur, South 24-Parganas, about 20km from Jadavpur.
“(Now) threats are being issued, and anti-national slogans are being written. Students are being forced to take to the streets in the name of protest. Just see what is happening. They are doing everything, barring studies,” he added.
“We don’t want anarchy here; we want an academic environment. We do not want threats; we need dialogue.”
Targeting Mamata Banerjee, Modi asked how a government unable to “save” its premier university could “save” Bengal and the “future of Bengal’s youth”.
Mamata, who has had a prickly relationship with segments of JU students over the years, quickly seized on Modi’s criticism while firmly taking the state university’s side.
Minutes after Modi’s comments had been aired, the Bengal chief minister lauded JU students’ “ability to question” and wondered on X how the Prime Minister could “stoop so low”.
“Pained to ask: is this the way how you describe the meritorious students of the esteemed Jadavpur University? Is this your concept of decorum and courtesy?” she wrote.
“Jadavpur University has been receiving top ranks from your government’s NIRF ranking framework year after year, and you descend to insult that centre of excellence? You stoop so low?”
Mamata wrote: “The students of Jadavpur University have earned their place through merit and walk out with degrees, with intellect, with the ability to question. That is not anarchy. That is education, and that is excellence.”
Eminent professor emeritus Supriya Chaudhuri accused Modi of being “uninformed”. “I do not think this kind of uninformed attack deserves any response from the academic community, “ she told The Telegraph.
“Jadavpur University is justly proud of its intellectual and social standing, and that cannot be damaged by an attack of this kind, whoever makes it. Even if he is the Prime Minister of our country.”
An annual ranking exercise carried out by Modi’s own education ministry had labelled JU the best “state public university” in Indialast year.
In the overall university category — which includes central, state and private universities — JU ranked 9th, the only state university among the top 10.
Chaudhuri, revered by generations of students across campuses, said Modi’s remarks were of a piece with his government’s attitude towards premier academic institutions. “The central government has a tradition of attacking premier educational institutions — for example, Jawaharlal Nehru University, which is a central university under their direct control.”
“JNU also has the highest academic standing in the country. This attack on Jadavpur University is much like the kind of attacks being carried out against institutions by our politicians.”
When the Modi government unveiled a new citizenship matrix — seen as discriminatory against Muslims — in December 2019, JU students had hit the streets in protest.
The university’s student organisations had invited activists like former JNUstudent leader Umar Khalid — now imprisoned for five-and-a-half years without trialby the Modi government under a Draconian anti-terror law — to speak against the government’s move.
JU students had also campaigned against the rape and murder of a Dalit teen in Hathras, a district in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh.
Chaudhuri, who has herself spoken out many times against the country’s ruling dispensation on social issues, said that like any other premier educational institution, “JU students have a right to protest and agitate for fundamental academic and students’ rights”.
“It’s part of their intellectual formation that they should continue to do so, and it is actually for the good of the nation, rather than anti-national action,” she said.
Abhijit Gupta, former head of English at JU, said “power will always be questioned on the campus”.
“It is expected that students will express themselves and protest whenever they see injustice,” he said.
“They may not always be right. But right or wrong is not the point. The point is that the atmosphere on a campus should encourage questioning, dissent and critical thinking.”
Bhaskar Gupta, former JU vice-chancellor and former professor of electronics and telecommunication, said that dragging the university into an election campaign was “below the belt and reeks of desperation”.
Mamata, a former student leader herself (but not at JU), wrote: “Students protesting do not constitute a breakdown of democracy — it is democracy in motion.
“Anarchy is using bulldozers as instruments of power instead of justice.
“Anarchy is when farmers die, and their voices are crushed.
“Anarchy is when those convicted of rape and other heinous crimes walk free for political convenience.”
JU students, too, castigated Modi’s comments.
“By nationalism, our PM means excluding the minorities from citizenship and the electoral rolls,” Anirban Sandhukhan, who is doing a PhD in mechanical engineering, said.
“JU students have always protested against this brand of nationalism, which thriveson otherisation, because we believe in diversity and plurality. No wonder the PM accuses JU students of indulging in anarchy.”