BJP backstabbed NIT students
It is more than a week since any new development on the NIT Srinagar situation and passions have finally died down, so it is a good time to take stock and see how BJP fared on handling this situation. To benchmark BJP’s performance it will be good to look at the support given by leftists to their students in JNU and compare it with the support(non-support actually) given by BJP to nationalistic students at NIT.
During this discussion, one thing that you should keep in mind is that BJP is ruling both over centre as well as J&K while left does not. There is a well nurtured ecosystem by the left to support it but BJP had overwhelming mass support to counter it plus the advantage of being in power and ability to flex muscles that comes with it.
While it is more than understandable that NIT students were not allowed to venture out into the bad lands of Kashmir due to safety concerns but the apathy shown by BJP in the whole issue is a classic textbook case of backstabbing. If the students were not allowed to go out of campus there was no reason to not allow media to visit them as it would have helped the country get real updates and show solidarity with these students. Compare it how the left used media to create a hype around JNU drama and portray the traitors there as victims. In comparison, the NIT students were real victims and were not even allowed to share their stories. Poor students had to use SM to share their stories and beg for recharging their phones so that they can send out a distress call it needed.
To complete the agony these students were not only beaten up by the local police but also harassed by the local teachers and given grave threats about their life and career. Instead of allaying their fears and visit them, BJP leaders gave one stupid statement after another trying to massage the ego of PDP, its coalition partner in J&K.
But now we have more evidence to look into the matter as we hear further statements from BJP members on this issue. Here is what Ram Madhav had to say about the issue:
They are in the Valley only to pursue their academic careers; they are not there to pursue politics.
Of course everyone knows that they are there to pursue academics, but Mr Madhav since when did hoisting the tricolour become politics in India? Politics is what students at JNU were engaged in i.e. raising “Bharat ki Barbadi tak” slogans. The students at NIT had no big agenda behind their protest. They did what every proud Indian would have done when booed by “Pakistan Zindabad” situation. So, does standing to the rogue elements in the campus now comes under politics?
What makes it more ridiculous is that their own HRD Smriti Irani made it compulsory to hoist national flag in university campuses some time ago. Given NIT Srinagar administration failed to do their duty, the students had to take it upon themselves. These students thought that there is a nationalistic government at the centre which will cover their backs but when the time came BJP’s support was no where to be found. They let the situation simmer where the students got so scared that they demanded to be shifted out of the campus.
Everyone knows all this was done to appease the Mullas of the valley and keep the coalition govt. with PDP running. How else can you explain that HRD Smriti brushed aside the issue saying it is law and order problem and not under her jurisdiction and refused to entertain the students and hear their grievances? Do you think given this lack of support from BJP, nationalistic students would dare to oppose any anti-national act in the country? Compared to propaganda that left unleashed in JNU, BJP did not even use a genuine issue to expose fake Kashmiriat in front of the country.
The whole country was with NIT students and it was a natural followup after JNU to expose leftist traitors in front of the nation. But BJP not only lost that chance but also exposed that its nationalism is all hot gas and symbolism or as Biharis friends would like to call it- Jumlebazi. Seems like BJP sold itself for power in J&K and all its sloganeering about nationalism is just a pretension. If BJP does not mend its course in the future it will be punished heavily by its core Hindu supporters who did not elect it to become B team of Congress. Backstabbing nationalists and covering it with Jumlas is not going to work for too long.
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