Wild west machismo

Forget Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi. India is experiencing the new face of aggressive students’ politics sans values, vision or ideology. Witness the volatile youth politics in the rough terrain of western UP

Sandeep Yadav Meerut

It is 4 pm, and Room No. 6, the registrar’s office in the administration building of Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCS) in  Meerut is crowded with students, teachers and university staff, all jostling to grab the attention of the thin, bespectacled man behind the large wooden table. The occupant of the room, Professor Sanjeev Sharma, is at his cheerful best, unmindful of the commotion around. Commanding endless patience, for he has not had his lunch yet, the man is trying to placate the students surrounding him with demands ranging from the announcement of the B.Ed result of a particular candidate to the release of sports equipment for the women’s badminton team.

The ever-volatile campus of CCS University is slowly striving back to normalcy. After a month-long agitation in the wake of the mark sheet scandal in Agra in which school kids were found examining the answer sheets of university students, and bribes were demanded by the coordinator and his cronies,  the classes have finally resumed. And with it the turbulent students’ politics, notorious for sudden violence and sharp divisions on caste lines in this university and its affiliated colleges in western UP, the badlands of wild west in the Hindi heartland, its raw realism depicted so well in Vishal Bhardawaj’s Omkara.

In the low level political battles here, there is no space for ideological debates or patient discussions; instead, it’s an eternal twilight zone of ‘slanging matches’, often leading to morbid public spectacles of muscle and money power, and raw physical confrontations between political groups. These macho, feudal youth groups are basically caste gangs owing allegiance to local MLAs or MPs or some local heavyweight.  Clearly, ideological commitments and political principles have no takers here.

The intellectual depth of a stereotypical student leader’s ‘political consciousness’ is abysmally dismal in this socially backward and economy rich ‘green revolution’ belt, dominated by landlord Jats. Registrar Sanjeev Sharma accepts the falling standards in the academia. “It’s a fact that the fall in moral values has also resulted in the pollution of political and educational atmosphere,” he says. He believes that compared to universities in Delhi and Mumbai where students are academically sharper, the awareness level of students in this university is low. “The socio-economic background of the students is largely responsible for it. Belonging to rural areas and having illiterate parents has its limitations. It’s unfair to compare them with the convent-educated children of the big metros,” argues Sharma.

Except the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), students’ wing of the BJP, which has a modest presence in the campus, other students’ wings like the National Students Union of India (NSUI) of the Congress, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) of the CPI-M, or the All India Students Association (AISA) of the CPI-ML (Liberation) are yet to find their feet in the campuses here. Instead, western UP truly reflects the character of its cut-throat power politics: this is the land of Chatra Lok Dal (CLD, of the Rashtriya Lok Dal), Samajwadi Chatra Sabha (SCS, of the Samajwadi Party) and Chatra Lok Shakti (CLD, of the Lok Janshakti Party led by Ramvilas Paswan).

As for the ABVP, the president of the CCS University Students’ Union, Ishwar Chand Sagar, a Scheduled Caste (SC) student, is their big leader. His office in the Shaheed Mangal Pandey Bhawan has non-stop live television with portraits of Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh,

Dr BR Ambedkar and Charan Singh in the backdrop, with his lackeys enjoying local gossip 24 x 7. When queried about the communal character of the BJP, he was categorical: “I don’t know about ideology but I do know that the ABVP works for the welfare of the students.” Why did he join the ABVP? “The BJP has massive presence in this part and with a large SC students’ base it made common sense to choose this platform for a ‘sure-shot’ victory,” says Sagar. A history research scholar, Sagar was organising a trip to Delhi to convince BJP President Rajnath Singh to procure an MLA ticket for the forthcoming assembly polls in UP. Students’ politics as a stepping-stone for power politics — Sagar’s ‘fundas’ are clear.

Rajeev Baliyan, a Jat leader of the CLD, who lost to Sagar in a close contest, has a straight-forward answer defining his defeat. “There were three Jat candidates in the fray against a single SC candidate. The result was a forgone conclusion,” he says. In white trousers and white sports shoes, sitting on dharna against the mark sheet scandal with his young Jat followers at the gates of the administrative bloc, Rajeev is eyeing the next presidential polls.

Nirvan Singh, Jat president of the Meerut College Students’ Union, too seems to have no ideological attachment with the ABVP or the BJP, despite being chosen from its platform. Married and with two kids, 32, he is awaiting his LLB final results. He hails from nearby Baraut, a backward Jat stronghold, and runs a chemist shop, Siddharth Chemists, in Meerut, close to the college. There were more of his lackeys hanging out in the shop than the quantity of medicine or drugs. Watching  the India-West Indies match in Kuala Lumpur on TV, he seemed to have mixed his business, family and politics well. “The politics of this district is different from the rest of the state. Here people are religious-minded. Caste and religious factors are crucial to win elections,” says Nirvan. 

Inside Meerut College, routinely bunking classes, these macho young men lean on Gandhi’s dust-laden statue and smoke Red and White cigarettes, leering at girl students, who walk by meekly, eyes eternally lowered on the ground. Young lecturer Dr Yash of the English department seemed too scared to even discuss about the student leaders of his college. “Why do you want me to comment on this? You must be reading about the daily hooliganism here in the papers. I can only tell you that last year only about 10 students have attended my lectures. But mostly, not more than three or four drop by.”

The intellectual bankruptcy is not only evident in the party (or gang) leanings of these student leaders but also in the kind of issues that dominate the election scenario in these campuses. Forget national or international issues (as in JNU, even DU, where the murder of a professor by ABVP goons in Ujjain was a big issue this year), even local or district-level problems do not figure. Issues like Naxalite poltics – overground or underground – globalisation, terrorism, the Gujarat genocide or farmers’ suicides have no place in the skewed political landscape here. 

When ‘President Sagar’ was asked to comment on the Naxalites’ armed struggle, he dodged the question. His argument? Being a student leader he can only concentrate on students problems. When pushed, he said, “It’s a serious issue and should be dealt with severely.”   Ironically, he seems to half-believe that the Gandhian philosophy is still relevant today. Is he convinced about this, can he shed some light on ahimsa and satyagraha? He explains, with a mock expression of deep introspection: “Gandhi used to walk a lot. Today’s youth don’t walk at all. Even if one has to go to the canteen he will look around for a bike or a scooter.”

Karl Marx or Bhagat Singh? The names are familiar, but question them about their ‘political ideas’ and they will feel terribly uneasy, incoherent. SK Chaturvedi, professor of political science department, CCS University, defended his students. “When our parliamentarians can’t differentiate between a national song and the national anthem, how do you expect these kids to know everything,” he shot back.

Hostel and admission-related issues, exam schedules, early declaration of results and sports facilities are the hot topics of discussion among the ‘apolitical’ students in these colleges. How much these issues affect the voting pattern is a matter of speculation. Mohammad Salim, a second year B.Com student at Meerut College, voted for Nirvan Singh. “Nirvan bhaiya ne mera admission karvaya tha (He got my admission done), said Salim when asked as to why he voted for him.

All student leaders claim great popularity, but they are not shy in accepting the fact that they won because they belong to a certain caste, mostly the dominant caste in the region. All the four big colleges across the three districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur have presidents of the dominant caste.

Muzzaffarnagar is a dusty, underdeveloped, crime-infested, listless and violent district town on the Grand Trunk Road, 67 km from Meerut. Sanjay Rathi, a Jat student of DAV College here, is the president of the union in this Jat-dominated college. Likewise, in nearby Saharanpur, an anarchic and crowded mandi plus business centre, 42-year-old ‘student’ Santarpal of JV Jain College belongs to the Gujjar community that dominates the college. This reporter saw pitched fights between two gangs just outside this college last week. “Don’t worry. This is routine stuff,” said Rahul Sharma, vice-president of the union.

Schedule Caste students form the largest chunk in the CCS University and hence it has an SC president. Meerut College has a Jat majority and hence a Jat president, Nirvan Singh. Perhaps, the students are a product of a feudal society that is highly caste-conscious, patriarchal, definitely macho and male, where caste loyalties are entrenched. So who cares about books, the flight of ideas, young rebellion and freedom or the struggle for social justice in a fragmented, unequal democracy?

Indeed, the absence of women in students’ politics is often stark. Although many of these colleges have women members in the students’ union, they are widely looked at by male students as mere ‘show trophies’. Meenakshi, pursuing her Master’s and General Secretary of JV Jain College, sees no future for herself in larger ‘national or state’ politics. A dalit, she seems terribly confused. “I want to prepare for the civil services and get a good job. Politics is a passing fancy,” she says. 

Aditi Tyagi, a Ph.D student at CCS University, does not even vote. “Academically inclined students don’t get into politics,” she says gleefully, pleased at her answer. There is middle class pressure on girls to avoid the rough turf of politics. Says Vandana Singh, doing BA at DAV College, Muzzaffarnagar: “I would love to take active part in the college elections and do something good for the girl students. But due to my conservative parents, I have to keep away.”

Does student politics pay in building a bright political career? The ‘wild west’ doesn’t have a unilinear narrative. After the resumption of elections in the CCS University since 1991, not a single student president has been able to enter the state assembly in Lucknow. In fact, only one managed to get a ticket from the RLD. Six presidents have become lecturers. Ex-president Sandeep Chaudhry is today the state president of the CLS. Kuldeep Ujjwal is the state president of the SCS.

Meerut College has prouder political credentials than the CCS University. The college boasts of giving a prime minister to the country — Charan Singh. Politicians Satpal Malik and KK Sharma have been MPs. There have been MLAs and ministers from this college. One of the powerful ministers of the current Mulayam Singh Yadav government in UP, Jagdish Singh Rana, is an alumnus of JV Jain College. “I was politically active but never contested elections. I was in Mahavir Rana’s faction who became president. Later, he became an MLA and minister,” he says.

Violence and students politics have always been synonyms in these parts. Two years back, a student was murdered by a rival gang in the lawns of Meerut College. Complaints of violent assaults against many students are buried in police files. Elections are conducted in the presence of heavy police deployment which often fails to stop the ugly, bloody brawls.

Self-styled ‘dada’, Ashish Yadav of DAV College, Muzaffarnagar, has fought innumerable physical battles in the campus and takes pride in narrating his own ‘legend’: how he bashed up that guy, how he gave the police a slip on so many occasions, how others are scared of him. Sagar understands the language of hooliganism. “The rival party tried to provoke me and tore my campaign posters but I kept my cool and avoided any serious confrontation with these goons. Minor incidents and fist-fights are unavoidable,” he says.

Prof. Chaturvedi calls it a pan-Indian phenomenon. He believes that violence in society has intensely increased, hence it also reflects in the campus. “Violence in the campus is not exclusive to us only. It’s everywhere, even in JNU, Allahabad University and Benaras Hindu University. Reasons may be different but violence has always been part of the campus life,” he asserts. Professor N Ram of the geography department, JV Jain College, attributes the rising trend of violence in the campus to the rapid decline of tolerance among the youth. “I have contested two assembly elections. But I am more anxious about the violence during elections in my college. Today’s youth is an impatient lot,” says Ram.

Predictably, Rahul Sharma believes that Gandhism is an obsolete theory. So what is Gandhian philosophy? “If somebody slaps you on one cheek, offer the other. Now, tell me, which sane person will do that?” he asks, candidly.

Indeed, between violence and non-violence, sanity and insanity, slaps and stabs, the line is thin. This is truly Omkara territory in the campus corridors of the wild west of UP. And Gandhi is nothing but a statue.