2014

The Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), founded in 1996, has served as the focal point for gender politics on campus. Are the struggles around GSCASH adequate for building a gender-just campus, some ask. Recent occurrences on the JNU campus have served as a rude reminder about the shortcomings of campus gender relations, and have sparked deep introspection among students and teachers alike.

In a rather unusual gesture, the AISF seeks inspiration from Pakistan for the emancipation of Indian women. 2013

Gender violence in areas controlled by the Indian Army – Kashmir and the Northeastern states in particular – has been used as examples to expose patriarchal attitudes deemed to be inherent in the Indian state and its ideological state institutions. In the process, gender and nationality questions have been interwoven. Irom-Chanu Sharmila, a political activist from Manipur, on fast since 2000 demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the Northeastern states, symbolizes the struggles of women against oppression by the Indian state. 2011

While the SFI and the AISA highlight the oppression on nationalities within India without taking a position in favor of secession, the DSU regards India as nothing but an agglomeration of oppressed nationalities and supports all secessionist demands.

2011

Is the identification of an ‘enemy within’ essential for the triumph of nationalism, the AISF seems to ask. 2014

A vivid cartographic representation of Israel’s hunger for what is regarded as Palestinian territory. Different Left groups the world over have a history of upholding the Palestinian cause – the result of a general opinion among them in favor of self-determination of nationalities. The AISA’s exhortation to the Indian government to stand with Palestine serves an implicit reminder about the complaints of the ‘oppressed’ Indian nationalities.

2012

The JNU Forum Against War on People is a chapter of the Delhi Forum Against War on People, launched to voice a concerted protest against paramilitary operations to curb Maoist guerillas (titled Operation Green Hunt by the Indian state); it claims that operations have led to widespread violations of human rights in the name of curbing Maoism. 2012

2012

The Youth For Equality (YFE) on the other hand has been a consistent supporter of all repressive measures against Maoists, whom they regard as nothing but terrorists, taken by the Indian state.

‘Naxalbari - the only way!’; the famous slogan of the Maoist movement in India adorns the entrance to the Central Library – the sanctum sanctorum of JNU. The Naxalite movement in the 1960s and 70s rebelled against existing structures of ‘bourgeois education’ . The DSU regards JNU as an ideological state apparatus of the Indian state that it seeks to destroy, and reposes little faith in the model of education that JNU advocates.

2011

The ABVP has a relatively weak presence on campus, though they regularly engae in debates with the Left organizations. Here it seeks to dishonor Che Guevara, the iconic figure of Left-revolutionary politics.

2012

2014

The ABVP promises to take care of the student issues rather than commenting more on issues such as Palestine or Kashmir .

ABVP also takes on the Congress and the NSUI. Although both carry a distinct politics of their own, derived from the RSS/BJP and the Congress respectively, their activities in JNU are largely geared towards critiquing and combating the Left organizations. The Left largely sets the terms of political discourse on campus within which limitsd its opponents tend to remain. 2012

The NSUI, through its link with the Indian National Congress, lays claim to the legacy of the Indian freedom struggle and sets itself up as the true defenders of the nation against communalists as well as communists. The NSUI draws attention to instances of alliance between the Left and the Hindu Right at various points in Indian history, to make a case for a ‘Communist-Communal alliance’ against the Indian nation.

2013

2014

Despite Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s suggestion that the Indian National Congress should be dissolved after independence, he remains the iconic figure of the secular, democratic nation-state that the NSUI seeks to uphold.

‘India First’ is an enigmatic group that has emerged of late. It does not contest elections and is not affiliated to any political party. The celebration of ‘Indianness’ is intended as a riposte to the ‘unpatriotic’ Left.

2014

2014

The Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations (LCR) have imposed several restrictions on the political culture of JNU of late. As its impact is gradually becoming evident, many fear for the progressive, democratic tradition of JNU politics. The fight to shake off the LCR in JNU and beyond continues, even as detractors ask whether it may be a wall too high for JNU to vault over.

THANK YOU!!

Hope you enjoyed the exhibition!

This exhibition has been conceptualized and curated by Akash Bhattacharya, Ph.D. student, Centre for Historical Studies, with photographic inputs from Rachna Mehra (Ph.D., JNU) and Devayani Prasad (Springdales School, Dhaula Kuan). The P.C. Joshi Archives on Contemporary History welcomes visual and narrative documentaries of the aesthetic and politics of JNU murals of previous years.