JNU, Jadavpur Should Be Privatized

The recent incidents at JNU are different things to different people. To the leftist liberals, media, Communists and various India baiters, it was an assault on freedom of speech. While that is true, these people ignore the responsibility that comes with that freedom. Death threats, screaming fire in a crowded place, destruction of property or the country for that matter are not protected even in the freest of all societies. Therefore calling Narendra Modi fascist, “Maut ka Saudagar”, murderer etc. is permitted but calling for destruction of the private or national property which includes the nation itself are not protected.

On the other hand, we have the man in the street struggling with day to day issues of life. To this man J&K is low on his list and Afzal Guru was a terrorist, convicted and hung by a liberal government. This man sees the terrorists attack and kill our young soldiers. He sees soldiers dying on glaciers to protect the nation. To this person, food, shelter and safety means everything. To this man, the farmer, the soldier and contributors to the economy (workers and job-creators) mean more than the ideals of a terrorist like Afzal Guru.

Please do the following exercise. Ask the following question to the man in the street: Would you rather have an Engineering college like IITs, Medical colleges like AIIMS or liberal arts colleges like JNU? What do you think the order of preference would be? What kind of an institution does a man on the street want funded by his tax money?

American Ivy league universities have defended the rights of JNU students. Let us talk about these universities. Harvard is a bastion of left wing liberalism and model liberal arts institution. The likes of Noam Chomsky (he is at MIT) run riot at that place. The authority of the US government establishment if routinely flaunted. Columbia University hosted Ahmadinejad. Professor Pete Singer at Princeton University defends the right of parent to kill their children. However, these universities also produce great legal minds, leaders – political and business and extraordinary scientific discoveries. And they do it all without any money from the taxpayers. Since these institutions are private, they can do whatever they want of say what they want as long as they are being “responsible (no death threats or destruction of private or public property including the country)”. After all the American in the street may be disgusted by Professor Pete Singer but he can’t object to it because Singer is not on public payroll.

It is this distinction that makes JNU and Jadavpur University the hated places they are today. Their hero, Umar Khalid is doing a PhD in a subject that makes him unemployable anywhere except another institution like JNU – perpetuation of meaninglessness. Imagine a scenario. Khalid, Kanhaiya Kumar et.al. are protesting and calling Narendra Modi every name in the book. They are berating every institution in India. They are even mocking Hinduism (like Aamir Khan did in PK) but are not espousing division and destruction of the nation. Also imagine that JNU is privately funded. Do you think that there would be any outrage against JNU?

I think time has come to defund non-productive institutions where career PhD students take around close to a decade to finish their degree (which are of no economic value to the taxpayer) while on public largesse. They want to study philosophy or art then let them find leftist billionaires like an Indian George Soros and fund JNU or Jadavpur Univ. Let them become the Ivy League universities of India – productive, innovative and economically viable. Let them produce wealth creators who in turn donate large sums of money to their alma mater. After that JNU students can protest all they want (of course they still cannot espouse sedition).

Before some eager beaver jumps up and raises the point of educated Engineers who have studied on government dole and are working abroad, let me come to the defense of these engineers. Most of them send large sums of foreign currency home, create business opportunities for Indian companies and (increasingly) bring technical and business knowhow back to India. Even the worst of these guys contributes more to the Indian economy than a typical JNU student.

We have lots of welfare organizations in India. Every government department hires way more people than they ever need. Helping them that way is still more productive than pumping money in institutes where students are taught no life skills. To use an old cliché, they are fed fish but not taught how to catch a fish. It is time to let these institutions free. Free them of the government shackles. Let them be free to think. Let them become self-sufficient. Let them become Harvard and Princeton of India. Yes. Let them become private organizations.