Column

The youth need to be part of public debate, which is essential to encourage understanding in our increasingly intolerant society

Two days ago, a student spat on a Delhi University professor. Frenzied members of the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP, had stormed a campus seminar on 'Communalism, Fascism and Democracy' and gone on an hour-long rampage, breaking furniture, microphones and windows, screaming battle cries of 'Bharat Mata ki jai!' and 'Vande Mataram!'. All because SAR Geelani was participating in the discussion. Later, Delhi University Students' Union president Nupur Sharma supported the attack, calling Geelani a terrorist and declaring on national television: "The whole country should spit on him!"

Geelani had been accused in the Parliament attack -- though the court exonerated him. But facts did not matter to the mindless youngsters, all they wanted was to attack a Muslim teacher and project Muslims as terrorists. What a terrible Bharat Mata these demented kids were bowing to, kids who had no idea of our culture, of the respect our culture demands for truth and learning, and for teachers, the givers of learning. This brand of student politics brushes aside cultural tradition, reason and facts with the politics of hatred. Unlike our usual student activism, which has always been buzzing with ideas and debate, charged with the resolve to change the world.

Like student activism elsewhere, the Paris protests of 1968 totally changed conservative French society, redefining morality and the concepts of duty, religion and patriotism, ushering in a liberal ethos dominated by free choice, equality and human rights. 'Read less, live more!' students hollered. 'Run, the old world is after you!'

Students across the world picked up the thread and demanded change, lobbying for human rights and liberal values, protesting the Vietnam War, demanding free speech. In South Africa, student activism led to the Soweto Uprising in 1976, the turning point in the battle against apartheid. About 500 died in the riots -- a large number of them school and college students.

Student activism challenges the old, ringing in the new. It reflects fresh perspectives, throbs with the energy of young blood demanding rights, equality and freedom. It is about taking charge of our destiny by questioning socio-cultural assumptions, debating fundamental values in a stagnating world. It was never about mindlessly following a national political party's set agenda.

Maybe we need to reintroduce the tradition of deliberation that was once integral to our culture. The youth need to be part of public debate, questioning fundamentals and ushering in radical shifts in our priorities. Which is essential to encourage tolerance and understanding in our increasingly intolerant society.

I spent two days last week steeped in debate, in the 'Battle of Ideas' in London, where young and old argued fearlessly about everything under the sun. And tucked away among the big names were some school students battling for their own ideas, in Debating Matters. That's the competition for high school students from festival organisers, Institute of Ideas. In our eagerness to pick intellectual fights today we routinely forget tomorrow's leaders -- school and college students, our future. Which is why it is so essential to develop the culture of debate, a respect for argument and different points of view. It is particularly important for a problematic democracy like ours.

"The right to probe ideas, disagree with perspectives, and dispute the ways and means of social justice and welfare are factors critical for the success of the world's largest democracy," Sujata Sen of the British Council, a partner in the debating festival, had declared at the inaugural ceremony. Happily, they are bringing Debating Matters to India. We already have some excellent inter-college debating forums. But we need more. It's essential for arresting this criminal foolishness among tomorrow's leaders, and for rejuvenating our interest in reason and argument that has been wilting under the burden of dead habit and deader minds.

The writer is editor, The Little Magazine.Email: sen@littlemag.com