By?Mythili Mishra
On 25 May, the Indian government released a notification prohibiting the sale of cows and buffaloes for slaughter through animal markets, restricting it to only agriculturalists. On 30 May, students at IIT Madras held a ‘beef festival’ on campus, in a show of open protest against the order. Students declared personal liberty and sustained the non-cooperation despite initial rebuke on social media by the right-wing student body representatives. The students at the festival were critical of the Centre?s order, terming it ?food fascism?, and hurtful to marginalised social groups including Dalits and Muslims.
Changing the protest agenda
R. Sooraj, a Ph.D scholar and member of the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle at IITM, was assaulted by students believed to have belonged to the right-wing organisation Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He was targeted for consumption of beef at the protest held earlier. This sparked mass protests and demonstrations by students and activists in Chennai, demanding action against the assailants. While nine students have been booked for the attack, they are yet to be arrested.
Learning to read or fight?
Universities have been the bastion of free thought and political dissent. During the anti-colonial struggle, students and teachers of Delhi University were at the forefront of debate and demonstrations(elaborate). Affirmative action has democratised Indian colleges and thrown them open to the marginalised sections (please explain). Student activism had become the voice for a diminishing Dalit movement. In a far right-of-centre political environment, universities have been the site of sharp, often violent, clashes. Jawaharlal Nehru University?was one such arena of the battle between the state and the students. Ramjas College was another, where sticks and stones replaced pamphlets and microphones. The sanctity of the educational ecosystem was challenged (why is this happening – try to be apolitical while explaining).
Freedom of speech on campus
The food fest held at IITM was a non-violent means of protest. It was a coalition of the willing, and only students who made the choice to consume the beef were involved. It was a spontaneous protest, without aggressive campaigning or bouts of hostility.
A final year M.A. student from IITM wrote: ?Will joking about how they are eating ?gau mata? as they relish beef enable discussions between those who oppose eating beef and those who don?t? Will calling people who oppose organising the beef fest ?sanghis? and ?right-wing fascists?, further the space for a constructive dialogue on campus?? If speech is instrumental in sparking discussion, can closing doors on engagement lead to a free marketplace of ideas or is it likely to cause further polarisation?
Yet speech is also an end in itself, the ?weapon of the word? a powerful tool for the powerless. Against a state with a monopoly on coercion and reason, the rhetoric employed by the dissidents becomes important (“monopoly on coercion” is too harsh; this statement itself is too complex; cannot understand its reference). Satire, for instance, is often persecuted under authoritarian regimes for the same reason(elaborate).
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