Universities — The BJP-RSS’s Killing Fields
Prabhat Patnaik | 26 August 2023 | Newsclick
Ashoka University. Image Courtesy: ashoka.edu.in
When Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rule in the country is dead and gone, a good deal of the damage it has caused to the Indian society, polity and economy will no doubt be reversed. But there are at least two areas where such reversal will be difficult: one is the architectural vandalism it has perpetrated. This vandalism began with the destruction of the Babri Masjid, which, quite apart from stoking communal animosity, was an instance of barbarism: no civilised and sensitive group would wantonly destroy a 400-year-old structure.
And this vandalism has continued with the insertion of a structure next to the Parliament building that destroys the carefully planned old layout. (The fact that it was a colonial regime that had conceived it, is not a justification for such vandalism).
The other area where the damage inflicted by the BJP government has been massive and whose reversal will be as difficult is the destruction of universities; and it is this which concerns us here.
