Is Academic freedom greater than the Constitution?

In recent years, TISS has been in the news multiple times because of similar anti-national incidents. This is disheartening not only as a proud alumnus of the esteemed institute but also as a patriot who would do whatever in his ability to safeguard his motherland’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. The title of the dissertation reads ‘India occupied Kashmir’ and the inner content, as seen by many through social media posts, dubs India as an imperialist force occupying the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir forcefully. The 1947 attackers eulogized as freedom fighters who purportedly took help from Pakistan to overthrow the despotic rule of that time. Dogras are cunningly dubbed as foreigners to the land. The hypocrisy, or let’s say Pakistani view being peddled, becomes crystal clear when the same thesis addresses Pakistan-occupied Kashmir as ‘Pakistan administered Kashmir’ and ‘Azad Kashmir’. After the massive outrage, how much of the original dissertation could remain in the public domain is questionable, but the title itself in the first place is problematic and must not have passed the scrutiny of the concerned professors. Some more dissertations of the past written by TISS students endorsing separatist views on Kashmir are being shared by ex-students now.

The official argument being shared by the administration that ‘TISS does not endorse such views’ seems weak as the acceptance of the controversial thesis and granting off the mark sheet to the concerned student is in itself ‘endorsement of the views.’’ The argument looks more hollow because the guide is completely involved in the dissertation right from the title finalization to the submission stage. A dissertation draft is submitted to the guide ahead of time. It is revised for enrichment with the help of a guide. TISS also holds multiple presentations on various stages of the dissertation work with other students of the class and many faculties of the department in attendance. That nobody ever had an objection to this point of view poses many tough questions in front of us all. The TISS governing board should investigate this occurrence and issue a complete public report to restore its credibility and accountability. To understand why I say this, let us delve into two more incidents from the past involving TISS Mumbai.

The country was in shock and dismay after the cowardly Pulwama attack in 2019. The entire nation was crying in unison for our martyred Bravehearts. A group of students organized a condolence gathering and candle marches to show solidarity with our jawans. Students turned up in large numbers and it was a magnificent tribute to our protectors. Unfortunately, when the message of inviting students to the meeting was shared in one group, one student immediately responded with a ‘lol.’ The person said that our army has killed and raped thousands of innocent civilians and every single personnel is responsible for the same. The person further explained that the army is the implementer of state-sponsored violence projects and labeled the students who attended such gatherings for our jawans as ‘BHAKTS’. Appropriate action was taken against the concerned person gives us hopes of proper redressal in the ‘dissertation gate’ as well, but that this anti-national thinking persists continuously on the campus is a sad reality. The other incident is from the February 2020 pride gathering at Azad Maidan, Mumbai. Shockingly, a TISS student completely diverted the issue and gave slogans, “sharjeel tere sapno ko ham manzil tak pahuchayenge” literally meaning Sharjeel, we shall fulfill your dreams. The name referred to Sharjeel Imam, who openly called to cut off Assam from the rest of India. A student studying in a state-funded institute demanding the state to be cut off, into two pieces. Capturing such rights-based movements to further anti-national agenda has become a preferred practice in contemporary times.

The above trinity of unacceptable events is neither exclusive nor exhaustive. Yet, they serve our purpose in raising few pertinent questions running in the mind of every common Indian. How did some students from a few universities develop the mentality of questioning the very integrity of our country? Why are we producing such degree holders who work overtime to stop the capital punishment of proven terrorists? Who is teaching these youngsters to have deep sympathy for Maoists and simultaneously deep hatred for the army? Educational institutes were envisaged as the harbingers of societal welfare and national development. This statement makes more sense, for a country like ours which needs to harness the continuing demographic dividend and prosper on all fronts. Our premium institutes are becoming a haven for destructive activism. It is akin to disindianising Indians who are against their nation. It is like preparing for an internal civil war amongst ourselves in the future.

Being TISS alumni, I have not written this article against TISS, nor does it claim that everything associated with it is bad. TISS as an institution that has produced many dedicated social workers and disaster managers, development and policy practitioners, management and health sector professionals, etc who have proved to be an asset to society. Many caring professors are genuinely molding students into worthy future citizens. But, I want to present the other side. Some students are anti-national. Some associations work to divide the campus and society at large into various fault lines. Some teachers are not teaching but indoctrinating students with a fixed set of dogmas and isms. There are faculties who, instead of widening the horizon of creativity, are locking young minds into a shell. The bubble is bursting because nothing is hidden in the age of social media. It is high time for the institute to take corrective action to remove all the elements that are bringing eternal infamy to the celebrated institution. The voice of a country-loving common Indian needs to be heard and failing to do so would certainly prove disastrous in the long run.

(The author is an alumnus of Tata institute of social sciences, Mumbai. He is deeply interested in India’s education policy and currently working as a research fellow with MyNEP)