Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is due only in 2017, but the JNU incident has become a springboard for the UP BJP rank and file, for reviving and rallying a melee of older resentments and incitements alongside the new.

Upendra Tiwari, MLA from Phephana, district Ballia, a former student leader of Allahabad University, says that the JNU issue does not concern a few students alone. “It is about all those who stand against the nation, and the political parties who fan anti-national sentiments, the Congress, the Left and the AAP. It has tarnished the nation’s image in the world,” he said.

Freedom of expression, cannot include “desh droh ki jai jaikar”, the celebration of anti-nationalism said Tiwari. There must be “kathor se kathor karyavai”, the strictest punishment, so that a “viram” or stop can be put to such activities. Or else, “it will spread from JNU to DU and other universities and colleges” and “desh khandit ho jayega”, the country will splinter into pieces.

Rajiv Gumbar, MLA from Saharanpur city, said, “Why did Rahul Gandhi go to JNU?” He says that “In the upcoming elections, the people will demand answers from all those who stood in support of JNU”. Because “our youth is being misled and made anti-national” and this is being encouraged by a “shadyantra (conspiracy)” and political “sanrakshan (patronage)”.

“These things support terror, these people become terrorists. In Kashmir, children grow up to be terrorists. If the government had been firm, this wouldn’t have happened”. Now, he says, investigations must target all — “students in the video and others who are not in the video,” Gumbar said.

By Premji