Victimhood vs justice: JNU VC should know better

The recent remarks of vice-chancellor Santishree D Pandit on caste and on the UGC Regulations against discrimination, now stayed by the Supreme Court, are disappointing. They come from a narrow frame, which does disservice to Pandit’s position as a leader of an institution of higher education, especially one as storied as the Jawaharlal Nehru University. Pandit spoke of the Regulations as “unnecessary”, and done without “due diligence”. She has a right to criticise the Regulations, of course. But the problem is that her critique seems to come from a denial of the backward-caste experience of an embedded historical and continuing injustice, and a completely ahistorical equivalence of that experience with that of other groups. Her remarks on a “permanent victimhood”, encouraged by “wokeism” — “this was done for Blacks, same thing was brought for Dalits here” — her indignation at an “equity regulation” becoming “inequitable” by giving “powers” to “one group” and denying “justice” to others, reek of a regressive political position. There is a valid critique of affirmative action and some provisions in the UGC Regulations needlessly lend themselves to abuse, but Pandit’s vocabulary, unfortunately, echoes upper-caste misappropriation of the language of marginalisation.

Listen to V-C Pandit — the comments on caste are part of a 52-minute interview to The Sunday Guardian — and it is clear that her misreading of affirmative action is set in a world view teeming with “us and them” binaries. JNU, according to her, was a “garrisoned university” and an “adda” of Left politics, and it was her task to turn around its reputation of being “anti-national”, a hotbed of Naxalism and “intellectual authoritarianism”. That these epithets draw upon politically contrived spectres and that JNU has a proud and rich record far larger than the sum of these spectres is unfortunately not acknowledged by its own V-C. On caste and backwardness, JNU was a pioneer in creating a system of deprivation points to make its admission process more inclusive, diverse and equitable. These points, added to candidates’ scores, recognise backwardness because of region, caste, gender, among others. They were discontinued for research degree admissions in 2017, but remain in place for undergraduate and postgraduate admissions.

V-C Pandit is right, “everyone is fighting a battle”. But surely she knows that some battles are more arduous than others. And that the university campus must be a space that is nurturing and enabling for those whose right to equality and dignity has been violated in an unequal society. V-C Pandit must reflect on her remarks, and the government that appointed her, and to which she professes loud allegiance, must explain whether or not she speaks for it.