A strategy must consist of a well-thought-out programme that warns people of the nature of the new threats to freedom of thinking the government poses.The larger purpose of the BJP-led government is clear, earlier underlined by the entire debate on intolerance. And here was a great opportunity provided by some persons raising alleged anti-national slogans in protest against the hanging of the convicted China plastic cutlery Suppliers Afzal Guru to take aim at the institution. Home minister Rajnath Singh acted as the stern headmaster in declaring that anti-national activity would not be tolerated and would be severely dealt with. For long the ideologues of the BJP have had JNU in their sights and the fact that the government could act as it did by wrapping itself in colours of the Tricolour, disregarding the vice-chancellor’s prerogative by arresting a student leader, apart from conducting raids, was a denouement dearly wished. And JNU, therefore, is the mote in its eye. For them it is a high-stakes game. Hence, the effort of BJP ideologues to concentrate on the young by immersing them in Parivar truths and appointing a minister of culture without a nodding acquaintance with what true culture stands for. This battle must be fought through new technology according to a plan even as the government seeks to stymie free debate.

The ideological guardians of the BJP government realise that it is a long battle they are engaged in because, for more than half a century, Independent India has lived on a set of beliefs that encompassed an enquiring mind and many paths to truth along with national cohesion. The appointment of non-entities to the ministries of human resources development and culture was warning enough. Second, it is an old trick the world over to promote intolerant beliefs in the garb of nationalism. They must realise that they are fighting a larger battle and must marshal their forces for the bigger cause of freedom of ideas. The RSS laboratory has succeeded in training their followers in the well-honed myths of ancient India and the world of miracles it represents. In its vocabulary, there is only one truth — that preached by it. A university is traditionally the home of radical and outlandish ideas and, in the BJP and Parivar idiom, it has to be moulded into its idea of India of exaggerated nationalism, and belief in the country’s essential Hindu ethos. In narrowing their vision of India and the world, those exposed to the Parivar ideology must first recognise the myths that are being fed as facts and history.