Prof Javed Mughal
Dr. Iqbal syas, “Khuda Tujhe Kisi Toofan Se Ashna Kar de: Ke Tere Beher ki mojun mein iztrab Nahin: Tujhe kitab se mumkin nahi faragh ke tu: Kitab khawan hai magar sahib-e-Kitabnahi” Dr Iqbal’s chief objective of talking to the students in this cadence was to make them focus their rapt concentration on their goal and destination and hitch the wagon of their career to the stars. Same was the purpose of M.K Gandhi when he refrained this neat and clean community from dabbling into the politics. It was evident to Gandhi, Iqbal, Vivekananda and other luminaries of the times that even a slight deflection and deviation of the students’ community from their well-defined path can culminate into the emergence of their astrayal which can further be detrimental to the very existence of this nation. Swami Vivekananda always maintained that the ultimate well-being of a nation depends not only on the economic strength but it consists in the well-bred students only. Subhash Chander Bose vociferously maintained that’ the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow’. The dreams of our ancestors can be translated into action only when the world of our tiny taughts learns the knack of doing the right things at the right time abstaining from all the rest of nonsense. My heart sinks in the quagmire of despair when I look at my bold and innocent students being instrumentalised by the political clap-trappers for their vested interests. They are used as a tool to make the strikes, Boycott-calls, Traffic-Jams, Stone-pelting processions, offensive rallies, Stage-dharnas, and slogan-raising, carried and organized by our political demagogues, successful. All those who have a human heart to feel and a rational mind to think are the first hand witness to the fact that these selfish politicians are concerned about none other than their own plans and prospects.
They have been doing it down the decades especially in our country. They are the tainted traffickers of all this Vanity Fair and looters and many of them stand booked under the law also but it does not make any difference to them since they have been conditioned to gulping down the bitter draughts of humiliation and disgrace and now this disgrace serves as a wholesome and digestive-pill to them. Students have a great force to change the scenario and system. If properly utilized, they can put the entire system into a very formative frame-work. Students’ unrest, students’ politics, their revolt, their power and student-movements are some of the terms that are often used when speaking about student organizations all over the world.
This is due to the fact that all over the world, “the student community is haunting the Government and the students have become a source of interest, concern and fear of the nation. However, it is not only the Government that looks at this group with some kind of caution, but even the society at large as well. Students today have become so powerful that they have not only succeeded in overthrowing and toppling the Governments but also ushering in social and political changes besides shaping the destiny not only of their region or state but the country as a whole. As students are becoming class conscious, alert of their rights and role, after freeing themselves from the ‘subdue syndrome’ have posed a number of challenges to the society.
They have often expressed massive discontent with, and opposition to, the existing social and political order. This class consciousness of the students is an important factor in steering their activity and to a great extent in bringing success to their various undertakings. The major problem which is being felt at the moment is that the students’ community in general and the leaders in particular is the high expectation that people of the community had. Usually, students are taken to mean those sections of the society who are dependent either financially or otherwise for maintenance and studies on their parents or guardians.
Moreover, it has also often been held that student movements are clean and pure, people usually think that students in their activities do not have vested interests or selfish motives behind such struggles. The students are viewed to belong to the category of have-nots and who are not afraid of losing whatever they have like money, social status, prestige or political power. At the same time, apart from being clear-hearted, sincere in efforts and honest in dealing, they do not have enough of experience as how they should use their energy and potential-being natural that this experience comes with the passage of time and they are passing through a very delicate stage of life. Hence there are all possible chances for them to be exploited at the hands of rich society or the political clots. Most of them, in the current society, can be termed as the Exploited Lot for a few currency notes.
It is therefore a great point of concern that their innate-faculties, their muscle power and youthful fervor are being misused and wasted for no good at all. Due to the deterioration in analytical and critical approach to look at life and society, the modern students can be classed in four categories. First there are the careerists who are academically well going students. These students often excel in their studies and extra-mural activities but are indifferent to politics, secondly the students who perk up more in political affairs and are noted to be affiliated with the political groups and gangs; thirdly those who aspire to be professionals and to have entry into professional colleges they need political back-up. Again they are exploited here and they have to pay more than they get in the long run and fourthly those who believe in “while in Room do as the Romans do”. They have neither any capacity to do anything nor they are of some use to anyone else in the society.
Most of the students, as I have personally come across, feel that the attainment of mere degrees from colleges and universities is enough and by doing so their responsibility towards them, their parents and the society is over and out but the very miasmic thinking propels such students, one day, into an abyss of never-ending dejection and frustration. This is highly scathing and self-deceptive stance of our students which needs to be surmounted as soon as possible. The perspectives of violence and force too have to be taken into consideration by the students’ community. Students may deliberately foment struggles in order to gain recognition by established leaders.
Hence, one factor that may lead to the glorification of force and violence may be the attempt on the part of a student leader to show that he is brave and daring or to gain recognition from the political leadership, especially those that are not in the ruling Government. Henceforth, the use of force and violence in itself is not a manifestation of power alone but also it may reflect on the personality of the leaders and even the students’ community at large. May it be our own state of Jammu and Kashmir or elsewhere in India, no strike or pressure on Government becomes fruitful until it involves the massive-scale violence; and violence needs muscle power as well as mob-frenzy which can be extracted from the corridors of schools, colleges and universities only. All these things manifestations tell upon the career of students and they cease to be good and healthy citizens of the country.
The mis-management of time and opportunity by the students and the disinterest of the Government in streamlining this community, for the bright future of the country, snow-balls into the widespread discontent in the whole set-up and derailment of nation from the track. At the moment something that is posing a threat to the future of this young generation is ‘stress and strain’ germinating from gloomy atmosphere, being built around them by the inept system and certain nefarious elements that use the students’ energy for their personal gains and upset their mental equilibrium. The need of the hour is that under the shadow of insecurity and lack of mental peace, the diverse chambers of society must contemplate on devising techniques to lift up the smothering weight from the heart and mind of this young future. Special lectures should be arranged in Colleges and Universities to capacitate these innocent and green horns to understand as to what is right and what is wrong for them. They must be motivated to go for quality based and purpose- oriented education so that they can have self-supporting niche in the society.
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