JNU

It is fitting that students from a university that has been branded as ‘anti-nat­ional’ by the BJP government take the latest budget with a pinch of salt. For the students, the media dubbing the budget as a pro-left one can only point to a ‘deeply calculated political move’, as one of the students put it. “What has happened in the past few weeks with JNU, with the arr­est of Kanhaiya Kumar and branding the university as anti-national, has scared the government into damage control mode,” says Lakshya—a student of English—exp­laining why the government is suddenly trying to brand itself as pro-farmer.

The dissatisfaction with the present government is so large within the student community that they would now rather support even a corrupt government than a communal one, claims Anirudha Barik, a PhD student at JNU. The feeble attempt of the government at making farmers happy is much akin to shoving dirt under a mat and assuming the room is clean. “Under the mat you destroy institutes which voice any sort of dissent while above, you will appear to construct something that can be perceived as development,” says Srujana Yadav, a final year student of political science.

“In a typical Modi move, the government has yet again made big promises such as doubling farmer incomes in the next five years. But as usual, the promise is made without any provisions to increase demand, the only way farmer revenue can actually be pumped,” says Puja Puri, a PhD student in the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning (CESP), pointing to the fallacy of Jaitley’s budget speech which for many was merely flavoured with words such as rural development and farmer welfare. More than anything else, the Union budget seems to have let down the aam admi—a class that most students in the university belong to. “Coming from a middle-class family, I see not benefits but more money that we now have to dish out in the form of taxes, cesses and surcharges. What we need are scholarships to study more and a steady generation of jobs. And instead of cheaper clothes, we need better healthcare and education,” says Abhinub Kumar, a postgrad student at CESP.

The last two budgets confirm that the aspirations of students were at an all-time low but what enrages the scholars even is the lack of clarity as to where the money is going. Questions on why the government was trying to push an agenda of populist schemes such as Make in India and Start-up India with no apparent results were met with quips of, “It’s Modi government after all.”