Yusra Khan
A microblogging site is no town square, but the influence of X (formerly Twitter) cannot be understated when it comes to deciphering the health of public discourse. Indian pro-government media personalities often hold more sway in this regard than algorithmic bot activity when it comes to harassment and targeted bullying in the online sphere. Recently, O.P. Jindal University, a leading private college in Sonipat, suspended two students on account of violating the Code of Conduct.
The context was a discussion on the inauguration of the Ram Temple, which was organized by a student group called ‘Revolutionary Students League’ (RSL) and a video clip that went viral….Video shots posted on the group’s public page were quickly picked up by prominent right-wing handles that started demanding action, tagging the university’s founder, Naveen Jindal – who has since joined the BJP.
“It was really a non-issue, before the video clip blew up online, portraying the conversation in an out-of-context fashion.” says Reshabh Bajaj, the lawyer representing the two students, Mukundan Nair and Ramnit Kaur. In a student magazine interview, Nair says he and others from the RSL soon started getting rape and death threats from across the country.
“The college took suo-moto cognizance, which is also pretty atypical. It was not as if a student complained from within the campus. This isn’t standard protocol, and we’re waiting on the pending appeal in challenge to the Jindal administration’s decision.” Bajaj adds further. Executive interference in academic spaces is becoming bolder, and so is the online army of bullies that target academicians and students that contravene the ruling party’s Hindutva line. The influence of these well-networked nodes of power on social media has the ability to transcend virtual spaces.
Public-facing intellectual work is increasingly being stifled through explicit as well as camouflaged state bullying. In January 2021, the Ministry of Education in India put out guidelines requiring pre-approval for online seminars and events conducted in public universities that discussed “internal events” pertaining to the country. In this way, more than overt bans, it is the chilling effect that provides a more sustained ground for limiting scholarship and public engagement….
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