Rants of a Pol Sc. student : And the current political scenario of the country

As a student of Political Science, living in India residing in West Bengal, I am often bewildered. Albeit with very little theoretical knowledge of the subject, I see around me, constant and glaring contradictions to everything I learn and understand. My disappointment with the general state of matters probably stems from my extremely ideological bent of mind, but I am assured that I cannot be the only one. I look around me, at the so-called 'polity' of my nation and state and I do not understand the entire point of even studying this subject, since none of it truly applies to the world I inhabit today. Since I have begun this rant, I will proceed to two instances where the unambiguous reality of our situation hits me.

Firstly, what bothers me, is this essential question: are we really free? Herbert Spencer had said, "A true democrat values his freedom as a miser values gold". I don't understand how this applies here. Everywhere I see general flouting of the principles of liberty and freedom, I see equality guaranteed by Section III of our Constitution impinged by the 'reasonable restrictions' and I am terrified. The JNU incident(s) scare to my very core. I won't even go into the Kanhaiya Kumar matter, not because it has been talked about vehemently by others before me, but because I fear surveillance and censure. You see? This is the world we live in. There are reports of a certain number of condom packets, cigarettes etc. found in JNU, and how that is an expression of how 'degenerate' the youth of today is and how hence, we don't deserve the simple freedom of expression. This is absolutely ludicrous. Rousseau had stated that we sacrifice our individual freedom to do what we wish, and the State guarantees us freedom in corporate capacity. I don't see that happening.

BJP M.P Gyandev Ahuja had mentioned that "2000 packets of Condom and 3000 packets of smoke" are recovered from Jnu every day

Secondly, and this will lead me to my grave, but I don't care. As a student of Marxism, in my second semester, I have been in admiration of the principles of Marx, and his contemporary neo-Marxists- Antonio Gramsci, Rosa Luxemburg and Mao Tse-tung, and I see all of it turned to dust here, in West Bengal. The CPI(M) and any of its Leftist corollaries, are in constant denial of ideological Marxism, and the 'Democratic Socialism' that they apparently espouse is grave misnomer to me. This leads to a bigger, more pressing issue- the complete ignorance of ideology by any party in our country. With the rise of coalition governments and opportunistic politics, alliances shift faster than the blink of an eye.

Karl Marx

When people ask me, what I wish to pursue after my graduation, I do not know what to say. This scares me because I cannot stand to watch the oblivion my country is slowly but surely being led into.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :- 

Rajeshwari Dasgupta, a student of Political Science at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, is an avid reader, with a special obsession with dystopia and a surrealistic world-view. Her passions include music, theatre, petting her dog, and writing to keep herself sane. Also read :-

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