When Emergency was lifted in 1977, there was an upsurge of youth and students’ movements all over India. Suddenly, a large section of youth and students realised the value of `freedom’. The streets in India were filled with radical dissent and protests against the State. The campuses were filled with high volume political discussions and expressions of poetry, films, literature and art. There were thousands of dreams. Within three years, the dreams subsided. Many youngsters became frustrated. Nobody questioned on the practicality of the dreams. And that I feel, was the beauty of this period. Having experienced an existence in JNU during this period, and through my interactions in different parts of India, I can see today that this period in history has created many fascinating persons from different shades of campus politics and youth politics all over the country. Perhaps, the experience of Emergency was only a warning in terms of the larger historical context in India, to tell the people of this country how ruthless the State can behave in India. The real one is ahead! I am also sure, at least some of those who participated in the protests and public meetings on the Human Rights Day on December 10, 2015, could conceive this grave reality of our times. And I am constantly debating with diverse people who have experienced this reality. Those who relate the experiences of the past with the experiences of the present and those who pretend to close their eyes on the growing human rights violations in India. In this context, I would only like to quote one of the posters of my friend called Deepak in JNU, with whom I had shared the experience of drawing many posters at nights. During the period of frustration, he put up a poster in front of the JNU library. It said: `You Middle Class Buffoons, Come Out of Your Cocoons!’ I do not know where Deepak is today. But somehow, I feel that the poster is still relevant, when I confront the absolute indifference on many issues in the academic world. Having said that, I must also say that there is also a section of people within the world of middle class existence including the academic community, who have consciously broken their `cocoons’. Let us remember the follow up of the Human Rights Day on those dedicated souls, who were not afraid to be insecure to break their own `cocoons’! Some of them have vanished and some of them still remain as rocks. But the only warning signal is: If history repeats, it will not be a tragedy; it will be a farce!
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