Saturday, 9 th April 2016, was the date on which the last of the Azaadi series of lectures was held- Utsa Patnaik speaking on Freedom and Development. After more than a month of lectures, first on nationalism, and then on freedom, an average JNUite knows what to expect during these evenings of gathering at Ad Block, now wonderfully christened Azaadi Chowk, Freedom Square, and in the words of another speaker, Ari Sitas, JNU’s own Tahrir Square (this is my favourite). Barring a few, or perhaps, just one- the delightfully(?) distracting Makarand Paranjape- scholars, activists, artists, workers, and writers, mostly avowed to a left ideology, or at the bare least, speaking the language of revolution, spoke here about struggle, freedom, and democracy. Of course, there were politicians too, a few who were allowed to speak only because of the need to keep portraying JNU as the last vanguard of the freedom of speech, a space that allows all a chance to make themselves heard. Thus it was, tha...
the writing on the wall is always blurred.