Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam

by Vivek Agnihotri

My father was a vice-chancellor and I have met numerous vice-chancellors of that era – the pre-sycophancy era. They used to have wisdom, knowledge, integrity, and above all, fearlessness. They were the real intellectuals who shaped universities with value systems and because of their inspiring leadership, even governments feared them. Then something changed. Indira Gandhi started appointing only loyalists in all major institutions. Slowly, almost all appointments became political and the institutions started behaving like extensions of the Congress (Indira) party. Sonia Gandhi knew that she was a weak leader and, therefore, she not just wanted loyalists but also weak people with no spine, no real qualifications. They wore their sycophancy as a medal on their blazers. Now with the advent of a new government under Modi’s leadership, the entire ecosystem feels threatened.