One is aghast at the upheaval that is taking place in this country over the outburst that took place at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi where a group of students raised anti-national slogans of an objectionable nature. A mature democracy would have ignored the whole incident and the matter would have blown over. Reactionary young minds tend to take contrary stands from a sense of bravado or just to attract attention. The action meted out to them is just what they wanted.
I would like to bring to the notice of readers that on February 9, 1933, the Oxford Union debated a motion which read: "This house in no circumstances will fight for its king and country.” The proposition was carried by 275 voters to 153. The year 1933 was a crucial one for the world. Germany was bristling for war and the Oxford Union was no insignificant schoolboy forum. Its deliberations were taken seriously by the country and its politicians. Suffice it to say that when World War II broke out in 1939 the war office organized a recruiting board at Oxford which invited undergraduates and resident postgraduates under the age of 25 years to enlist. Out of 3,000 students, 2,632 volunteered on the first day. Shouldn’t we, as a people, take a lesson from this? Dr HIRJI S. ADENWALLA
Trichur
charlespinto102@gmail.com