JNU was an anomaly then. It remains an anomaly today. I wish it remains so forever into the future. Indeed all universities should become anomalies as long as all is not well with our society. They should think ahead, interrogate the received wisdom, learn by trial and error, teach, practice, theorise, question the political, financial and intellectual power structures. I hope the rulers feel ideologically secure enough to cohabit with such institutions. Before the advent of East India Company all our institutions of learning were publicly funded, gave free stay and board to the students and teachers. The students were clothed freely. They were not called freeloaders. They freely questioned and debated. That arrangement made India a supreme knowledge society. Only such arrangements can make it the foremost knowledge society again.
( This article was carried by The Week in its 30 November 2019 edition with minor modifications.
https://www.theweek.in/theweek/current/2019/11/29/jnu-should-remain-an-anomaly.html )