(This story originally appeared in on Mar 08, 2016)

NEW DELHI: The 15th edition of the speak-in at Jawaharlal Nehru University had poet and professor Makarand Paranjape talking about 'Uncivil wars: Tagore, Gandhi, JNU and what's left of the nation'."I was walking to the department when I saw this person on a bicycle with a placard 'I am not an anti-national'. I think we all are not anti-national. When you hear my views of Left hegemonic practices, sometimes bordering on dictatorial practices, I hope I don't need to carry a sign 'I am not anti-JNU', unlike any of you," said the professor of English at JNU.He questioned how many students would support Kashmiri separatism and very few hands went up. But his speech was interrupted, first by sloganeering by Kanhaiya Kumar , and then by some students who booed him.Paranjape took on Kumar's "misrepresentation" during his speech after his release from jail. "Kanhaiya said in his speech Golwalkar met Mussolini. Did you check your facts? It was Moonje who met Mussolini. I am not saying they were not impressed by the Fascists, they were. They thought it is a very good idea to have an authoritarian system. Please let us agree on what is factual and what is not. Fascism stands for anti-democratic position and so does Stalinism. I am proud to belong to a country where one so-called judicial murder created such a huge ruckus. Do you know how many judicial murders were committed from 1920 to 1950s in Stalin's USSR?" Paranjape said.Stating that the present discourse in JNU in particular and in the country in general has destroyed the middle ground, he said that only the extreme are left. He said by 'Left of the Nation' in his topic he wanted to bring out what the Left ideology in India has been with respect to nationalism.