When Manmohan Singh intervened on behalf of protesting students, requested leniency from JNU V-C

New Delhi: Erudite and soft-spoken, former prime minister Manmohan Singh developed his reputation as a consensus builder during his stint as the finance minister who opened the doors for economic reform in India.

But it was his intervention to prevent the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) administration from acting against students who had held a protest against him in 2005 that showcased a fresh dimension of his persona.

Visiting the JNU campus to unveil a statue of former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Singh was shown black flags by Left-backed students.

The incident led to the university issuing showcause notices to the students, with a few of them even being detained by the Delhi Police.

A day later, Singh intervened, suggesting to the then vice-chancellor BB Bhattacharya to be lenient with the students.

During his visit to the campus, known for its strong anti-establishment stance, Singh had quoted the French philosopher Voltaire, saying, "'I may disagree with what you have to say but I shall defend to the death your right to say it.'" "Every member of a university community, if he or she wishes to aspire to be worthy of the university, must accept the truth of Voltaire's classic statement. Voltaire proclaimed 'I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it'. That idea must be the cornerstone of a liberal institution," Singh had said in his speech.

Recalling the incident, a retired JNU professor said, "The students waved black flags at him. The-then vice-chancellor received a call from the PMO (Prime Minister's Office), asking him to be lenient with the students as holding protests was their right. The students were then let off with a warning." JNU has been an epicentre of protests in the past decade, with the 2016 sedition controversy triggering a debate about freedom of speech and expression on campus.

Bhattarcharya in 2016 recalled the 2005 incident during an interview.

"Manmohan Singh had told me 'please be lenient, sir'. I said I have to at least warn them... but the problem today is that lines of communication with students have broken down," he had said.

Bollywood actor and JNU alumna Swara Bhaskar recalled that she was a student at the university when the incident took place.

"I remember an anecdote from when then prime minister Manmohan Singh came to JNU. I was a student there. I think Singur, Nandigram had happened or perhaps it was an 'anti-Naxal' operation in CG (Chhattisgarh). There was talk of campus protests. Of course there was lots of security but the Left student organisations, probably AISA or DSU, hung black flags all over campus and two left students managed to disrupt the prime minister's speech with sloganeering and showing black flags," Bhaskar said in a post on X.

"They were promptly removed and apparently given expulsion notices. We heard some days later that the PMO had called the vice-chancellor and requested that the students not be expelled for after all they were well within their democratic rights to protest! What a stark contrast to Indian politics, leadership and political environment today. What a testimony to why MMS (Manmohan Singh) was a great prime minister!," she added.

Former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, who was booked in the 2016 sedition row and continues to be in jail in a separate case, had also shared the incident.

"In 2005, Manmohan Singh faced black flags in JNU as a protest against his economic policies. It became big news. The admin immediately sent notices to students. The very next day, the PMO intervened and asked the admin not to take any action as protest was students' democratic right," he had said in a post on X (then Twitter) in 2020.

"Prime minister Manmohan Singh facing sloganeering and black flags from student protestors began his speech by quoting Voltaire: 'I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it'," he had added.

Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms and a consensus builder in the rough world of politics, died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, late on Thursday. He was 92.