The Ferment book review: Nikhila Henry presents thorough study of youth uprisings through individual stories

Soon after the Constitution of India was adopted in 1950, its architect Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar had predicted that there would be unrest in response to this decision, considering the divisive nature of Indian society, the existing hostility towards scientific ideas, and the fact that caste had governed Indian society’s psyche for centuries. The newly-adopted Constitution guaranteed representation to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, and other backward classes — those sections of society which were hitherto never recognised as equals or treated with respect.

These sections were given a place in the national imagination. The Constitution resurrected, at least in legal terms, their human agency and existence in the affairs of the newly imagined nation. This was a huge paradigm shift, and participation in education became the way to become part of a social revolution. Until the implementation of the recommendations of the Second Mandal Commission, the social fabric of universities across India was divided into a clear binary: On the one hand was the majority — Brahmins and savarnas — and on the other hand were Dalits students, mostly first-generation learners. The social distinctions between them were evident, as was discrimination against disadvantaged castes.

After the Second Mandal Commission, the social fabric of the student community underwent a drastic upheaval. Students from OBC castes across India started to occupy seats in universities — which had been elitist, _savarna-_dominated campuses — and witnessed their transformation into more egalitarian spaces. The Brahmanical psyche which governed these educational institutions saw this as a threat to their hegemony over the intellectual and moral world. This fear translated into discrimination. Humiliation and harassment drove many Dalit-Bahujan students to suicide, and this continues unabated, even today. The Ferment: Youth Unrest In India by Nikhila Henry is a dispassionate documentation of this phenomenon, its background, and a thoughtful prediction about the role that the youth will play in the the nation, in the years to come.

The book begins with the suicide of Rohith Vemula in 2016. It takes its readers into the period before the suicide as well as its aftermath, making Rohith, his struggle and his fight against caste the common link between students’ dissent, from Kashmir to Kerala, and from Gujarat to the North East. This 265-page long book is divided into four sections and ten chapters, which focus on individual stories of young people, their ideas of freedom, and how the notion of the nation is perceived in conflict zones — thus explaining why students’ movements have emerged in the last few years. Rohith’s suicide is the incident which triggers an inquiry into and the mapping of students’ protests, their assertions through literature and through their sheer numbers (Henry uses statistics about the population of the youth to show just how many young people are standing up for various causes).

“India’s youth uprisings” Nikhila Henry argues, “had more to do with the fractured existence of young people in the country than a state of complacence or disinterest.” This is due to the fact that the youth in India too, is divided along caste and religious lines; disagreements and conflicts are inevitable if they interact with each other. She further explains, “Be it Rohith Vemula, who challenged the caste status-quo, the university students who protested against the incumbent government, or youngsters from conflict-stricken hinterlands who asked for separation from the nation, India’s youth uprising displayed a restlessness which was inescapably inherent in their life and experience.”

Despite their differences, these young people share one common sentiment: a sense of homelessness in the country of their birth. Decoding events which have created a stir, such as beef festivals, the emergence of the Bhim Army, the rise of Dalit politicians and leaders within student communities, the birth of platforms such as RoundTable India, Dalit Camera etc., The Ferment lays bare those aspects which went unreported by Brahmanical writers.

The book attempts to look at growing dissent through the eyes of the system’s victims, without being overpowered by emotionality.

The tone of Nikhila Henry’s writing is objective, but the book does not fail to make one connect with the stories of people it narrates. Henry’s method helps the reader to understand the reasons behind brewing revolutions. The Ferment also speaks of student uprisings from France and South Africa, to show that they are manifestations of existing social inequalities. The book intends to explain that such unrest is natural and inevitable in certain social situations.

The Ferment offers some background information to reconsider the ability of education to change mindsets thus far. The book draws connections between the protests of Dalit-Bahujan youth against Brahmanical policy makers of this nation, who keep them at the margins. The book also maps the trajectories of discrimination in India at a micro level. It is a story told with the passion of a storyteller; a story told to explain the faults of the previous generation, and to foresee the bright future in the ferment of thoughts of young people.