India remains an encouraging beacon  in the South Asian region for quality, public funded higher education, as well as relatively free, liberal spaces for young people, especially from economically weaker sections of society. That's why the upsurge of campus protests across the country against the religion-specific citizenship law, free of party politics, that was seen against India's Constitution and the violent incidents  at Jamia Millia Islamia & Jawaharlal Nehru University on Dec. 15 & Jan. 5 respectively, have sent out a disturbing message of authoritarian silencing of youth dissent and boded ill for India's reputation as a flag-bearer of regional democracy.    Nirupama Sekhri discusses with Sandeep Mahapatra, Dr. Vikas Bajpai and Wahhaj Ahmad the message of these protests, how to maintain the integrity of the campuses and the need for the government to have a dialogue with students to heal the growing rupture.    Nirupama is writer & educator; Sandeep Mahapatra is a lawyer and alumni of JNU, where as ABVP member he won the JNUSU elections; Dr. Vikas Bajpai is Professor, Centre for Social Medicine & Community Health, JNU; Wahhaj Ahmad is an M-tech alumni from Jamia Millia, presently working in corporate sales