India campus politics
STUDENT POLITICS HAS BECOME EXTREMELY UGLY AFTER INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE
Violence in spotlight as students become tools in the hands of political parties |
W ith student bodies in India becoming tools in the hands of the political parties and the constant rise in cases of campus activism and violence in the last few months, discussions about keeping politics off the campus have now started to surface.
It is apparent that in the past few months, student politics in India has become extremely ugly. This is not because politics has suddenly entered the campuses in a virulent form. Politics has always been a feature of campus life; however, now there is a disturbing drift towards intolerance. Academicians believe this certainly calls for separation of education from political influences.
Empirical evidence also shows that campus politics has ended up doing more harm than good in India. Not only are students subject to violence and coercion in institutes where campus politics is prevalent, but the quality of education also tends to suffer on account of frequent disruptions by such bodies.
The latest is the case of student violence at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in Uttar Pradesh. The BHU is on the edge since September 23 when police batoncharged students protesting against alleged inaction on the sexual harassment complaint of a female student.
A police complaint was registered against more than 1,000 students in connection with inciting violence at the university.
“A large number of girls were staging a dharna (sit-in) on September 23 after a case of molestation was reported to Vice Chancellor (VC). There were no direct talks with VC, though his representatives were sent to discuss the issue with the girls. After two days, male students joined in, including some with political affiliations. There was slogan shouting and some boys said they would ensure protection of girls on campus, but girls refused to budge from the protest. At that moment, someone torched a police vehicle, leading to a batoncharge by policemen,” history student Anshul Chandra told Gulf News. Later Chief Proctor O.N. Singh took moral responsibility for the violence and resigned from his position.
The molestation victim, a hosteller at the University, had lodged the complaint with Singh. She was allegedly molested by men on motorcycles on September 21. The students accused Singh of not taking the complaint seriously. More so, Vice Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi blamed the student for the incident saying she stayed out late.
“I was returning to my hostel from my department at around 6:20pm on September 21 when near the Bharat Kala Bhawan two men on a motorbike came from behind and molested me before speeding away. As it was dark, I could not see the number on the motorbike,” the victim said in the complaint.
Earlier, Tripathi had stated that “outsiders” spoiled the atmosphere at the campus at a time of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to his constituency in Varanasi.
“We are ready to take action but let the students approach us first. They are staging a dharna (sit-in) on the street. That is not the right way. I sent a delegation of teachers to communicate with the protesting students. Despite the large size of BHU campus, I am willing to address the genuine problems of the students. But the purpose of this sit-in is something else. It is politically motivated. Prime Minister Modi is visiting Varanasi and what better time can be for them to stage a protest,” Tripathi told Gulf News.
Interestingly, more than 200 Samajwadi Party (SP) activists were detained on Thursday while they were going to meet the injured students.