Morche ki Zabardasti Khamoshi
Understanding student protests in India and the role of universities in setting the foundations for democracy in conversation with Younus Nomani, a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, who was directly involved in a university protest
Younus points out that “The institutional means of complaint are of no use. For example, a complaint was filed against the HOD. The very next day he pointed out that he knows who complained and what was in that complaint. Wherever you go, whatever you do, it will all come under my table and you will suffer.”
A college is a place wherein people expect to create memories, form relationships, and garner diverse perspectives that define their experience and set precedents for their future. As a college student currently in that space and having studied in two different colleges, I have said or often heard my peers say ‘this place is horrible’. Usually, such complaints were backed by people calling for some sort of a protest, in confidence with their friends. A conversation that erupted out of frustration has now taken the shape of a protest.
A protest is a portrayal of anger, frustration, and support regarding the functioning or decisions taken by an organization or an individual. A peaceful protest is a symbol of democracy, wherein you question the authority of the college and make your demands heard. Students across India have taken to peaceful protests. In recent months students across India in various colleges have protested for their concerns regarding the institution, supporting their peers who were wronged and making their dissatisfaction heard.
Army Institute of Law, Mohali, has recently seen a wave of protests initiated by the students. On October 16th, 2019, the students went on a protest regarding the substandard functioning of the institute. The administration had not been responding to the pleas and grievances of the student community. Their demands included the right to contesting elections for student council, better teaching facility, a more transparent system, and also the redressal of accounts of sexism on campus.
According to an article published by Live Wire, the institute in its Student Code of Conduct states that the collective air of grievances by the students is not allowed. The protest lasted for four days until the students, due to pressure from the administration, had to halt their protest. The administration started sending out emails to the parents of the students who participated in the protest. The administration did not budge, the students felt helpless and hence the protest came to an end.
Delhi University, a collegiate of universities, over the span of two months has witnessed protests on various campuses. In Deen Dayal Upadhya College, the students gathered to protest against the lack of facilities provided: the Wi-Fi had been out of service since the commencement of the academic year, the drinking water had allegedly been the cause of people falling sick, and they had asked the administration to check into this but had received no response. The students were also fighting for their rights as residents of the college hostel to have extended curfews and library timings.
In some Universities, faculties have come out in support of their students. At Delhi University, the All India Students Association garnered the support of students and teachers regarding the syllabus row. According to an article by The Hindu, the students believed that a protest was mandatory to save the democratization of academia.
Jamia Millia Islamia students went on a strike on October 14th to stand in solidarity with students who were issued a notice on October 5th. The notice was against Israeli participation in an international conference called Global Health Zenith Confluence of 2019. While demonstrating a peaceful protest, the students were attacked, beaten up, and the parents received a call informing them about the ‘goon’-like behavior of their wards.
Younus Nomani, a student at Jamia Millia Islamia, states that the protests that had taken place earlier this year were to underscore the “illegitimate activities performed by the Head of the Department of Applied Arts, Faculty of Fine Arts.” He claims that the HOD’s behaviour is fascist in nature, with accusations including the sexual harassment of students, discrimination based on their backgrounds, unfair grading, threatening students, as well as surveillance abuse, are being levied against the HOD.
Protests across institutions are always shunned upon. Students are not allowed to express their concerns in this manner. The way these protests are handled by universities is quite surprising. This begs the question: what is a university meant to be? What is the place of a university in our society?
Universities are spaces where people from various fields are given opportunities to learn and understand the world around them. To do so, they need to provide them with tools that will help absorb the situation of society. The understanding of a political system by a student who may not hail from a political studies background would help them make an informed choice. No one is apolitical; politics play an important role in every college. Students need to understand their rights and how to get their demands met. The universities, in reality, do not provide a democratic system to the students. An authoritarian regime is established by the institutions whose objective is to shatter the cohesion of the students. They are afraid to lose control over the administration to the students. Often citing disciplinary actions, rules, and regulations, they claim that such actions will affect the reputation of the university.
The primary way to depoliticize students in college is to isolate them from one another, increase their workload, and create a sense of differentiation so that the students are suppressed and have no understanding of what is happening around them. There is a constant silencing of students and they are stopped from letting their voices and concerns be heard. What are the students to do? How are they supposed to tackle such situations?
Younus Nomani, who has taken part in the protests at Jamia, says, “In a democracy, it is very important to raise one’s voice, especially in educational institutions. Students in educational institutions do not love protests. There is no fun or joy in doing that. We do it because our helpless situations and unfair treatment lead to that. Admin very easily says that these protests are invoked or inspired by a political organization or any teacher for their personal benefit or motive, but they refuse to believe that it is their own negligence and ignorance because of which these situations come up.”
The administration needs to take responsibility and not threaten the students. In many colleges, the administration asks the students to file complaints and their concerns will be looked into. The process is a tedious one, often with no results or with further backlash.
Younus points out that “The institutional means of complaint are of no use. For example, a complaint was filed against the HOD. The very next day he pointed out that he knows who complained and what was in that complaint. Wherever you go, whatever you do, it will all come under my table and you will suffer. The institutional means of complaint are done to the ICC or the Registrar, but they have always been against the students in most of the cases. Like in our case we reached out to the Registrar who responded by asking us to forget all the mess happenings and look for a better tomorrow. The sexual harassment complainants were also marked as lairs and fake. They were told that they produced these stories for their personal good. These incidents are nothing of what the student face in educational institutes.”
In situations like these, how does one not protest? The colleges are so afraid of protests as they fear that they might lose control over the institution, and the name and publicity of the university may come under threat. Collective voices of students can challenge the working of the institution.
Younus states, “Colleges are against student protests because protests have the power to bring out the culprits into the light; they have the power to ask the administration to run in an effective and active way, and protests disturb the sleeping admin. Protests often lead to widespread media coverage, telling everyone how the college is behaving, which is exactly what they are scared of.”
How should these protests be handled by the universities? There is a need for the Vice-Chancellor or administration to come out and talk to the students. The system needs to be made more transparent. If the students choose to protest they should be allowed to do so. A peaceful protest is a democratic right, especially in a democratic country like India. Where we train the future of this political system, we need to allow them to express themselves in a peaceful manner. The constant suppression and dominance of authority are simply crumbling the political system we stand on. Private and public institutions both should be open to considering the students’ grievances and understanding that the students are the crux of the university and they have a right to demand basic necessities.
Institutions mould the future of a country, and it is their responsibility to help them grow. In a country like India that has a democratic system in place, universities are paradoxically dictatorial in nature. The idea of a peaceful protest makes the authorities uncomfortable as they believe that they will lose control of their system. Hence, they call parents, use violent means, send notices, and make their protests uncomfortable by shining the streetlights on the groups of students, never letting the students have a voice of their own. So, by curbing their right to protest, to question, to bring their fellow students to justice, are they really shaping the future of a democratic country? Are they fulfilling their role? And are they handling it the best way possible?
Edited by Aayush Agarwal.
Younus Nomani is an artist based in New Delhi, India. He is a student at Jamia Millia Islamia. You can find him here.
