In 1942, during the course of Quit India Movement, when colonial powers used their oppressive strategies to imprison the political class of the nation, it was student activism which acted as a flag bearer of the anti-imperialist freedom struggle. It is said that for 24 days the entire Indian hemisphere was brought to paralysis. The whole movement was organized by students from dozens of Indian universities. India’s student activism history is said to be 150 years old and it is still growing. The political chronology witnessed a brief pause from JP movement until 2016, when the discontinuance was shattered by young leftist leader Kanhaiya Kumar in JNU and with the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula in the University of Hyderabad.
“The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”
― Dante Alighieri
Student movements are necessary for a country’s evolution. This has more relevance when it comes to the Indian context wherein a majority of the leaders who are spearheading the contemporary political structure have come from student politics. Whether we talk about the current finance minster or other large majority in Rajya Sabha, all of them are born out of student activism movements.
The pre-Independence struggle against British imperialism, poverty, caste discrimination, and poor health gave inspiration to leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, SC Bose, Surendranath Banerjee and many others to join politics and voice their demands. In fact, Banerjee was the first student leader and during one of the conferences, he said, “Student’s must, on the one hand, be stirred out of their indifference to politics and on the other, protected against extreme fanatical views.”
Nehru was once famously confronted by a woman who was not happy with his policies. She got hold of his collar and asked him a question: what good have you brought to this country, one can’t even practice individual rights here. To this Nehru replied, “The fact that you have gotten hold of PM’s collar signifies that you can practice individual rights.”
Nehru, when he was addressing the All India Student Federation (AISF, now a student wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist)) conference said to students, “Taking part in the national movement was not politics but a sacred duty.”
The incident which happened in JNU on February 9, 2016 raised many questions. Venkaiah Naidu, the former cabinet minister said that students should use their valuable time in studies and not any other ‘frivolous’ activities. He further opined that if people are intrigued towards political stuff they can drop from universities funded by the government and join their party of interest. He was the same person who was born out of student politics yet he chose to demonize the things which were happening in JNU. Other scholars also raised questions that only 1% of students who indulge in political activities end up holding good position in mainstream parties, and that student politics which questions the sovereignty of the nation should not be allowed. One can understand this pattern in terms of a childhood proverb which goes, “Learn that you will become nabob, play that you will end up doing nothing.”
Many people who belong in the right wing establishment are hell bent on discouraging student politics, which critically assesses their performance and brings forward their achievements and downfalls. It is not that BJP, whose student wing ABVP doesn’t involve itself in student politics; they are very much into it. There is a different flavor. They use emotions as their tool. These associations are used as instruments by the establishment in their favor and are skillfully manipulated to silence the opposition’s demands. Prem Bhargava rightly explains what he saw as the conditions of Indian universities under the British rule, “the sole purpose of educational institutions is merely to produce ‘chorus boys’ of British imperialism.”
Paulo Friere, a Brazilian educationist, rightly says that our educational institutions should be laboratories of critical thinkers; the students should not be the victims of a ‘banking model’ of education. One should come out of the static reality and actively take part in politics so that a mechanism is made whereby our government, which enjoys impunity for 5 years, should be questioned and penalized if they don’t deliver on their promises.
As for student activism in politics, it should not be just for the sake of reckless adventurism, students with critically enlightened psyche can put issues forward, they can aid the voiceless in bringing their demands to the fore. Many scholars have echoed the voice of Lenin who said that students, on their own, cannot bring out substantial results, they should associate themselves with trade unions, agricultural farmer associations and many other civil society groups so that a larger, economically viable and politically reinforced front can give tough times to organizational politics. Institutional complicity in the murder of Dalit students like Rohith Vemula should not be forgotten.
Things are changing now. There is a hope of more hype in the influx of intellectual class in politics; a class which doesn’t discriminate on the lines of caste, religiosity, language, gender or patriotism for that matter. AAP (Aam Admi Party), which grew out of the ‘India Against Corruption’ campaign led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal, gave hope to large swathe of students in India and encouraged political recruitment. It really brought in some confidence for the people who exuded despair whenever they witnessed political matters. For a time being, the faith in political parties, which was decimated after Gandhi’s death, saw a brief resurgence till AAP turned out to be like others. I feel that the party which projected itself as a saviour of the poor tuned out to be an oppressor.
To not to repeat this mistake and to encourage political involvement among youth, individuals who occupy influential positions should motivate people at the grassroots to join the system and voice their demands. India is a parliamentary democracy; we have a franchise, political consciousness among youth who don’t think highly of politics can really bring about substantial results. New demands such as the ‘Right To Recall’, which says that an elected MP/ MLA should visit his/ her constituency after every month and debrief people about the things which he/she has been doing can bring in transparency, accountability and effectiveness in our government establishment which, unfortunately reeks of corruption, cronyism and nepotism.
To effectuate student involvement and galvanize student participation, one can really take the help of digital tools which have democratized the virtual public space. It gives an opportunity to the common people to raise their demands. It was social media which helped Tunisians to overthrow Dictator Ben Ali from their country. The entire Arab Spring was partially mobilized by social media, which acted as a strategic tool for millions of people.
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