The formation of an endowment fund for Delhi University (DU) has raised the eyebrows of teachers and student organisations.

Registered under the Companies Act 2013 as a company with limited shares ‘The University of Delhi foundation’ will be able to raise money through “mobilising, bequest gifts, funds, subscriptions, contributions in cash/or in kind to accept land, building or any other assistance from individuals, well-wishers, alumni, philanthropists, associations including the University of Delhi, business fraternity, industries and corporates within the country and overseas and to raise funds in such manner as the board of directors of the company may think fit subject to Articles of Association to support any or every aspect of Delhi University.”

The memorandum of association, also known as the constitution of the company, further stated that the company will “promote, facilitate and support education, research, infrastructure, neighbourhood programmes, library and museum preservation, campus activities and such other activities including housing, hostel and guest houses and food courts and the like for the benefit, social needs and welfare of students, employees, alumni and well wishes of the University of Delhi.”

Raising apprehensions over the motives of the move, Abha Dev Habib, Secretary, Democratic Teachers Front, said that the setting up a private Not-for-Profit Company, now known as the University of Delhi Foundation, was initially granted approval by the VC on December 8, 2022. The Executive approved this VC move on February 3, 2023.

“It is deeply concerning that this company, the University of Delhi Foundation, will now be able to mobilise funds and resources and control the Funds for objects listed under its Memorandum of Association.”

She further said, “This company, from now on, will be able to raise resources from alumni, students, well-wishers of DU, Government, public bodies, private companies and corporations. Will private companies and corporations, who are for-profit entities, provide funds without expecting a suitable quid pro quo?”

Habib maintained that it is abundantly clear that this aligns with the funding principle underlying National Education Policy 2020 (NEP).

“This funding principle tasks universities with the responsibility to expand course offerings and promises some Development Fund (but not operating expenses such as salaries of teachers and non-teaching staff). Thus, teachers whose salaries depend on these resources will have a precarious existence in terms of pay and other service conditions.”

Nandita Narain, former President, Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) and a signatory to the statement, said that the details outlined in Draft NEP required each higher education institution to institutionalise an office to mobilise funds for its activities. This action of the DU VC, who is excessively eager to please the Union government, shows that this institutionalisation for DU is in the form of a company mobilising, managing, utilising and investing University Endowment Funds.

“In short, it is a step towards gradual self-financing of higher education and destruction of public funding of higher education. The setting up of a company called Higher Education Funding Agency a few years back did not result in any extra quantum of funding. Instead, it led to substituting loans in place of Government grants or infrastructural requirements. The logical consequence of such loans is fee hikes and freezes or reductions or delay in salaries of teachers and non-teaching colleagues. We are already getting a foretaste of delayed salary payments in a rising number of DU constituent colleges due to the government’s policies and the cravenness of the DUTA leadership.”

A similar concern came from Rajesh Jha, Media in-charge, Academics for Action and Development Teachers’ Association, the teachers’ wing of Aam Aadmi Party, who argued that the corporatisation is being imposed in the name of the endowment fund.

He said that while they met teachers across the departments and the colleges and brought this to their notice, they expressed deep anger over the commodification and commercialisation of higher education by the companisation of the University.

Jha said, “The decision to take a loan of Rs 1000 crore was imposed on us too. The EC was informed about the authority’s plan to take many more instalments of such loans. This makes DU easy prey for the corporate takeover due to bi-ownership and the decision-making power being taken away from the Academic Council and Executive Council.”

He added, “The change of name does not change its character of being enemy of DU, which is open to all castes, class and creed as provided by Clause 6 of DU Act 1922. This also violates Clause 4 (Power of the University) and Clause 5 (territorial jurisdiction of the University) of DU Act 1922.”

Discontent over the issue is brewing among students who argue that changes are being brought to implement the core fundamentals of NEP.

Abhigyan Gandhi, Secretary, All India Students Association Delhi, said that it is the beginning of a dangerous trend where the responsibility of generating funds has been handed over to a private company.

“NEP proposes that the Board of Governors will replace the decision-making bodies like Academic Council and Executive Council. Similarly, the four-year undergraduate programme with multiple entry and exit points has already been introduced. We will not tolerate this. We have already launched a campaign against these sweeping changes, essentially anti-students.”

Mayank Azad, Secretary, Students Federation of India Delhi, told NewsClick that the provisions of financial autonomy in the new education policy are directly linked with the dilution of the quality of education in higher education institutions.

“The institutions have been advised to seek financial autonomy by generating revenues through their resources. The institutions can raise funds by increasing fees. They will also be under pressure to reduce their expenses in the form of teachers’ salaries and expenses on infrastructure building and maintenance. It will lead a student to get an expensive but low-quality education. Plus, there will be more market-oriented courses, and courses which enable us to understand our societies may no longer be in existence.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Angered by the regime’s ‘bulldozer-raj’ the All India Students’ Association (AISA) on June 13, 2022 called for a citizens’ protest against police brutalities on Friday, and targeted demolitions of Muslim homes. Some students protesting near UP Bhawan were detained by the police.

भारत सरकार और पुलिस देश के लोकतंत्र को खतम करने और विरोध की आवाज को दबाने में अपना पूरा वक्त लगा रही है।
शर्म आनी चाहिए इन्हें।
दिल्ली पुलिस हमारे साथियों को जल्द से जल्द रिहा करें।#ShameOnUpPolice#ShameOnDelhiPolice #ShameOnBJP
#MuslimLivesMatter#StandWithAfreenFatima
2/2 pic.twitter.com/yMZbJyjey7

— Asif Iqbal Tanha (@AsifTanhaJamia) June 13, 2022

Fraternity movement, SIO, MSF, and Collective cadres got arrested by Delhi for holding a protest, raising slogans & against the Bulldozer politics of the Sangh Parivar government and its U P Police at Delhi UP Bhawan.#WeStandWithAfreenFatima#Fraternitymovement#UPBhavan pic.twitter.com/wvAiWp8fbW

— Fraternity Movement (@Fraternity_movt) June 13, 2022

Last week, on the afternoon of June 10, a Friday, Muslims across India engaged in huge protests to demand suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s arrest for her insulting remarks about Prophet Mohammad and Islam. Although the protest ended within hours, what followed were widespread arrests in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well as illegal demolitions in parts of UP.

Notedly, the Prayagraj (Allahabad) police illegally detained Javed Mohamad, local activists and father of anti-CAA activist Afreen Fatima. Later his wife and younger daughter were also illegally detained. On June 12, their house was brazenly demolished without following any due process, for allegedly “encroaching”. This act has now been challenged through a letter petition in the Allahabad high court.

It was against this state-sponsored violence of the Muslim community that the AISA students rose in protest and called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Members demanded that the government:

• Stop police brutality in Ranchi, Allahabad and various places in India
• Cease witch-hunting of Afreen Fatima’s family
• Stop targeting Muslims and bulldozing their houses

In a press release the AISA made a call for peace and appealed to people to end the BJP’s “vicious divisive rule”. In their statement, students condemned the government for failing to prosecute Sharma but attacking protesters with guns.

“Unsurprisingly, while no action has been taken against Sharma and Naveen Jindal, the police forces have come down heavily on those who protested against them,” said the AISA.

Further, the UP police arrested and penalised many prominent anti-CAA voices, active in late 2019-early 2020 against what was perceived to be an unjust amendment to the Citizenship Act. The AISA called this a deliberate act of harassment that reflects the BJP’s communal agenda.

“The practise of using bulldozers against Muslims has become a recurring tactic of the ruling government to curb dissenting voices. This is nothing but a state-sponsored attack on the minority communities and is against the secular ethos enshrined in our constitution,” said the AISA.

Hate monger Nupur Sharma, Naveen Jindal Roam Scot-free, but Large scale arrests of & crackdown on protesting Muslims demanding action on hatemongers!

Condemn this brazen communal witch-hunt!

Stand in Solidarity with Afreen Fatima Whose Family Members Were Detained by UP Police! pic.twitter.com/5jq0y8LlGN

— AISA (@AISA_tweets) June 12, 2022

Visual from today’s citizens protest in Delhi against the demolition of #AfreenFatima‘s house in Prayagraj/Allahabad and BJP’s fascist #Bulldozer Raj targeting members of Muslim community.
.
.@AISA_tweets @cpimlliberation @cpiml_delhi @AICCTUhq pic.twitter.com/Tntn8CtS0s

— CPIML Liberation (@cpimlliberation) June 13, 2022

Aside from students from other parts of Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia University students also joined the call to condemn the bulldozer-raj in India. However, heavy police was deployed outside the university campus. Barring entrance aspirants and PhD students, the police refused to allow protesting students.

Heavy police deployed outside Jamia Millia Islamia after student groups called for a protest against bulldozing of homes and persecution. They are not letting anyone, except the entrance aspirants and PhD scholars, in. We are officially a police state! #StandWithAfreenFatima pic.twitter.com/L2WsYgJkEq

— Musab Qazi (@musab1) June 13, 2022

The act of using bulldozers has become a disconcerting move by the ruling regime since the anti-CAA protests in 2019. This tactic has now been significantly used in Uttar Pradesh where many Muslim protesters now face the threat of forced eviction. In 2022, Khargone (Madhya Pradesh) Muslim residents were the first to suffer the ‘bulldozer raaj’ soon followed by Muslim communities in Delhi, Bengaluru and Assam.

Related:

Spontaneous pan-India protests against Nupur Sharma

Ranchi: 2 dead and Muslim boy terrorised for Friday protests

Right-wing calls Ranchi boy’s ordeal a “victim card” tactic

Evolution of Bulldozer Injustice

Bulldozer Injustice: How far is the regime planning to go?

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Reopen the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University, demanded members of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and people from other progressive student organisations on March 15, 2021, as they held a demonstration at Gate number 15 of the campus.

Students of the renowned university said they have been awaiting the reopening of the campus since their February 17 protest, when the college administration had promised resumption of both central and departmental libraries. However, students have raised concerns that officials have failed to come through even a month after the reassurances.

According to AISA activist Arbab Ali, half of the students in almost all current batches are unable to join classes. Many students face difficulties in finding online reading material, especially in Hindi, Urdu, and other regional languages.

“The lack of resources and unequal distribution has adversely affected the students from worker, peasant and marginalised communities, with women suffering even more. The lockdown on Jamia campus is a fierce attack on the academic careers of students of Jamia Millia Islamia and reflects the increasing arbitrariness of the university administration and its policies. Students have also raised concerns about the functioning of the e-library,” said Ali on Monday.

AISA members complained that the administration was unresponsive to students’ demands during February 22 protests as well. Memorandums were submitted to authorities during both agitations.

However, this time, college officials met with agitating students who continued protests till 6 PM despite the presence of Delhi police. During the dialogue, the administration exposed its mala-fide intentions and didn’t respond positively to the concerns of the students, alleged AISA activists.

Claiming that the administration has a clear design to promote anti-student policies, protesters gave the varsity administration an ultimatum of seven days to announce the reopening of libraries and canteens.

“We reiterate that any attack on the academic careers of students would not be tolerated and would be fiercely challenged. We strongly demand the reopening of Jamia campus, canteen, starting of offline classes and access to the central library and reading halls! Failure to comply with our demands would only cement our argument that Jamia admin. is anti-student and has zero concern for grievances of the student community,” said AISA activists.

Meanwhile, a university spokesperson told Outlook India that JMI will take a “holistic view of the situation” considering a large percentage of students will travel from different parts of India.

“We have to see that the situation in Delhi is safe enough and students have a safe passage to Delhi. I think at an opportune time, we will have a decision in this regard. We cannot endlessly keep the university shut, it has to be a very well-informed decision, factoring in the academic interest of stakeholders,” said the spokesperson.

Related:

Uninvite Modi from JMI event, protect JMI legacy: AISA

If police are our friends, why are they beating us: University students

Students protested without permission; tear gas was “avoidable”: NHRC report on Jamia violence

Jamia protests suspended, Eidgah goes online, Shaheen Bagh continues symbolically with four protestors

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Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University students on February 11, 2021 unequivocally rejected the attendance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the Chief Guest of the Centenary Convocation stating that “his ideas cross the line into hate speech and communalism.” Students demanded that the university administration uninvite the Prime Minister and stand with the arrested Jamia students.

“We demand Jamia administration to uninvite Prime Minister Modi and the Modi-regime unconditionally release arrested Jamia students along with all political prisoners,” said All India Students’ Association (AISA) members in a press release.

Students said that the Jamia administration has shown its “authoritarian and anti-student tendencies” by inviting Modi instead of standing with the arrested Jamia students in this moment of crisis and demanding an intervention for the same.

In response to students’ anger, restlessness and unhappiness with the workings of the Modi-regime, the AISA appealed to the Jamia community to reject the Modi government’s design of communalism, curbing dissent. It appealed to students to uphold the constitutional principles of secularism and justice.

AISA members said that the university has come under attack from the central government for many years. By arbitrarily inviting as the Chief Guest, they alleged, the university administration negated the history of the institution. Moreover, they warned that a failure to comply with the above-mentioned demands will force the organisation to boycott centenary convocation.

“We are witnessing an organised and calculated attack on the idea of JMI by the fascist state and politically inclined administration. Students have unequivocally rejected the invitation. Its acceptance would be a gross disregard of the legacy of our founding fathers, a brazen subversion of the nationalist spirit of Jamia Millia Islamia and the courage of our comrades who have been languishing in jail under UAPA for raising their voice against injustice,” said the AISA.

Earlier, the Delhi Police booked student activists Meeran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha and AAJMI President Shifa Ur Rehman under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) for dissenting against anti-student and Islamophobic state policies. The Jamia administration has remained silent on the incident.

The union went on to list further acts of violence against students such as Modi’s speech in February 2020, wherein he launched a scathing attack by saying, “Protests in Seelampur, Shaheen Bagh and Jamia over CAA are no coincidence but an experiment.” On January 30, 2020 a Godse Bhakt shot at JMI students marching towards Rajghat, injuring one student of the varsity. The firing came days after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anurag Thakur gave inciting speeches, encouraging the crowd to shoot protestors. On December 15, 2019 – during anti-CAA protests – students were brutally lathicharged, tear gassed and library and reading rooms were vandalised.

Significantly AISA pointed out that Modi has still not apologised for his speech in 2008 after the fake Batla House encounter where he claimed the university “publicly announced that it will foot the legal fee of terrorists involved in the act. Go drown yourself. This Jamia Millia is being run on government money and it is daring to spend money on lawyers to get terrorists out of jail. When will this vote bank politics end?”

Students said Modi must apologise for this statement about the university.

Related:

If police are our friends, why are they beating us: University students
Students protested without permission; tear gas was “avoidable”: NHRC report on Jamia violence
Jamia protests suspended, Eidgah goes online, Shaheen Bagh continues symbolically with four protestors
Macabre Reality! Delhi police says it assaulted students to safeguard them

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A post graduate student from the All India Students Union (AISA) was physically assaulted in the dead of night inside his hostel at the Jawaharlal Nehru University much to the ire of students and teachers alike.

According to the Indian Express, student Vivek Kumar said that the assault took place in his room at the Mahi Mandavi hostel at 1:30 AM on September 3 wherein 16 people attacked him in an inebriated state.

Soon after the incident, AISA President N. Sai Balaji posted a video of Vivek in which the MA student talks about how a group of people called out for him outside his room just as he was about to go to sleep.

Vivek, an JNU student was assaulted by 16 ABVP goons in his room with iron kadhas & rods. They abused JNUSU women councillor who came to aid Vivek. These are the goons who attacked students & teachers on Jan 5th. @DelhiPolice didn’t arrest them till date. Look what they have done pic.twitter.com/a01Hv7XNfe

— N Sai Balaji | ఎన్ సాయి బాలాజీ (@nsaibalaji) September 3, 2020

Vivek narrates a barely coherent conversation between him and the assaulter wherein the drunk abuser repeatedly accuses Vivek of lodging a false complaint. He goes on to describe how a crowd of nearly 14-16 people verbally and physically assaulted him. One of the abusers punched him with a kada (iron bangle). Vivek currently has a six-stitch wound under his eye.

Vivek identified two of these people as JNU students one of whom, he alleged, is an ABVP member. He goes on to say that his friend was also attacked while trying to defuse the situation.

This clear attempt to murder. Is there any rule of law left? It will be exactly 8 months for the 5th Jan terror attack by ABVP. Now this!@CPDelhi will you take actionor do you want students dead in hands of these goons? This BJP-RSS new India! Its troubling & atrocious pic.twitter.com/VtVN0B55Sh

— N Sai Balaji | ఎన్ సాయి బాలాజీ (@nsaibalaji) September 3, 2020

Similarly, the official Twitter account of the JUN Student Union (JNUSU) also said that the JNUSU women councillor was injured while trying to help Kumar.

Vivek, a MA IR, JNU student was attacked by 16 ABVP goons in his room with iron bracelets. Not only that, they heckled & abused JNUSU women councillor who came to aid Vivek. These goons who attacked Vivek today are ones who attacked students & teachers on Jan 5th @DelhiPolice pic.twitter.com/mw8LTyAkZ1

— JNUSU (@JNUSUofficial) September 3, 2020

In the first video, the AISA president criticised the hostel security and the JNU administration for their lack of supporting stating that “these people don’t just have a mask, but also a veil on their eyes.” Later he started a Twitter thread where he demanded that the Delhi police file an FIR on the “ABVP goons” who attacked Vivek.

What is the duty of SHO? To file complaint, investigate & stop crime? Why is the SHO Vasant Kunj telling continuously that if a case is filed against ABVP, then a case will be filed on JNU students who gathered today morning outside Sabarmati to identify ones who attacked Vivek https://t.co/pD3rbwEA6g

— N Sai Balaji | ఎన్ సాయి బాలాజీ (@nsaibalaji) September 3, 2020

Vivek lodged an FIR against the 14-16 individuals for voluntary hurt and wrongful restraint at Vasant Kunj police station. He identified four of the assaulters as ABVP associates but the right-wing student organisation has denied any relation to the incident.

“If something really happened, the university administration must conduct a fair inquiry. Any further allegations with an intention to defame ABVP will lead to legal course of action,” the ABVP told the New Indian Express.

However, Kumar insists that one of the assaulters received a message from an ABVP leader that detailed his hostel name and room number. As per the Indian Express report, the senior warden of the hostel failed to confirm this. The AISA said that they had submitted a complaint to the JNU security department on the same night. Even that is yet to be confirmed by the administration.

Other students and teachers have also expressed anger towards the incident. Following the incident, JNU professor and former member of AISA Sucheta De tweeted an angry message demanding justice for the victim.

JNU student and AISA activist Vivek Kumar was brutally attacked yesterday night when a gang of ABVP goons attacked him in his room.
At no cost must this hooliganism go unpunished.#PunishABVP pic.twitter.com/fYRIjI6gOs

— sucheta de (@sucheta_ml) September 3, 2020

JNU student and AISA activist Vivek Kumar was brutally attacked yesterday night when a gang of ABVP goons attacked him in his room.
At no cost must this hooliganism go unpunished.
Modi ji kakar raha he I think it is u r plan done by u r associates.#PunishABVP pic.twitter.com/ntsVqsuPZu

— Ki Ra N (@kiran_0334) September 3, 2020

Even the JNUSU General Secretary Satish Chandra Yadav condemned the incident and asked the JNU Vice-Chancellor to look into the event.

कैंपस में आये दिन मारपीट की घटना आम होते जा रही है। कैंपस में कुछ अराजक तत्व लगातार हिंसा करते आ रहे है। अगर 5 जनवरी की घटना को JNU प्रशासन गंभीरता से लिया होता तो आज ये घटना फिर से न होती।@mamidala90 उक्त घटना को गंभीरता से लेते हुए दोषियों के खिलाफ़ सख़्त करवाई की जाये। pic.twitter.com/FRiiNk9wMA

— Satish Chandra Yadav (@satish_jnu) September 3, 2020

The Vice-Chancellor has not responded to his tweet or commented about the incident.

Related articles:

JNU violence must be investigated by a judicial commission
Student activist Safoora Zargar, denied bail, judicial custody extended till June 25
JMIU students asked to sign declaration that says police didn’t enter hostel
“To my utter shock, the police seized my phone citing inquiry into the Delhi violence”: Kawalpreet Kaur 

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N Sai Balaji won the post of president by a margin of 1000 votes, defeating Lalit Pandey of the ABVP. While Balaji bagged 2161 votes. Sarika Chaudhary of the DSF defeated ABVP candidate Geetasri Boruah by a margin of 1680 votes for the post of vice president. Aejaz Ahmed Rather of the SFI garnered 2423 votes and won the post of general secretary after defeating Ganesh Gurjar of the ABVP by 1300 votes. The post of joint secretary was won by Amutha of AISF who bagged 2047 defeating ABVP’s Venkat Choubey by a margin of 800 votes.

(Courtesy: newsx.com)

With the sweet victory, the left alliance stood vindicated against what has now come to be known as a “high handed authoritarian” administration led by vice chancellor Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar in the past year. Several agitations especially on seat cuts, irregular implementation of reservation policy, mandatory attendance, procedural violations in faculty appointments and the VC’s sudden decision to open engineering and management schools in the campus, for which he requested for a loan of Rs. 515 crore.

Counting of votes for the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students’ union polls was halted on Saturday after an alleged disruption by member of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members. The ABVP members alleged that they were not informed about the process. However, due to the efficient handling of almost a riot like situation by the Election Commission (EC), the counting process could be carried on smoothly. In the past, JNU’s EC has earned a reputation of being able to conduct peaceful elections efficiently.

 The voter turn-out in the current election was 67.8%, which is being seen as the highest in the recent years with over 5000 students casting their votes.

Besides the Left alliance and the ABVP, there were candidates of the Congress-affiliated NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) and the BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association), a student group advocating principles of Birsa Munda, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Jotirao Phule.

The Left alliance is likely to gain confidence from its stupendous performance in securing votes in JNU’s science schools, where ABVP has traditionally dominated. Another important sweep is that in the school of life sciences. The school was in news because of the Atul Johari sexual assault case in which women students strongly came out against the professor for harassing several women students in the past. While the left groups raised voice in this case, ABVP remained conspicuously silent.

 During the elections, students have accused ABVP of “setting a violent precedent”. Despite getting a clear mandate from students, the left alliance is likely to face hostility from the administration and hence challenges in functioning.

 https://sabrangindia.in/article/93-percent-jnu-teachers-vote-vcs-removal

https://sabrangindia.in/interview/attack-jnu-systemic-and-unrelenting-only-one-part-anti-democratic-assault-modi-regime-umar
 

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The students’ wing of the Congress – National Students Union of India, NSUI – dealt a stunning blow to the students’ wing – Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, ABVP — of the BJP/RSS, winning the top two posts of the Delhi University Students Union.  

The post of president and vice-president was bagged by the NSUI while the ABVP had to be content with the posts of secretary and joint secretary. The NSUI has won the president’s post after a gap of 5 years.

NSUI claimed it had actually won three of the top four posts and would contest the results for the joint secretary’s post in the Delhi High Court. In the outgoing students’ body, the ABVP had held three of the top four posts with the NSUI having to be content with the post of joint secretary.

Political observers attribute ABVP’s setback to its hooliganism and its bid to stifle the dissenting voice on the Delhi University campus. The All India Students Association (AISA), the students’ wing of CPI (ML) secured a significant number of votes in this election marking its arrival on the Delhi University campus.

Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Randeep Surjewala hailed the Delhi University victory as “a triumph of liberal values and wake-up call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

The Congress party’s vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “Congratulations @nsui on a stellar performance & Pres win in DUSU! Thank students of DU for reposing faith in Congress ideology.”

In a statement issued after the poll results the NSUI said, “This mandate shows that students throughout the country have rejected poisonous & divisive ideology of RSS.”

In the elections to the JNU Students Union, results of which were declared a week ago, all top posts were won by candidates of Left Unity.

Meanwhile downplaying the results, the general secretary of BJP’s Delhi unit said he did not find “any political reason behind ABVP’s defeat” in the top two posts of Delhi University’s Student Union.

Welcoming the results, Prashant Bhushan of the Swaraj Party tweeted, “Kudos to DUSU for booting out ABVP goons in 3/4 seats. After losses in JNU, Guwahati Univ, Punjab Univ, it’s clear that Students rejecting ABVP.”

The new panel comprises Rocky Tuseed and Kunal Sehrawat of the NSUI as president and vice president, and the ABVP’s Mahamedhaa Nagar and Uma Shankar as secretary and joint secretary.
 

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The alliance won all four office-bearer posts in the Union – President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary – by huge margins.

The victorious United Left candidates (from Right to Left): Geeta Kumari, Simone Zoya Khan, Duggirala Srikrishna and Shubhanshu Singh. Photos credit: Newsclick
 

The United Left has won a mammoth victory in the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) elections for the year 2017-18. The alliance won all four office-bearer posts in the Union – President, Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary – by huge margins.

The United Left, an alliance of three left-wing student organisations – All India Students Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), and Democratic Students Federation (DSF) – also won 13 councillor seats in the Union and a majority in the JNUSU Council.

Geeta Kumari from AISA won the President post by a majority of 464 votes, while Simone Zoya Khan from AISA won as Vice-President by 848 votes. Duggirala Srikrishna from SFI was elected as General Secretary by a margin of 1107 votes, and Shubhanshu Singh from DSF won the Joint Secretary post by a majority of 835 votes. The four winning candidates polled 1506, 1876, 2082 and 1755 votes respectively.
 

 Students celebrating the election victory of the United Left in JNUSU elections.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), came second in all four office-bearer posts.

The Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students Association (BAPSA), which had come second in the President post in last year’s elections, suffered a setback as it was relegated to the third position in all four office-bearer posts.

The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) was faced with a major disappointment as its President candidate Aparajitha Raja finished fifth, behind the United Left, ABVP, BAPSA and independent candidate Md. Farooque Alam. Aparajitha Raja polled 416 votes. AISF candidate Kanhaiya Kumar had won the JNUSU President post narrowly – by 67 votes – in 2015-16, when the left vote splintered with SFI, AISA, DSF and AISF contesting separately.

The Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) suffered serious embarrassment and a severe loss of face as all four of its office-bearer candidates finished behind NOTA. NSUI’s President candidate polled 87 votes, while there were 127 NOTA votes for the post.

Polling was held on Friday, 8 September, and counting began the same night.

The first results to come out, as is usual, were those of the school councillor posts.

Independent candidates won as councillors in many of the science schools. The ABVP claimed that two independent candidates who won in the School of Life Sciences (SLS) were supported by them, while the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) said that one councillor in the same school was supported by them. An independent candidate was elected unopposed in the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance (CSLG), while the ABVP candidate was elected unopposed in the Centre for Sanskrit Studies (CSS). An independent candidate won the sole councillor post in the School of Arts and Aesthetics (SAA).

The United Left swept the councillor posts in the bigger schools – the School of International Studies (SIS), the School of Social Sciences (SSS), and the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies (SLL&CS).

In SIS, the United Left won four out of five councillor posts, as the alliance candidates Marie Pegu, Aishe Ghosh, Sarthak Bhatia and Shashi Kant Tripathi came out victorious. The remaining councillor post was won by independent candidate Prahlad Kumar Singh.

In SSS, the United Left won four out of five councillor posts, with the alliance candidates Aejaz Ahmad Rather, Satish Chandra Yadav, Shreyasi Biswas and Sudhanya Pal winning. Chepal Sherpa of the Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Students Organisation (BASO) won the remaining councillor post.

In SLL&CS, the alliance won all five councillor posts, as United Left candidates Aditi Chatterjee, Ghulam Qadeer, Parveen Sheikh, Raju Kumar and Swati Singh won comfortably.

Counting for the central panel (the office-bearer posts) began with the science schools and smaller schools. The ABVP has been traditionally stronger in the science schools, and polled the highest number of votes in these schools.

Counting for SIS began around the same time, and United Left candidates won large majorities in the school.

As complete results came in for the ‘combined schools’ (science schools and smaller schools) and SIS, the United Left was trailing behind ABVP by 25 votes in the President post. United Left candidates in the Vice-President and Joint Secretary had narrow overall leads of 19 and 9 each. Duggirala Srikrishna, the General Secretary candidate was, however, far ahead already with a lead of 283 votes. Srikrishna, the incumbent Convenor from SIS, and whose work in the Union in the past one year has been widely appreciated, won a whopping 483 votes out of 829 votes in his school.

As results from ‘Red Fort’ School of Social Sciences (SSS) started coming in, the United Left raced ahead. The ABVP’s President candidate managed to win only 127 out of 1270 votes in SSS, historically a stronghold of the Left. Results from the largest school SLL&CS – with 1469 polled votes – were the last to be declared, and the United Left candidates increased their majorities to finish well ahead of their opponents.

The ABVP has won a majority in the JNUSU only once – in 1996-97, when it won the Vice-President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary posts and a large number of councillor seats. It has won the President post only once, in 2000-01, when the ABVP candidate won by just one vote. The very next year, however, the SFI-AISF alliance swept the polls, with the ABVP being trounced in all seats by huge majorities (the SFI-AISF’s President candidate won by 589 votes, then a record).

Ever since then, the ABVP has managed to win a JNUSU office-bearer post only once, in 2015-16. But the ABVP has been on a back foot since then, having angered the students with its #ShutDownJNU campaign in February 2016 using doctored videos. The ABVP has also been left without answers to the questions raised by students this year, as the JNU administration – widely acknowledged to be backed by the RSS – cut nearly 1000 seats in the research programmes of the University.

Geeta Kumari is the fifth woman to become the President of the JNUSU.

Rashmi Doraiswami from SFI, elected in 1983-84, was the first woman President of the Union. Albeena Shakil, also from SFI, became the second woman President in 2001-02. Mona Das from AISA, who won two times in 2004-05 and 2005-06, and Sucheta De from AISA who won in 2011-12, were the third and fourth women Presidents of the JNUSU.

The 35-member JNUSU council consists of the Union office-bearers elected by all students in JNU, and 31 school councillors elected by students of the various schools in JNU.

The number of votes cast in the JNUSU elections came down from 5138 last year to 4620 this year due to the seat cuts that have been imposed on the University.

Republished from Newsclick with permission.

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Continuing the crackdown on Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), the administration has issued a letter barring JNUSU office bearers, President Mohit Pandey, General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty and Joint Secretary Tabrez Hasan, from participating in all meeting of the Statutory Bodies and Committees of the University.

On May 16th, the second round of 143rd Academic Council (AC) had witnessed high-handedness of the university administration. This was a continuation of 143rd AC which had been adjourned on May 9. The meeting was held to discuss the issues around JNU admission policy and MPhil-PhD seat cut. During the meeting, VC, Prof. Jagdish Kumar, did not allow any sound of dissent. He and his brigade imposed their decisions on students and teachers.

Referring the suspension letter, JNUSU General Secretary Satarupa Chakraborty remarked: “This is nothing but a planned attack against us where, first we  were not allowed to voice our dissent, then we had to undergo harassments by few faculty members in AC, followed by a severe politically motivated act by the JNU administration to restrict us from participating in important decision making bodies“. Satarupa Chakraborty also added that JNUSU hasn’t received any letter regarding the Standing Committee meeting which is scheduled on Friday.

Condemning the undemocratic actions of the university administration, JNUSU has released a press statement.

Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU)

Press Release

22.06.2017

In an extremely shameful manner, the JNU administration continuing its history of targeting the JNUSU office bearers and the students’ activists, issued an extremely abhorrent notice to the JNUSU President and Joint Secretary on late evening of 21st June 2017. The notice shockingly mentions “Mr. Mohit Pandey/Tabrez Hasan is here by suspended from participating in all Statutory Bodies and Committees of the University with immediate effect until the final outcome of the Proctorial Enquiry Committee.”
The JNUSU condemns, in the strongest term possible, sheer targeting of a student representatives by the JNU administration. The manner in which a student representatives has been barred from attending important meetings that decide matters concerning students exposes the real intention of the administration. True to its dark history, the JNU administration under the leadership of Mr. M. Jagadesh Kumar yet again attempted to silence the critical voices where tough and uncomfortable questions were raised by the students’ representatives in the 143rd Academic Council meeting. Besides, it is distressful to witness how the administration is shielding the act of physical abuse and threats by a handful of its loyal faculty members by criminalising the student representatives.

Trampling Upon AC Functioning by the VC and His Cohorts-Imposing Seat-Cut Through Means Most Foul

We would like to highlight once again the sequence of events that took place in 143rd AC held on 16th June 2017. The VC opened the meeting by announcing the minutes of 142nd AC to be 'confirmed'. He not only insulted the members of AC, but also showed the audacity to announce unapproved minutes as 'confirmed'. Despite a long five hour meeting on 5th May 2017 AC which has taken a position categorically stating the forgery of 142nd AC’s minutes and thereby mandated to incorporate amendments into the minutes, the VC unilaterally declared the 'minutes' to be "passed" on 16th June 2017, without any change. While the JNUSU representatives and a vast majority of faculty collective continuously requested the Chair (the VC) to record the note of dissent, the VC and the Registrar went on reading agenda items, thereby declaring all agenda items as 'passed' without letting any member except their cohorts speak.

Let us recall the most crucial issues in the AC 'minutes' pertained to the massive seat-cut inflicted in M.Phil./Ph.D. admissions which majority members in the AC were opposed to, but the VC and his team were hell bent to show 'approval' of AC by hook or crook.

The JNUSU representatives and some faculty members kept insisting their legitimate concerns and objections against this open trampling of AC procedures by the VC chairing the meeting.

However, the script was ready on the part of administration as some of its chosen teachers were prepared to physically charge the faculty members and JNUSU representatives when we raised our objections.

In an extremely shameful and objectionable manner when two faculty members Ashwini Mahapatra and Atul Johri physically charged JNUSU representatives (a video of which is already in the public domain) in presence of the Chair, VC and the Registrar (Secretary of AC) chose to threaten the student representatives instead of bringing an order in the house. This disruption in AC and threatening by two faculty members were not only put under the carpet by the administration, but also, measures were taken by the VC to shield them by criminalising JNUSU’s President and Joint Secretary.

Unprecedented in JNU History
Indeed, the 'adjourned' session of the 143rd AC meeting held on 16 June will go down in JNU's history as the darkest episode, where VC trampled upon all norms of democratic norms of conduct of an august body like AC, where manhandling and abusive behaviour by some teachers loyal to the VC were unleashed on teacher and student members on the floor of the AC to silence differing opinions, with the sole purpose of imposing the grossly anti-student seat-cut agenda at all cost. The meeting saw some dangerous trends – (a) VC thoroughly misused his Chair where he kept reading out his agenda as 'passed' without allowing any discussion to take place, (b) VC even refused to record the dissent of the students and teachers which have already been submitted even in writing, (c) teachers who are not official members of the AC and who were not 'invitees' even in the original part of the 143 AC meeting of 5 May, but who flaunt their political pro VC loyalties, were 'invited' during the adjourned session of the 143rd AC Meeting only to orchestrate hooliganism and intimidate members inside the AC.

We have been witnessing that the voices of dissent are curtailed across campuses and in different states protests are being silenced. With the BJP-led government enjoying its majority in the parliament, continuous attacks are being unleashed on students, activists and people from the margins. Following the trend, concerted attacks are happening on universities where attempts are being made to destroy democratic institutions and targeting of student activists.

The JNUSU categorically states that such attempts will be thoroughly resisted and we will not be cowed down with such criminalization by the administration.

The JNUSU calls for an effigy burning of BJP Govt. and its stooge JNU administration on 22 June at 5:30 pm in Sabarmati Dhaba. We assert our position that any undemocratic and authoritarian move by JNU administration and its attempt to impose anti-student policies will be resisted in all manners.

Sd/-
Mohit K. Pandey, President.
Amal P.P., Vice-President.
Satarupa Chakraborty, General Secretary.
Tabrez Hassan, Joint Secretary.
 

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Gurmehar Kaur, daughter of Kargil martyr Captain Mandeep Singh, changed her Facebook profile picture holding a placard which read “I am a student from Delhi University. I am not afraid of ABVP. I am not alone. Every student of India is with me. #StudentsAgainstABVP”.
 

“The brutal attack on innocent students by ABVP is very disturbing and should be stopped. It was not an attack on protesters, but an attack on every notion of democracy that is held dear in every Indian’s heart. It is an attack on ideals, morals, freedom and rights of every person born to this nation,” she said in a Facebook status.

“The stones that you pelt hit our bodies, but fail to bruise our ideas. This profile picture is my way of protesting against the tyranny of fear,” she added.

The literature student’s classmates and peers started sharing the post, prompting students from various universities across the country to change their profile pictures with the same placard, as the initiative went viral.

Kaur’s Facebook post so far has 2,100 reactions, 3,456 shares and 542 comments.

Ramjas College had on Wednesday witnessed large-scale violence between members of AISA and ABVP workers. The genesis of the clash was an invite to JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on ‘Culture of Protests’ which was withdrawn by the college authorities following opposition by the RSS student wing.

(With inputs from PTI)
 

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