‘Victory born out of persistence’ for PU students as university blinks, withdraws affidavit

The decision came after a day of high drama marked by political visits, stand-offs, and final negotiations between the student council and the administration.

The PU affidavit required students to submit undertakings regarding their conduct and mode of protest at the campus. Students said that the affidavit aims to undermine their right to protest and dissent and first launched a protest in June. On October 29, they began an indefinite protest, demanding a complete withdrawal of the affidavit.

The withdrawal comes even as uncertainty continues towards another move that is being opposed by students and politicians — the Centre’s recent notification that overhauled the governance structure of PU, converting the elected Syndicate into a completely nominated body and reducing the strength of its Senate.

Students lock admin block after officials skip talks

Despite assurances of dialogue, senior officials, including Registrar Y P Verma, failed to turn up for talks on Tuesday morning. As the hunger strike entered its seventh day, frustration boiled over. Around noon, after giving the administration a ten-minute ultimatum, protesters locked the Administrative Block and began raising slogans outside.

V-C Renu Vig later called in PUCSC members Ashmit Singh and Mohit Manderana for a private meeting to discuss the withdrawal. Nipun Suri, DR for UILS, told The Indian Express that the meeting stretched for hours, involving several rounds of back and forth. By 5.30 pm, both sides agreed to withdraw the affidavit, but the decision briefly stalled when the Associate Dean insisted that PUCSC president Gauravveer Sohal must personally consent before the move could be made official. PUCSC vice-president Ashmit Singh pushed back, asserting his authority to represent the council in Sohal’s absence. The impasse ended only after Sohal emailed his formal consent to the administration.

The decision came after a day of high drama marked by political visits, stand-offs, and final negotiations between the student council and the administration

By early evening, word spread that the affidavit had been withdrawn. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president and MP Simranjit Singh Mann and former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu soon arrived on campus to meet the students, praising their persistence.

According to the official minutes signed by the Dean Students Welfare and council members, the affidavit — introduced to regulate student protests — has been withdrawn “in totality with immediate effect.” The administration also confirmed that the decision will be conveyed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court in its next hearing.

The meeting note was signed by Sohal, Ashmit, PUCSC secretary Abhishek Dagar, joint secretary Mohit Manderana, and Anti-Affidavit Front leaders Archit Garg (petitioner), Manpreet Kaur, and Deeksha Verma.

“This isn’t just a withdrawal — it’s a recognition that students don’t leave their constitutional rights at the campus gate,” Garg said. “Our stand before the high court was clear: no university can make students sign away their right to dissent.”

Outside the VC office, cheers erupted as Dagar ended his seven-day hunger strike. “This is a collective victory born out of persistence,” student leaders said, while the administration described it as “a resolution made in the larger interest of students.”

Channi slams Centre

Earlier in the day, former chief minister and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi visited the protest site, calling the affidavit “a direct attack on the democratic spirit of Panjab University.”

“The democratic institutions of this university are being destroyed,” Channi said. “The Centre wants to take control here and impose the RSS ideology.”

Tracing PU’s journey from Lahore to Hoshiarpur to Chandigarh, he reminded students that the university was built to serve Punjab. “This university belongs to Punjab,” he said. “But today, Punjab is being separated from its own university.”

Channi accused the Centre of systematically eroding Punjab’s autonomy, citing the Bhakra Beas Management Board, BSF jurisdiction expansion, and PU Senate dissolution. “After breaking the 90-member Senate, they’ve made it a 31-member body. The Graduate Constituency has been abolished. The Syndicate is now nominated. This is how the Centre has captured the university,” he said, adding that PU was “the nursery of Punjab’s politics.”

He also criticised the AAP-led Punjab government for not defending the university strongly enough. “They haven’t given funds. Bhagwant Mann’s government should be fighting this in the high court,” the former CM said.

Farmers’ union joins protest

Members of the Bharatiya Kisan Majdoor Union also joined the students. State president Dilbagh Singh Gill drew parallels between the students’ movement and the farmers’ struggle. “When you guard the nation, you are called patriotic. But when you ask for your haqq, you are called anti-national,” he said. “Whether it’s Punjab’s farmers or these students, the pattern is the same.”

PUCSC alleges ‘delay tactics’

Even after the withdrawal, some student leaders accused the administration of “delay tactics.” PUCSC vice-president Ashmit said, “On November 3, we were called in the morning and kept waiting till 7 pm. They had agreed to our conditions but later linked the withdrawal to whether Archit Garg would drop his petition. This shows their tactics clearly.”

Asked if the affidavit issue was linked to the Senate controversy, he said, “It’s undoubtedly part of the same plan. Chandigarh’s institutions are being taken away one by one: PGIMER is no longer under PU, Punjab Engineering College has been separated, and now they’re trying to weaken PU’s autonomy.”

The author is an intern with The Indian Express