Youth Edge | Students new worry: ‘Shrinking democratic spaces in college’

A student from ILS said, “Simply sending a link to the form on our unofficial class groups where everyone often posts freely was testing friendships and in several cases leading to arguments. Some were calling it propaganda while others put up statuses saying ‘Google form gang, get ready’.”

In response to the link to the solidarity statement on a class WhatsApp group, one student said, “Those of us from ABVP/RSS know how to deal with hooligans, if they listen to what we say, it is okay otherwise there are many ways.”

“After the statement was made public we came across threats by our own college mates who have been associated with some political student groups saying they could ruin our careers through their connections in the Bar Council of Maharashtra,” the student added.

Some members of the unofficial unit of the ABVP in ILS confirmed that they made a representation to the police. One of them, Aroh Kulkarni told The Indian Express, “We gave a letter to the police against students of FTII who were questioning the Supreme Court judgment as well as those of the same ideology in ILS who were circulating a solidarity statement and misleading students.”

The police issued a notice to the principal of Firodia Law College and three students were summoned on Monday (January 5) where they were instructed to focus on studies and not get into trouble.

A student of Firodia College said, “Questioning and discussing legal judgments are part of our curriculum as budding lawyers. Healthy criticism of judgments is well within our rights, as stated by the Supreme Court itself in 2020. If young students become scared to think about society and the issues around us, how can we expect to become well-rounded professionals just from reading textbooks? A democratic campus where everyone can be free to question, learn and make mistakes is essential but today’s atmosphere does not allow that?”

Meanwhile, strict disciplinary proceedings and investigations have been initiated in FTII against those involved in the controversial poster and events being called ‘unauthorised’ by the administration in a college where spontaneous gatherings, readings and discussions have been as much part of campus life as academics.

“We are worried about the legal cases against us as well as the internal investigations. Students are in uncertainty and fear and one cannot focus on studies, leave alone creative pursuits in such an atmosphere,” said an FTII student.

A student theatre assignment staged at the Lalit Kala Kendra of SPPU on February 2 sparked off violence and led to the arrest of five students and the head of the department. It was soon followed by acts of vandalism the next day.

This set back the sense of normality that was beginning to settle on campus after incidents of violence in November. A student of the physics department of SPPU said, “It was only around 20 days ago when the police deployment on campus was stopped since November. But with the incident at Lalit Kala Kendra, police are back again. No matter how long there is such deployment, as a student you never get used to it and it makes you feel scared.”

A masters student from the university said, “What was most scary to me was that nothing happened after the attack on Lalit Kala Kendra. You can make mistakes but such criminalisation of art and people who think differently is relatively new. The university used to be a space where students could express themselves through peaceful demonstrations if needed. But this time, there was absolutely nothing except a small protest, that too at the Collector’s office a few days later.”

A much awaited ‘Prom Night’ at Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics was abruptly halted two hours into the festivities when some men dressed in saffron entered the campus, made the organisers stop the music and allegedly forced students to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’. The event happened to fall on the Ram Mandir consecration day due to unforeseen postponement.

“While the police showed up soon and everything was sorted, it was quite shocking for us. It was scary to see that people could just barge in like that. It was also sad that the event ended then and there because of no fault of ours. We spend most of the year studying and these are the few fun events we have in college to socialise.”

A student of SP College said, “It is even difficult to start conversations and open discussions about any topics as most are now considered sensitive. Even if you go through official channels, everyone is hesitant wondering if anything could lead to any opposition. There is nothing much apart from textbooks for us if this trend remains.”