Just Another Party on Campus

Last fortnight,a 22-year-old from the university,Sudipto Gupta,a student leader of the Left-affiliated SFI,died in police custody. The chief minister Mamata Banerjee dismissed it as an “unfortunate accident” but for the Left leaders it was a moment to tap into the resentment against the state’s two-year-old government and claw back into the political space they had ceded. Protest rallies were taken out by different bodies across the city,condolence meetings arranged. Surprisingly,on the RBU campus,the name Sudipto Gupta elicits silence. “I don’t know who he is,” says Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad (TMCP,the student wing of the party ruling the state) leader Biswajit De.

A short distance away,at Presidency University (formerly Presidency College),Gupta speaks to us from every corner. His face is plastered on walls,slogans demanding justice for his death reverberates in its corridors and there is genuine concern on Sanchari Mallick’s face when she talks about her stand on the matter. “This is something that has united us all. Sudipto may have never visited this campus,but he is one of us,” she says.

In Kolkata,politics is as much a part of life on campus,as last-minute cramming for examinations,youngsters strumming their guitars and late-night parties. But while in elite colleges like Presidency and Jadavpur University,it is partly a matter of fostering a political consciousnesss — even idealism — in many others,it is a bitterly partisan,often violent contest for supremacy.

In February this year,sub-inspector Tapas Chaudhuri,was shot dead during clashes between Congress and Trinamool workers at a college in Kolkata. Trinamool Congress councillor Mohammad Iqbal was arrested in the case. “Apart from Presidency and Jadavpur University,campus politics in other colleges of the city is marked by factionalism. Which means that there is very little understanding between rival parties. This leads to violent clashes,” says Anju Guha,a PhD student of Calcutta University.

At Presidency,Gupta’s death has brought the rival parties,SFI and IC (Independents’ Consolidation) together. Outside the union room,students linger and are willing to engage in conversations,a stark contrast to RBU. “Historically,Presidency has been the seat of politics and a campus where free-thinking has been encouraged,” says Shumalya Mukhopadhyay,a third-year student of English Honours (BA) and an IC supporter. Shumalya and his SFI friends protested the death of Gupta together. “We took out rallies demanding justice. College politics is not just about rivalry,it is about learning to speak for oneself and demand one’s rights,” he says.

Presidency was at the centre of the student’s movement in the 1960s-70s,when Naxalite was not yet a dirty word. Several young students,inspired by the Naxalbari peasants movement,joined politics—and many were killed in alleged fake encounters with the police. While those days of belief in the possibility of a revolution might have gone,many young students believe they have a right to make a political choice early on. But the “brainwashing” that Sudipto Gupta’s grieving sister accused the SFI of is also evident. Even before boys and girls start filling their admission forms,their induction to one party or the other begins. One of Kolkata’s worst-kept secrets is the “tuition” camps that the SFI and IC hold for aspirants writing the hard-to-crack Presidency admission test. “Within the first few days of a new session,we scan the classes for prospective party members. We stalk their Facebook accounts,try to find out about their ideologies and beliefs. And finally approach them,” says Soumya Pal Choudhury,second year,chemistry honours and an IC supporter.

In this highly politicised state,there are perks of being a party member. Doors open for you,life becomes easier. “I wouldn’t disagree with that,” says Writh Barua,a student at Presidency. “For decades people have been benefitting from their party connections in this state and student politics is no different,” he adds. RBU’s Biswajit De,who is also the local ward president,concedes that some members approach him for little favours like ensuring “re-examination of papers”,but he “never obliges”.

The recommendations of the Lyngdoh Commission of 2006,if implemented,would ensure that there is no scope for muscle-flexing. It suggests that those participating in student elections should declare that they do not belong to any political party. Ironically,the day he died,Sudipto was protesting against the recommendations of the commission. “It’s as if they want to wipe out student politics,” protests Rahul Ghosh,a PhD student at Calcutta University. “Why should we pretend that a student’s life is any different from that of a normal adult citizen of the country? By the time a student enters college,he is old enough to vote as a citizen of India. Why should he be subjected to a make-believe world without any outside influence?” he adds.

At the sprawling Jadavpur University,Arpita Mukhopadhyay,a postgraduate student of Bengali says campus politics imparts a sense of community. “No matter what happens,which mother party we are affiliated to,we will always be students of JU first,” she says. Does that mean that if a student of a rival party were to die the way Sudipto did,JU will not clamp up like the RBU campus did? “I want to say yes,but one never knows. They forced Subhojit Das [a 21-year-old Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad (TMCP) leader in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district to resign from his post after he condemned the incident on Facebook. After Sudipto’s death every student unit took out condolence rallies on our campus,except TMCP. Isn’t that telling?” she asks.

(Some names have been changed)