People's Democracy

 SFI Stages Protest Countrywide

ACTIVISTS of the SFI all over the country staged angry protest actions on September 16 against the brutal lathicharge on students in Mumbai. 

It may be recalled the Mumbai units of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) had staged protest outside St George’s Hospital, Mumbai, on September 11 against the government’s unjust fee hike for engineering and medical admissions. The protest was successful and all admission procedures were halted. But then the sudden brutal lathicharge by the police left many innocent SFI activists and protesters with bleeding heads.

After an emergency meeting in Delhi the next day, the SFI central executive committee condemned the brutal action and called for a countrywide protest.

In Mumbai it was SFI all round, shouting slogans like “Halt the Admission Procedures,” “Dispose the Education Tyrants,” and “End Commercialisation of Education.” The SFI activists successfully brought all engineering and medical admissions to halt. Alerted in advance by the ruling authorities, the police were maintaining a strict vigil since midnight to curb any such actions. Around 9.30 a m, at the St George College’s main entrance, when deprived and affected students and parents started objecting against the admission procedures, activists of the SFI and DYFI tried to storm through the police barricades and enter the St George College’s premises. In a bid to break off the protest, the police then resorted to a brutal lathicharge against the protesting students and parents without any warning. 

The police mercilessly assaulted Pradeep Salvi of the DYFI and a few other activists till they were left bleeding. Without any right or respect, the police dragged women protestors by hair; even the onlooking parents and students standing nearby were lathicharged. The police toiled hard for over an hour to suppress the protest, leaving many protestors injured and bleeding.

In the end, the police arrested 27 activists of the SFI and DYFI and charged them under IPC 141, 341, 342, 332, 352, and 452. The public witnessed how the ruling authorities viciously crushed a simple and justified protest by students, aimed against the education tyrants who are trying to commercialise education.

The SFI has raised the following demands:

1) Stop to the unfair and unjust fee hike for all engineering and medical admissions; all new admissions must be granted as per the last year’s fees.

2) The government must take responsibility of all fees and admission expenses of socially and economically backward students, rather then dragging them into a debt trap by offering low-interest loans from commercial banks.

3) All private engineering and medical colleges must be brought under the AICTE charter and given government grants.

4) All admissions must be offered and reserved as per provisions of the constitution.

The SFI has warned that the protests would continue until all the above demands are met and no state minister would be allowed a free walk in the state. It also hinted at boycotting the 3 member committee appointed by the Maharashtra government.