People's Democracy

PM’s Visit To JNU And Its Aftermath

Rohit

THE prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, visited JNU along with the union HRD minister, Arjun Singh, on November 14, 2005 to unveil a statue of Jawaharlal Nehru. On the eve of his visit, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) along with the AISF carried out an extensive campaign among the students on the issues in which the Left is opposed to the policies of the UPA government. The issues included the vote against Iran in the IAEA meeting, joint Indo-US military exercises, neo-liberal economic policies and the move to include education in India’s offer list under the GATS in the WTO. The JNU Students Union (JNUSU) also held a protest march in the campus on these issues on the night of November 13.

In JNU, the response of the student community to the visit of any political dignitary to JNU has always been democratically decided by the student community. A JNUSU council meeting was convened on November 13 to decide on the response to the PM’s visit. It was decided to submit two memoranda to the PM and the HRD minister protesting against the foreign, economic and education policies of the UPA government and placing some long-standing demands of the students related to students’ representation in academic council and board of studies (BoS) and fellowships for needy and SC/ST students. The JNUSU also arrived at a collective position that no effort should be made to disrupt the function under any pretext. An all organisation meeting was also called to communicate the position of the JNUSU to all the organisations. Earlier, the JNU administration had also convened a meeting along with the teachers, of the JNUSU representatives and all student organisations. All the organisations, except the DSU [student-wing of the CPI (Maoist)], gave commitment that the PM’s visit would not be disrupted.

However, the AISA, despite being party to this collective decision later went back on their word and joined the DSU in giving a call for ‘Manmohan Singh Go Back’. On the day of the programme, they disrupted the PM’s speech and showed black flags. This was followed by a spate of violence by the NSUI activists, especially targeting the girl students. The entire bedlam was aired live on television. However, the appeal made by the vice-president of JNUSU (from the SFI), that even though we disagreed with the PM on many issues, he should be allowed to speak was appreciated by the large gathering of students and other members of the University community. The memoranda, which were submitted to the PM and the HRD minister were also hailed by those present on the occasion. The disruptive role of the ultra-Left, especially the volte-face by the AISA, as well as the violence perpetrated by the NSUI led to massive anger among the student community. The JNUSU Council meeting, held on November 19, has condemned this disruption, which was in violation of the collective decision of the JNUSU, as well as a breach of trust by the AISA. The council also demanded an independent enquiry to look into the violence initiated by the NSUI.

ROLE OF JNUSU PRESIDENT

The most remarkable part in this entire episode was the role played by the JNUSU president from the AISA. She was the only member of the JNUSU who was present in a meeting held on September 15, 2005 where the decision of inviting the PM was taken. She not only failed to communicate this to the student community but also disappeared two weeks ahead of this programme from the campus fearing a backlash on this issue. The JNUSU has taken strong note of her irresponsible role and has passed the following censure motion against her in the council. “During the entire episode of the PM’s visit, the JNUSU president remained absent from the campus. It was gross negligence on her part not to duly communicate the information of the PM’s visit to the student community although she had attended a meeting held on September 15, 2005 with the administration in this regard. The absence of the JNUSU president from the campus without any explanation and communication to the student community is considered to be an act of irresponsibility by the JNUSU council. The JNUSU council strongly condemns this irresponsible role of the JNUSU president during the entire episode of the PM’s visit to JNU.”

The SFI stands by the resolutions passed in the JNUSU council meeting held on November 19. The resolutions reflect the opinion of the overwhelming majority of the students of this campus regarding the incidents involving the prime minister’s visit to JNU. The SFI has demanded that the JNUSU president should come back to the campus at the earliest and respond to the criticisms made against her in the censure motion passed by the JNUSU council. While censuring the JNUSU president in the council meeting, however, the council did not decide to move an impeachment motion against her. A requisition for a University General Body Meeting (UGBM) to impeach the JNUSU president was submitted to the JNUSU signed by over a thousand students, on the basis of which an extraordinary UGBM has been notified for November 26. The signature campaign on this issue was initiated by the NSUI.

SFI SAYS NO TO IMPEACHMENT

The large number of signatures that have been submitted does reflect genuine anger within the student community against the role of the JNUSU president. However, the SFI feels that an impeachment motion against the JNUSU president on this issue is an exaggerated response to the incidents that have occurred in the campus over the past few days. The JNUSU president should be given an opportunity to explain her absence in the extraordinary UGBM and respond to the censure motion passed against her. If she fails to apologise and instead justifies the unacceptable position taken by the AISA, then the SFI would vote for the censure motion against the JNUSU president in the extraordinary UGBM. The SFI, however, does not support the impeachment motion against the JNUSU president.

Impeachment of a JNUSU president has never occurred in the history of the JNUSU. Although SFI considers the role of the JNUSU president in the present case to be utterly irresponsible and stands completely opposed to the adventurist and anarchist positions taken by the AISA, it does not think that it justifies impeachment of a democratically elected representative, just a month after the JNUSU elections. The SFI believes this would weaken the JNUSU, create deep divisions within the student community and strengthen the hands of the JNU administration in clamping down upon students’ rights. The SFI has appealed to the student community to rise above partisan concerns and recognise the damage, which would be done to the JNUSU as a whole, if its president gets impeached within a month of getting elected.

DEFEAT NSUI’s DEVIOUS GAME

It is the NSUI which is trying to play devious political games by taking advantage of the situation that has been created by the infantile activities of the ultra-Left. Only a month ago the NSUI polled 221 votes for the post of president in the JNUSU elections and finished fourth. A section of the NSUI voted for the AISA in the president’s post in order to defeat the SFI-AISF candidate. The NSUI resorted to such opportunistic tactics because their politics, which celebrates the pro-imperialist, neo-liberal policies of the Manmohan Singh government, was decisively rejected by an overwhelming majority of JNU students. Today, in an attempt to fish in troubled waters, they are trying to channelise the discontent arising out of the irresponsible disruption of the PM’s speech by the ultra-Left, into support for the policies of the PM and the Congress-led government. The progressive and politically conscious student community of JNU can never be fooled by such cynical manoeuvres.

The SFI has warned the NSUI that they should harbour no illusion that opposition by a large number of students to the disruption of the PM’s speech imply support for either their tomfoolery in the campus on the eve of the PM’s visit (putting up posters of “Jai Manmohan”) or the violence they have indulged in on that day, which has been unequivocally condemned by the JNUSU council. Their attempts to push through the agenda of the JNU administration by suggesting a “Model Code of Protest”, which they had included as a demand in the requisition for the extraordinary UGBM, also exposes their pro-administration character. Coming in tandem with the vice-chancellor’s communiqué on that day’s events that was distributed room-to-room in the hostels, which is nothing but a sinister attempt to interfere into students politics, NSUI’s pro-administration agenda needs to be taken very seriously. The JNUSU council has rightly passed a resolution saying: “The response of the student community towards the visit of any political dignitary in any university-level programme has always been and should be democratically decided by the student community. The council stands by this norm and warns the administration against the imposition of any ‘model’ code of protest”.

The SFI along with the AISF have appealed to the student community to rally behind the position adopted by the JNUSU on this issue and defeat the attempts to divide the student community, which will strengthen the hands of the JNU administration.