Student Protests: No age for dissent!
A Think Article
The Constitution of India, through article 19 (1) (a) and (b), bestows on its citizens the right to free speech and to assemble peacefully without arms. Recently, a picture that went viral captured a girl, while protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, rose to police officers lathi-charge on her fellow protester. The agitations started taking place initially in Delhi, and eventually all across India, showing that students are exercising their right to stand up against unprecedented and barbaric police action. While the verdict on the constitutionality of the Act will be ruled by the apex court, until then these students are standing up for what they believe is right. But, in an extraordinary Indian history, this isn’t the first time that students or youth have come on the streets to protest. Hence, this article features student movements that have taken place in India since its independence i.e. 1947.
The roots of student movements in India can be traced back to the formation of the Academic Association nearly 200 years ago in 1828’s undivided Bengal’s Hindu College. The association was established under the guidance of a teacher and reformer Henry Louis Vivian Derozio. In 1905, the students of Eden College in Calcutta (now Kolkata) burned the, then viceroy, Lord Curzon’s effigy to protest against the partition of Bengal. That can now be regarded as one of the first documented instances of student protest. 15 years later, the first students’ strike of undivided India took place in Lahore, at King Edward Medical College, against academic discrimination between Indian and English pupils. In addition, the All India Student Congress Federation (AISCF) was an active organization during the independence struggle and played a substantial role in the inner workings of the Indian National Congress. Post-independence, the federation split to form the student wing of the same.
Post-independence, the refugee movement of 1949 arose as large scale refugees influx into India. The obvious problem of shortage of resources orchestrated the situation into a management disaster. The processions of refugees strung from Sealdah station to Calcutta shed light on their predicament and the situation demanded a solution. However, refugee protests met with lathi-charge and tear gas by the police which they used to disperse the ‘rebellious’ refugees. After witnessing the violence committed by the police, students joined refugees in their protests. They organized strikes and supported the demand of the refugees. These rallies were faced with violent forces yet again, in light of which students took up bricks in defiance. A total of six deaths were recorded in this clash, amongst which four were students. In the following days, five more students were killed in police firings, and many were injured. Their peers stood in solidarity to help in whichever way they could, be it by donating blood or by fulfilling other needs. The movement for the refugees and their humane treatment soon became a student-led initiative.
Later, in 1956, the protests took place at Lucknow University demanding the suspension of the vice-chancellor. The student started protesting against the university’s decision to leave the student’s union out of the committee which would draft the constitution of the university. 1956 also saw the anti-merger movement emerging against the proposal by the governments of the state of Bengal and Bihar to unite both the states. This movement saw strong participation from the students in Bengal. As a result, the proposal was withdrawn following a by-election on the issue, which was in favor of the anti-merger movement.
The Republic Yuvak Sangatan (RPI) of 1961 was the first Dalit student movement in India, formed to fight casteism, provide protection to scheduled castes and for the surveillance of the caste-related atrocities. Though it claims to be an all-India body, another movement founded by Ambedkar was the All India Scheduled Caste Students Federation. Vidharaba Republican Students Federation was created with the main objective to follow the path initiated by lord Buddha and later, adopted by Ambedkar. With the emergence of VRSF, various small organized units of students have merged with it. VRSF has been actively involved in college and university union elections as well as organizing rallies and dharnas against social discrimination. The Official Languages Act of 1963, which made Hindi an official language, alongside English, faced opposition from a large number of students in Tamil Nadu, where the fight against Hindi had been ongoing for decades. Despite protests by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in parliament a law was passed, but Jawaharlal Nehru assured that English would still continue to be an official language. The three-language formula post-Nehru’s death saw self-immolations of around seventy students.
The 70s saw an unsurprisingly high number of protests as this was the decade of the infamous national emergency (1975–77). During 1973, social unrest came through the repressive organs of the state itself. During the Lucknow mutiny, members of the para-military Provincial Armed Constabulary rebelled against their inadequate pay and miserable service conditions by joining the ranks of student protestors. Alongside this, the famous Nav-Nirman student movement in Gujarat proved to be one of the most successful student agitations as it led to the dissolution of a corrupt state government. A movement that started against a 20% hike in the hostel food fees eventually became the first successful anti-corruption movement. This was also the movement that saw Narendra Damordardas Modi, a 24-year-old member of the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS), play a significant role in the organization.
In 1974, the Bihar student movement took place. The student under the guidance of ‘Loknayak’ Jayprakash Narayan set on to fight corruption. Narayan was impressed by the organizational skills and political abilities of the president of Patna University’s student union, 26-year-old Lalu Prasad Yadav. Eventually, Narayan asked the students to give up one year of their studies and take part in a movement dubbed as ‘Total Revolution’ or ‘Sampurna Kranti’. Subsequently, student organizations and anti-Congress parties from Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Bangalore, and more states came together to partake in the movement.
Another successful student movement was the Assam student movement of 1979. The movement, led by All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and All Assam Ganga Sangram Parishad, compelled the government to identify and expel illegal immigrants from Bangladesh after the liberation war, 1971. This movement officially ended on 15th August 1985, after coming to a memorandum of understanding between the state and the Government of India, known as the Assam Accord of 1985.
The next major protest took place in 1990 regarding the publication of the Mandal Commission report. The report recommended a 27% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in public universities and government jobs. The protests which were started by students of St. Stephen College, Delhi, and Delhi School of Economics were aimed at sending authorities the message that financial status, not caste, should determine reservations. Another major protest against reservation took place in 2006 when the government decided to put into effect reservations in central and private higher education institutions as well. This was seen as a political move that disregarded merit and furthered vote bank opportunism.
An incident that shook the nation to its core was the Nirbhaya rape case. People all over the country took to the streets to show solidarity and stand up for women’s rights. The movement also created a stir on social media, as well as within the government. Effectively, it caused the center to put in place various measures for the safety of girls and women, and also amend the rape laws.
At every instance, Indians have shown that under no circumstances will they allow their voices to be silenced. One such case was during the Anti-Sri Lanka protests of 2013 in Chennai. Numerous citizens rose for the Tamilians, who were the victims of war crimes by the Sri-Lankan army, to urge the Indian Government to vote for the UN Resolution proposing an investigation into the alleged crimes. As a result of the protest, 500 students agitating in front of Raj Bhavan in Chennai were arrested.
Another movement that left a mark was the Hol Kolorob movement at the Jadavpur University of West Bengal in 2014. The demonstrations took place to demand that the university investigate the molestation of a female student on campus, and when some students surrounded him to urge him to take action, then vice-chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti called the police. The protests quickly snowballed into police brutality. As chaos ensued, students faced violence at the hands of the police. Officially, the Calcutta Police contends that they used ‘minimum lawful force,’ which was required to safely escort the Vice-Chancellor. This movement was significant in many ways because it united students all across the country as rallies began in Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad, to name a few. This very protest also made outstanding use of social media and the internet. In addition, it was filled with cultural impressions as students resorted to the usage of art, music, song, and dance in order to convey their message. Jadavpur University witnessed another protest in 2015. The students agitated for the VC to resign and the controversy peaked when it came to light that he had overlooked an on-campus molestation case. It was a large-scale demonstration which included students refusing to take their degrees at the convocation, and burning effigies of the Vice-Chancellor. The protest culminated into a success when the Vice-Chancellor resigned after four months.
Another protest geared towards fighting sexism on campuses took place in 2015, when female students of the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, spoke up to eliminate the unfair curfew timings imposed on them. #Breakthecurfew became the anthem as the movement gained momentum and students did not back down until their hostel timings were changed. Also in 2015, a significant protest began in opposition to the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), as he lacked the required credentials and was a right-wing hardliner. Renowned directors returned their national awards, and there were several police clashes as well. While classes resumed after 150 days of protest, the movement is especially important in its symbolism as an attempt to curb the saffronisation of Indian education. Later in the same year, one of the most powerful, women-centric protests was witnessed in Delhi. Two students began a movement titled #PinjraTod aimed at doing away with the harsh curfews and conservative restrictions imposed on female students by hostels. This movement successfully united students across the nation against sexist impositions. Another protest-oriented towards university authorities took place at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in 2015 when a student died due to on-campus medical negligence. Upon filing RTIs, students found that the University had faulty appointments and was understaffed, amongst other discrepancies. In view of all these developments, the agitations against the University garnered national attention and #JusticeforProsenjit became the rallying cry.
In 2016, after the suicide of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit scholar at Hyderabad University, five Dalit students were given remote access to the campus because they allegedly assaulted an ABVP leader during a protest for Vemula’s sake. Students all across the country stood in support of the scholars and asked for justice for Rohith Vemula.
A movement that garnered international attention and also captured large scale media coverage was a protest that took place at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, in 2016. A peaceful poetry reading on the death anniversary of terrorist Afzal Guru aimed to protest against capital punishment, soon turned into a political storm. The demonstrations created a very different kind of student protest as people all over the nation stood up for their freedom of speech. The New York Times described it as the ‘free speech tensions’ that led to many waking up to protect their rights. When JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested as per the colonial-era law of sedition, it united the entire nation. The protests and arrests ignited debates on important agendas such as sedition, freedom of speech, secularism, and inequality. In addition, the mistreatment of students by the police only added fuel to the fire. Kanhaiya Kumar became the icon of the movement, and these agitations built the road to further emphasis on freedom of speech. In 2017, when the Supreme Court placed a ban on the traditional bull-taming sport of Jallikatu in Tamil Nadu, students protested against it because they believed it as an essential part of their cultural identity. When the police attempted to evict the protestors, violence ensued. As two lakh people gathered in support of the movement, the Tamil Nadu government went on to pass a bill that legalized Jallikattu.
It was Thomas Jefferson who said: “ When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty.” While deciding between right and wrong from a legal standpoint is the duty of the courts, students across India have shown us that they are willing to rise for what they believe in. Voicing your opinion, exercising your rights, and standing up against injustice is the truest element of a democracy, and something Indian students are not, and should not be afraid of showcasing.
The objective of a ‘Think Article’ is to bring knowledge about policies in the sphere, in context to the youth of India and, if possible, influencing the policy process. The article has no motivation to pass any political judgments.
