Students on India’s college campuses are increasingly using music as a potent tool for protest. The latest of these came from Mumbai University’s Ambedkar Students’ Association (ASA).
The students recently presented a song (video above) questioning the decisions made by Vice-Chancellor Sanjay Deshmujh. The one-minute number is a satirical take on a popular Marathi song, Sonu Tuja Mazyavar Bharosa Nay Ka and is titled Mr Vice Chancellor, don’t you trust yourself?
The song protests against the delay in publishing examination results by over 60 days, as well as the last-minute decision to switch to online assessments despite protests from professors.
Sachin Manwadkar, a student associated with ASA, told The Indian Express, “The university delaying our results has affected many students, especially those seeking admissions in other states or even abroad. Thousands of students will have to drop a year because the university has failed us...We wanted to express this to the administration more effectively through a song.”
This is what the song says (in translation from the Marathi:
“Mumbai University’s defamation went viral (viral)
The chaos around the results is spinning our heads round (round)
Why are the results taking so much time? (time)
Now, speak up about the resultsVC, Vice Chancellor, don’t you trust yourself?
Why are the professors being blamed? (blamed)
Were they consulted about going online? (online)
Why are the students suffering a loss? (loss)Now, speak up about the results
Vice Chancellor, don’t you trust yourself?Vice Chancellor’s tweets are awesome (awesome)
In a helicopter, he left us (left us)
Now, please stop your voyaging (voyaging)
Governor’s decision was brilliant (brilliant)Now, speak up about the results
VC, Vice Chancellor, don’t you trust yourself?”
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