Jadavpur University Students on Friday continued for the second day their protest against the West Bengal government’s decision to dissolve the students unions and replace it with a student council, ANI reported. The protesting students had started a sit-in demonstration on Thursday, and barred the vice-chancellor, registrar and other officials from leaving the administration building, The Indian Express reported.
The Mamata Banerjee-led government’s decision, which was announced in June, is an effort to make the students union “apolitical”. It proposes to replace student unions with a council, modelled on the St Xavier’s College system, where a teacher is empowered to oversee the union funds.
“The state government has issued the order and being a state university we have to accept it,” said Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Prof Suranjan Das. “The students must understand that we have to abide by it. There can be various opinions regarding the order but there are democratic ways to convey it.”
“We openly reject the state government’s order to turn the students’ union into a students’ council,” first-year postgraduate student of the Film Studies department, Sounak Mukhopadhyay told The Indian Express. “We had placed our demand before the executive council that it must recognise the order as undemocratic and unacceptable. Unless the authorities accept our demands, we will not lift our agitation.”
There are three student unions at the Jadavpur University.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!