(Written in the February 1993 issue of Student Struggle)
The first conference of the All India Students’ Federation was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in Lucknow on August 12, 1936. With that a great chapter was opened in the history of India’s organised student movement.
But when we go searching for the earliest roots of the movement we will have to go much further back than that. Students who initially got themselves organised in Study Circles and debating societies attained enough maturity and awareness by the turn of the century to partake in the national movement. When in 1905, Lord Curson hacked Bengal into two; students in Bengal and outside came to the scene of Agitation. For the first time students in large numbers and collectively were participating in the national struggle. Still students in all nooks and comers of the country came into the mainstream of the national struggle only in 1919-1922. In response to the call by Gandhiji to rally in the Non- Cooperation movement, students, leaving classes in schools and colleges, took to the streets. A second wave of student advance was in 1927-28 in connection with the boycott of the Simon Commission. All this while there were also attempts to found an All India Organisation of students. In fact special conferences of students had been convened with the Congress Conference of 1927 and ’28 with this purpose. But the move did not come to fruition till the middle of the 30’s.
Students who leaped Zealously into the Civil Disobedience Movement led by the Congress at the beginning of the 30’s were frustrated with the failure of the movement. The execution of Bhagat Singh and comrades enraged them. They lost faith in the Congress means and methods of struggle for the country’s liberation. It was at this time that the brilliant advances scored by the Soviet Union through its first five year plan captured their attention and imagination. And they were also reading Press reports on the Meerut conspiracy case. Socialist ideas were already of growing appeal to them. When in 1935 the Congress Socialist party was formed, students made conscious studies of socialism, at the same time closely looking at the anti- fascist movements growing to the world over and the role of communists in them, beginning to think of and seek an alternative path. That culminated in 1936 in the formation of the AISF. The founding leaders of this movement were Viswanath Mukherji,. M. Basava Punniah, P.B. Ranganckar, Prem Narayan Bhargava, Probodh Chandra and others.
A very important question rose before this conference. Will the goal of student movement be realised with the attainment of freedom? Or is there any other aim beyond that? The conference found a definite answer to this question. More than attaining the country’s freedom, the social order should be changed. In the society built after freedom there should be no unemployment or illiteracy.
Still there stayed differences regarding how the society was to be re- organised. That was only natural too. For, the AISF was a common platform of students who were Gandhians socialists, as well as communists. These different ideologies and consciousnesses soon came to conflict. When at the AISF Conference in Madras there came a resolution greeting the new Society constitution the group led by the notorious anti communist, Minoo Masani opposed it.Still the organisation didn’t split. But a split became unavoidable in 1940 Meanwhile the same year Mohamad Ali jinnah floated the Muslim Students Federation.
Despite all these differences and splits there was no ebb of students involvement in the National struggle They delved deep into the movement and contributed glorious chapters to its history.
At one stage of the second World War the fascist powers unleashed an attack against Soviet Union. If the Soviet Union were to succumb to this attack, all national liberation struggles would be weakened: If the Soviets came out of the War victorious, they would gain might and momentum. With this perspective the A.I.S.F. declares that the war had become a people’s war thus linking India’s fight for freedom with the Soviet Victory of defeat in the War. But to the anti-imperialist passion of students the immediate aim was to send the British out of the country. So the AISF had to face bitter opposition from students. Further it brought about a big split in the movement. A section broke away to form the students’ Congress. Thus the united front of students disintegrated to disappear In fact after this the student’s movement Was not able to retrieve the prestige of Image It had during the first six years of the AISF. Today most of the student organisations are but the tributaries of political parties.
With the attainment of freedom an old question Rose again before the student community. What should be its aim now on? Those who had argued that the role of the student movement should end with the country’s freedom, now began to argue that it should make its contributions to the building up of free India. The Congress leadership,holding this view,called upon the student community to eschew the path of agitation and struggle. The very same leaders who had appealed to students to boycott schools and colleges now placed before them the new slogan that students should keep off politics. The struggle to reconstitute the society had become unwanted for them,once they were up the top layer of power. But students were not prepared to toe the line with this opinion.The Congress leadership, seeing this, decided to split the movement and enlist one fragment with them.Thus was born the National Students’ union of India.
Among those held fast to the view that after freedom the programme of the student movement was to strive and struggle for the reconstitution of the Social order, for a society free of unemployment, illiteracy and destitution there arise another question: How to realise this aim? One section said in co- operation with the Congress, the other said no, only opposing the congress.
The Congress went up the echelons of power raising big expectations in the masses; but before long those expectations, like a glass house, came down in shivers. Unemployment assumed monstrous dimensions and shape before the people. Illiteracy rose by leaps and bounds; education proved out of reach for the poor man’s sons and daughters. Life Not only did not improve, but grew unbearable. Still the difference on the question how could the reconstitution of Indian policy be accomplished stayed through the 50’s. The AISF leadership stood by the line of allying with the Congress. At the same time students, from their own life experiences saw that the policies, strategic as well as tactical, were to be resisted tooth and nail. It was at this juncture that reactionaries and communal forces broke into Universities, Colleges and Schools to rally students behind their interests. Thus was born the All India Vidiyarthi Parishad.
Those who advocated Co- operation with the congress in the restructuring of the social base adopted a national chauvanstic stand at the time of and on the question of India – China border conflicts.The AISF leadership neither condemn the arrests of student leaders against the background of the confrontation nor demand their immediate release from behind the bars.Further they were gearing up to wreck the democratic functioning of the organization. In such a situation in seven states student organisations came up closing accounts with the reactionary leadership of the AISF In Bengal BPSF, Andhra APSF, Punjab PSU and Kerala KSF. These federations took upon themselves the task of governing threads with the post independence student movement organising a real and genuine movement in free India.
By the mid sixties the economic crisis worsened and popular discontent knew no bounds. This discontent had its reflection in the fourth general elections in 1967. For the first time since independence congress rule fell in many states and its majority at the centre dwindled. These objective conditions that reflected the peoples discontent created the need to give a new fresh orientation to student movement. The leaders of the like minded organizations in the States reacted favourably. In 1970 they met in Calcutta and resolved to form the students federation of India. 14 member preparatory committee was set up for the ground work for the foundation of the organization with Biman Basu as convener. The commitment in October the same year and decided to hold the first Conference of the SFI in Thiruvananthapuram. Accordingly the conference was held from 26 Dec. to 30th Dec., 1970. It was inaugurated by Com. A.K. Gopalan. The conference was attended by 624 delegates and 127 observers and it elected a 29 central executive committee with the C.Bhaskaran as president and Biman Basu general secretary. The conference concluded with the biggest students’ rally Kerala had seen.