Shuvajit Sarkar
Students are being attacked all over the country for raising their voices against the illnesses of the society and trying to provide a cure to social crises. ‘Fees Must Fall’ was a historic students-led movement which united the Indian student community, spreading like wildfire beyond campus walls. This gained immense momentum, making the central government realise that it was simply beyond their control, leading them to unleash an attack on JNU students and bringing in the citizenship question — all to divert the attention of the public and somehow dismiss the students’ movement. We mustn’t forget that this was also a step in BJP’s aim to make India a ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
The second freedom struggle of our country has begun against the unconstitutional NRC, NPR, and CAA and “Azadi” is the slogan of the movement. The youth and students are the face of this movement, which has united people from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Kutch to Manipur. Amidst this turmoil, in the state of Bengal, students’ union elections were held in two notable universities where SFI emerged victorious. One must realise that this took place in a state where elections have become irregular, despite its history of having been a hub of Left politics and and even a guideline-setter for progressives across the country.
In 2013, Sudipto Gupta, SFI’s leader in Bengal was murdered by Mamata Banerjee’s police at a protest rally demanding students’ union elections in West Bengal’s campuses. In 2017, the government brought in a Student Council model wherein the entire idea of students’ elections was altered and negated. Following this, students’ movements demanding union elections garnered pace in the state and SFI played a major role in the movement, with the slogan, “Council Noy Union Chai” (We want Union, not Council).
In the recent students’ union elections held at Presidency University and the Arts Faculty Students’ Union (AFSU) of Jadavpur University, SFI emerged victorious.
Last time the elections were held in 2017, SFI had won at AFSU and had ended up with good results at Presidency University. The victory in Presidency came after a span of nine years and this happened by winning the support of around 60% of the student community. In AFSU of Jadavpur, SFI won by a margin of 1200 votes, from a margin of around 350 votes in the last election — a four time increase in the margin.
At AFSU, it was a difficult situation because SFI was already leading the union here. A rather opportunist grand alliance against SFI had come up this time, which consisted of ‘independent’ and ultra-Left forces. ABVP and TMCP too had contested this time, bringing in their monetary and muscle power, in an attempt to oust SFI. However, no conspiracy or misuse of power could make an entry into the ballot boxes and as always Jadavpur showed that it is truly a democratic space.
In 2019, BJP members led by Union Minister Babul Supriyo had unleashed absolute havoc at Jadavpur — vandalising the AFSU Union Room, attacking students etc. Through their election mandate, the students of this university resisted such fascists and have shown that Bengal is the land of Tagore and Nazrul. Students here have chosen SFI to be the force against fascists, by rejecting the hotchpotch alliance of ‘independents’ and ultra Left forces, called the ‘Democratic Student Alternative’. At the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (FETSU) and the Science Faculty Students’ Union (SFSU) the ‘independent’ forces emerged victorious, but SFI’s performance did see an improvement despite the tough situation. ABVP and TMCP could not even penetrate these two places, despite having allocated huge funds for campaigning.
Newsclick.in reported, “The JU elections were significant for the university as it was the first time that the RSS-backed students organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) fielded candidates to all nine posts of office bearers in the engineering and science faculties. However, despite reportedly spending a massive sum of Rs. 78 lakh on campaigning in the days leading up to the elections, the right-wing organisation failed to secure a single seat”.
A report on News 18 stated, “Over the years, the ABVP has been trying to gain a foothold in the Jadavpur University and other campuses in Kolkata against the Left-leaning student unions for their belief in ‘Azadi’. They saw this as an opportunity to fill the ‘nationalist vacuum’ and to cultivate those who were against the Left unions, but got no platform to raise their voice against these organisations.”
At Presidency University, SFI has brought all the general students of the campus together on many occasions and organised several movements for their basic needs — be it proper admission tests, library facilities, infrastructure related matters, hostel issues, placement cell matters, and for a gender sensitized campus. SFI has organized regular programmes to sensitize the campus on these matters. SFI has led the fight to secure voting rights for MPhil students, which was an important demand of the organisation way back in 2017 too, when they stepped in as office bearers of the Arts Faculty Students’ Union. SFI has also launched an innovative ‘Yes Present’ campaign.
Earlier unions led by the Independent Consolidation (IC) had stayed quite isolated from the lives and issues of general students. The 2017 IC-led union was dissolved in 2018 after the completion of a one-year term. Since then, the campus was union-less and SFI as an organisation had stood with students in those difficult times.
SFI has also been leading a struggle for people who identify themselves to be outside the gender binary, in several campuses in the city. At Presidency, the organisation had put together several programmes with regards to this pressing issue. The installation of gender neutral toilets was one of the leading demands of SFI’s PUSU election campaign of 2019. New organisations sprang up under the garb of ‘alternative’ politics, whose sole aim was to dismantle SFI, which naturally garnered the support of fascist, semi-fascist groupings. Those sympathetic to the ABVP-TMCP duo supported the IC, alongwith another alternative group, which changes its name every year, and has had links with the IC.
Initially, AISF and AISA too had fielded their candidates for the Central Panel, however, recognising that SFI was the face of progressive Left politics on campus, the organisation communicated with them, following which we received their support. They soon withdrew their candidature, realising the importance of a unity of Left-wing forces. In other places where we have secular democratic forces, the organisation has formed alliances with such forces to oust the Trinamool and BJP.
SFI has consistently fought for the day-to-day issues of general students – canteen and classroom facilities, student-faculty ratio, placement cell issues, hostel issues matters, providing an accommodative socio-cultural atmosphere within campuses, etc. Girls’ Common Secretary used to be a post which the organisation had not won in the history of Presidency Students Elections — but this time, victory was SFI’s.
SFI won the immense support of students of two premier campuses of Kolkata, because of their consistent work for students’ betterment. The organisation emerged the sole alternative to resist fascist forces in students’ minds, as they walked towards the ballot box. SFI activists believe that “the victory at Presidency will embolden us to perform better in campus polls elsewhere.” These victories indicate that wherever there exists a democratic setup, general students will always be with SFI. This is despite TMCP’s capture of West Bengal’s student unions post 2011 Assembly elections.
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