Sooraj Elamon
The history of educational spaces in Delhi is incomplete without mentioning the history of radical struggles led by SFI to protect campus democracy and to establish progressive ethos in academic spaces. In universities across the state, SFI has fought for free and fair elections, for better and inclusive curriculum for the students and against repressive and regressive administrative policies. SFI Delhi’s history is the history of the incarcerated activists who fought the Emergency, and that of a JNU Students’ Union that forced Indira Gandhi to resign from the post of Chancellor of JNU under the leadership of Com. Sitaram Yechury. Today, 50 years since then, SFI activists are still fighting the larger battle to protect our campuses from the communal and corporate forces that are hell-bent on making lives miserable for the student community. With the BJP-led Central Government and newly elected State Government, the fascist RSS finds it an opportunity to take over our universities, and SFI is resisting it with all its might. Our activists are having to go through proctorial enquiries, suspensions and FIRs on a regular basis, but the organisation continues to grow stronger and more powerful with the unwavering courage and will of its cadre base. This is an account of the struggles to protect campus democracy in Dr. BR Ambedkar University Delhi, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Delhi University over the past one year.
The Revolutionary Struggle for Democracy in AUD
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) is a state university in Delhi and the only one where student union elections take place in which student organisations compete with each other. The Kashmere Gate campus, which is the largest campus in AUD, has been a bastion of SFI since 2018. In March 2025, elections were conducted after a long gap of six years as a result of a major movement led by SFI inside the campus demanding elections. This election result was also significant since this was happening immediately after the BJP takeover in the Delhi Assembly. SFI emerged with an historic victory in these elections winning 24 councillor seats out of a total of 44. The performance of other organisations saw the AISA winning 6 seats and ABVP an embarrassing 3, while independent candidates winning 11. Along with retaining its traditional base in the Kashmere Gate campus student council, SFI also won the Karampura campus student council for the first time and opened accounts in the Lodhi and Qutub campuses in AUD (both the campuses do not have independent student councils).
The massive electoral victory of SFI across all four campuses invited strong repressive reactions from the university administration and on the very day of the election results, the university decided to suspend three prominent leaders of SFI- comrades Nadia, Anan, and Harsh- from the university for an entire year. Nadia is a state committee member of SFI, and has been a student of AUD Kashmere Gate campus for over 4 years. Anan and Harsh are two student leaders who had established the Karampura Campus organising committee of SFI and had led the organisation to its first electoral victory in the student council elections. These students coming from Dalit-Muslim and working class families, are also recipients of several scholarships, and long-time experienced student activists, who have been around students taking up student issues on a regular basis. The reason for the suspensions was that they “tarnished the image of the university” as they had brought out an incident of ragging inside the campus, taking forward SFI’s zero tolerance towards ragging stance that is taken seriously across the country.
The suspensions were outright acts of brutal revenge from the side of the BJP-affiliated administration for the election victories as none of the clauses cited for the absurd suspensions were relevant. ‘Interestingly’, the students who SFI had called out for ragging a girl student were also suspended, only to be revoked after two weeks, while the SFI activists whose crime was to call out ragging were still suspended without even a proper enquiry. The elected student council led by SFI along with the SFI unit had successfully carried forward several protests witnessing mass participation of students within the campus to bring the administration accountable. The administration, instead of responding to the genuine concerns of the students, responded by banning student protests near administration offices and barricading most of the campus spaces in an attempt to restrict movement of the students.
This prompted SFI to announce an indefinite sit-in within campus along with a relay hunger strike during the scorching heat of April. The third day of the sit-in, Com. Sameer, the unit president of SFI AUD who was sitting on hunger strike, collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration due to the heat. The administration still refused to budge prompting students to instantly call for a flash protest which was brutally crushed by Delhi Police and Security Guards. Students were brutally assaulted and dragged on the road, while the Registrar nearly ran over a student in his car while trying to escape. This was just the beginning of the brutality that was to be unleashed on the protesting students from then onwards. The university had become a warzone.
The administration again unleashed their wrath by suspending five more students, two of whom were elected office-bearers of the student council. The five suspended students were Com. Sharanya (AUDKG-SC Treasurer), Com. Shubhojeet (AUDKG-SC CC member and former Treasurer), Com. Shefali (Unit Secretary, SFI AUD KG), Com. Ajay, and Com. Keerthana. Alongside being the leading student activists in AUD, all five of them are amongst the toppers in their classes. Comrades Ajay and Keerthana were also in their final semester in their Masters course which they had completed with a GPA of more than 8, and were both relieved from the SFI unit. The suspension came at a point where their course completion was at stake, which could dangerously affect their further academic pursuit.
The indefinite sit-in and relay hunger strike continued inside campus with more rigour. On 15th April, the three suspensions of comrades Nadia, Anan, and Harsh was revoked following the verdict of the Delhi High Court where the university administration was forced to admit its wrongdoings. However, the five new suspensions remained, and the student council gave a protest call which was joined by hundreds of students. A one-day strike was called on 21st April, witnessing one of the largest student strikes in AUD where students had boycotted the majority of classes.
The movement continued consistently for over 40 days, and finally on the 16th of May, after a massive protest call inside the campus which was announced as the final ultimatum to the administration, the suspension was forced to be withdrawn. All the five students are now allowed to sit for their examinations and continue with their academics. The 40 days of struggle serves as proof that organized and united student struggle can never be defeated. SFI AUD and the student councils will however continue the fight until the campus situation is brought back to normalcy. There are FIRs filed against our activists which too will be fought politically and legally. The SFI-led student councils in AUD KG and AUD KP and its councillor in Lodhi Road campus, has been actively addressing all issues affecting the student community whether it is infrastructural, or academic, and are determined to ensure that the progressive culture of AUD is not tampered with anymore and democratic spaces are strengthened in the university.
The Relentless Witch Hunting of Activists in Jamia Millia Islamia and the Suspension of Com. Sakhi
Jamia Millia Islamia is a central university that has witnessed radical student movements in the past including militant movements against the CAA-NRC. Student elections have been banned here since 2006. Despite this, SFI has significantly increased its membership over the past few years and has been a regular force inside the campus taking up and intervening in all major student issues. On 9th February 2025, the university administration released a directive prohibiting organizing protests, gatherings, or sit-ins on campus, declaring such activities illegal. Another notice was also released restricting protests, meetings, and slogans against constitutional dignitaries. As a response to these directives, a mass indefinite sit-in of students was called outside the university canteen. The university administration immediately deployed guards armed with laathis around the protest premises as an intimidation tactic, along with shutting down all the lights at night. Within three days after the sit-in call, the unit president of SFI JMI Com. Sakhi was suspended along with 16 other students. Com. Sakhi is a popular personality in the campus both as an activist and as a student in their class of BA (Hons) Sociology. Sakhi, a queer student leader, was just months away from their final semester examination and CUET PG examinations. The SFI unit bravely fought and continued the protests inside the university against the unjust suspensions, while Sakhi fought it bravely from outside, while parallelly ensuring their studies are not affected. A month-long struggle saw the suspensions finally being revoked. However, progressive student voices continue to be put down in JMI and the struggle to re-establish student union elections and against the undemocratic directives is to continue strongly. SFI activists are constantly under surveillance and many face continuous harassment and pressure from their professors and supervisors to leave activism. SFI successfully conducted their unit conference after the revocation of the suspensions despite heavy police crackdowns at the conference site which was outside university premises. Com. Sakhi is today the Unit Secretary, and Com. Atikur who fought the battle inside is the Unit President of SFI Jamia Millia Islamia.
The Electoral Rise in Delhi University, Challenging the Regressive Money-Muscle Model
The University of Delhi is one the largest universities in India, and the university Student Union elections are considered to be one of the largest such elections, with an electorate of 1.5 lakh students where only around 40,000 students come to vote due to the riotous nature of the electoral process charged with regressive politics rooted in caste and region. The elections are dominated by ABVP and NSUI and their electoral successes are ‘bought’ with cash, visible through the immense amount of money spent by candidates of these two organisations. It is money that controls the elections, and money-bought muscle power that takes it forward, followed by elite caste-politics. Free alcohol and movie tickets are passed around, leaving no space for debate over politics on student issues. Most of the voters are UG students, a major portion of them first years who are thrown into the election fizz before they get the opportunity to learn and realize what the larger political scenario is. Most of the PG students, and the PhD students do not have voting rights. Majority of the women’s colleges under DU are also disenfranchised, making the election a highly patriarchal and misogynistic spectacle. Despite the unfavourable conditions, in the previous DUSU elections in 2024, SFI contested for the posts of General Secretary and Joint Secretary as part of the United Left panel, with our candidates securing around 9000 and 6000 votes respectively for these two posts. SFI candidate also won the post of Vice-President in Ramjas College. In the month of December 2024, SFI candidate won the post of the university ICC representative, a landmark victory at the university-level for SFI in the university. These numbers reflect the rampant growth of SFI’s influence in Delhi University, and also highlight the changing tides among the common student community who want to resist money-muscle politics and support the progressive student movement.
SFI in Delhi is continuously fighting not just the suppression and surveillance by the University administrations but also the intimidation and interference by the Delhi Police, to uphold the legacy of Study and Struggle in our campuses. The comrades of SFI Delhi pave the way forward with their bravery and discipline, to carve a future that echoes the principles of Independence, Democracy and Socialism.