Dr. Nitheesh Narayanan
The phrase “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” belongs to Nelson Mandela. We often see these words inscribed on the walls of educational institutions. The statement carries an implicit message: the world must change. This change does not happen naturally—it involves struggle. And education, as Mandela asserts, is the most potent weapon in that struggle. In other words, education is not merely a tool for personal advancement but an instrument to build a better world. Unfortunately, it is precisely this emancipatory potential of education that our ruling class fears and actively seeks to suppress.
Finally, the Supreme Court has overturned the two-year suspension of Ramadas Prini Sivanandan, a PhD scholar at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. This verdict marks the end of a determined and multifaceted yearlong battle. However, the reasons behind Ramadas’ suspension and the events of the past year must not be forgotten. His story exposes how campuses have been transformed into prisons for democratic rights.
Ramadas, a native of Wayanad district in Kerala, is a first-generation learner from a Dalit family pursuing higher education. His father had no formal education beyond primary school, and his mother could not study beyond the 10th grade. Yet, Ramadas overcame these barriers to complete his post-graduation at TISS, Mumbai—one of India’s premier institutions—and secured admission for a PhD. Imagine the struggles he must have endured to journey from a village in Wayanad to a prestigious metropolitan campus. One would assume that such a student would be celebrated wherever he goes, and that the institution would ensure he completes his education. After all, it is when such students can freely enter without discrimination that an educational institution truly becomes the pillar of a democratic society.
Ramdas’ research focused on plantation workers—a study that, if completed, would have shed light on one of the most marginalized sections of our society. It could have been a vital contribution toward improving their lives. When TISS expelled Ramadas, it was not just a student they were silencing—it is the history and struggles of an entire community that rarely finds space in academic discourse.
Yet, for over a year, Ramadas was barred from entering his campus. Since he had been suspended for two years, he was not supposed to return for another year—and even then, there was no guarantee he would be allowed to complete his research. In short, a young man who overcame socioeconomic deprivation through sheer willpower and Kerala’s robust public education system was being forced to abandon his PhD midway and leave one of India’s top campuses. Ramdas’ research focused on plantation workers—a study that, if completed, would have shed light on one of the most marginalized sections of our society. It could have been a vital contribution toward improving their lives. When TISS expelled Ramadas, it was not just a student they were silencing—it is the history and struggles of an entire community that rarely finds space in academic discourse.
What Was Ramdas’ Crime?
In one sentence: He asked questions. Ramadas, an organizer of the Progressive Students’ Forum (PSF) at TISS campus and a member of the SFI Central Executive Committee, was not one to meekly submit to prison bars and live in obedience like a caged bird. PSF is a progressive student organization that has been functioning on the TISS campus for years. It operates within the framework of TISS’s norms and the rights guaranteed by Indian constitution to every citizen. PSF have remained a staunch the voice of secularism, scientific thinking, and democratic discussions on the campus.
Two years ago, the control of the TISS campus largely came under the central government. This move by the Sangh Parivar was part of the Modi government’s broader agenda of centralizing education, aiming to bring institutions like TISS under their control. They also began efforts to silence all dissenting voices on campus opposing the Sangh-controlled central government and its communal-corporate agenda.
PSF itself was temporarily banned during this period. However, after massive protests erupted both inside and outside the campus, the authorities were forced to revoke the ban order to save face. Yet, in retaliation, they fabricated a series of false charges against Ramadas, one of PSF’s leading activists. The TISS campus has now become one of the laboratories for fascistic tactics—intimidating students into silence.
The reasons given for suspending Ramadas are absurd. They expose how this communal-corporate regime is transforming campuses in our country into spaces where democracy has no place. Ram Ke Naam, Anand Patwardhan’s documentary, is often described as the voice of Indian secularism. One of the charges against Ramadas is that he wrote a Facebook post encouraging students to watch it—even though the same documentary had been screened on campus before without objection. But back then, TISS authorities were not subservient to the Sangh Parivar.
Ironically, the Mumbai high court approved the decision of the TISS administration. The court’s verdict argued that a student receiving a government fellowship has no right to protest against that same government. This logic implies that fellowships are tools to silence dissent. In reality, fellowships are awarded based on academic merit and the socioeconomic challenges a student faces. They are both a right of the student and a responsibility of the society they belong to—not a leash for the state to control them or revoke their democratic rights. However, contemporary India is seeing the opposite trend.
Another allegation against Ramadas was that he “defamed” TISS. Last year January, sixteen student organizations, including SFI, organized a peaceful Parliament March in Delhi. Ramadas participated as a PSF representative and addressed the gathering. The march which raised the slogan—”Save India, Save Education”— was entirely non-violent. Its core demands were universal access to quality education and the protection of democracy on campuses. Yet, TISS authorities labelled Ramadas’ actions as “anti-national”—not as indiscipline, but as “anti-national.” Even thinking, questioning, and exercising constitutionally guaranteed rights have now become “anti-national.” His another ‘crime’ was organising Bhagat Singh memorial lectures!
The TISS administration failed to present any substantial evidence in the Supreme Court to support their claims against Ramadas. Now, after being denied access to libraries, academic engagements, and other essential facilities necessary for a research scholar to pursue his studies for over a year, Ramadas has returned to his campus.
Ramadas Is Not Alone
Recently, three SFI activists—Anan, Nadia, and Harsh—were suspended from Delhi’s Ambedkar University for a year because they exposed a ragging incident to the public. This punitive action came right after SFI’s spectacular victory in the university elections which was held after five years. The suspended activists were accused of “tarnishing the institution’s reputation.” These three students were taken back following a series of protests and a verdict from the Delhi high court which overturned the suspension order, but, most ironically, five more SFI activists- Ajay, Keerthana, Sharanya, Shefali and Shubhojeet were suspended for participating in these protests. Three months ago, Jamia Millia Islamia suspended 17 students, including SFI unit president Sakhi, for protesting against the curtailment of democratic rights. Banaras Hindu University suspended 14 students for joining protests against the sexual assault of an IIT student. In IIT Guwahati, two researchers faced disciplinary action for supporting a former professor who exposed corruption and for writing about it on social media.
Campuses as Graveyards of Democracy
The current regime is systematically converting our educational institutions into graveyards of free thought, democratic discourse, and open debate. Campuses are being transformed into spaces where all civil liberties are being revoked. Recent times have witnessed numerous instances where academic platforms in universities are being exploited to propagate narrow nationalism, communal ideologies, and distorted history. Simultaneously, any topic that unsettles the Sangh Parivar is brutally suppressed with an iron fist. The forced resignation of Sabysachi Das, a professor at Ashoka University, for writing an academic paper on the challenges facing Indian democracy, is a glaring example. Even webinars on Palestine have been banned across multiple campuses. Meanwhile, during this same period, an NIT Calicut faculty member who glorified Godse in the name of Gandhi’s assassination was rewarded with a promotion to the post of Dean.
Efforts to transform universities into spaces that produce only research aligning with the extremist Hindutva agenda of establishing a theocratic state must be vigorously resisted. Our universities are being transformed into zones where all constitutional rights are revoked. The solidarity protests for Ramadas were thus not just about him—they are battles against a cowardly establishment that seeks to turn campuses into prisons and outlaw thinking minds. That struggle continues!
Nitheesh Narayanan is Vice-President of SFI, and a researcher at the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research