Shuvajit Sarkar
Campuses are spaces where young minds are nurtured with the values of liberty, equality, justice, and democracy. In a diverse country like India, which is regarded as the ‘largest parliamentary democracy in the world’, the youth have always played a cardinal role in building and safeguarding democratic ideals. From the struggles against the colonial powers in the twentieth century to contemporary movements against authoritarianism, student communities have often been at the forefront of social and political transformations. The Students’ Unions across the globe have long acted as platforms that amplify student voices and ensure representation of the student community in academic and administrative decisions. In West Bengal rather undivided Bengal, this tradition is rich and deep-rooted. From various records and historical evidence we get to know that it was in Bengal’s Surendranath College where the first Students’ Union was formed in the early twentieth century. The Union was formed by the students there around 1919. The students of Kolkata’s Surendranath College had shown a path to the entire student community of the subcontinent and even beyond. This pioneering step soon influenced other colleges and universities in Kolkata and across Bengal, ultimately inspiring similar movements across India. Bengal has always been a hotbed of student protests. It is that soil where yesterday’s student leaders emerged as tomorrow’s national figures. From the participation in the freedom movement to the Naxalite uprising and the anti-Emergency agitation, Bengal’s student politics has witnessed various ideological currents and radical transformations. Regular students’ union elections once formed an essential part of campus culture in the state. Campuses were democratic laboratories where students debated, organized, protested, and exercised leadership. These elections were not just symbolic but were real processes where governance was learnt through experience.
The democratic fabric started unravelling after 2011. This is when a political regime change occurred in West Bengal. With the Trinamool Congress (TMC) coming to power. There began a systematic attack on campus democracy, it was a deliberate attempt to crush the voice of the student community and smash the ideas pertaining to rationality and scientific temper. The sole idea was to impose the hegemony of the ruling party and their associates. Students’ union elections were halted across many institutions, and the power structures on campuses began to shift. What replaced democratic structures were arbitrary, unaccountable bodies aligned with local Trinamool leaders. These unelected ‘unions’ gradually turned into hubs of extortion, admission rackets, and political bullying. The admission process in most colleges and universities was captured by corrupt people, where aspiring students had to pay bribes or secure political backing.
SFI (Students’ Federation of India) has consistently raised its voice against this rampant corruption. Despite repeated appeals and mobilizations, the process of student union elections remains paralyzed in most colleges. The last official elections in many institutions happened in 2017. In campuses like Presidency University and Jadavpur University where the democratic space is better than others because of the strong left and progressive atmosphere, elections were last held in 2019 and 2020, respectively. The state government has shown no intent to restore democratic practices on campuses. Their reluctance is strategic. They are aware that free and fair elections will weaken the monopoly of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP), the student wing of the ruling party.
This state of repression reached a boiling point on 1st March 2025, when the Honourable Education Minister of West Bengal was scheduled to visit Jadavpur University for a meeting organized by Trinamool’s professor organization. Jadavpur University despite continuous attempts at suppression still remains one of the few bastions of student dissent and democratic values. Ironically, the same government that crushes left and democratic student organizations in other institutions was attempting to use the openness of Jadavpur University for their political gain.
The general students of the campus gathered on that day not to disrupt the meeting, but to demand the reinstatement of Students’ Union elections. Their demand was simple, to restore democracy in campuses. What followed was state-sponsored violence. The Minister’s convoy ran over a student protester and severely injured several others. Security personnel and local Trinamool goons physically assaulted protesting students. The Minister fled the scene, leaving behind a trail of repression.
The attack didn’t end there. Students of Jadavpur University were assaulted outside the campus, and a coordinated media narrative emerged labeling the students as “anti-national.” The right-wing ecosystem, including RSS, BJP, and their media machinery, jumped in to malign the institution and the student movement. The BJP, despite claiming to be the main opposition in the state, surprisingly echoed Trinamool’s rhetoric. This convergence of BJP and TMC’s interests is not new. Whenever progressive or left-leaning student voices rise in resistance, both forces , despite their electoral rivalry join hands to suppress them.
The BJP and RSS fear Jadavpur University and Presidency University for the same reasons the Trinamool does as these are campuses that still resist authoritarianism, still engage in critical thinking, and still uphold the spirit of dissent. What ABVP does in institutions like JNU, HCU, and BHU, the TMCP mirrors in Bengal. ABVP uses brute force and state power to suppress voices in Delhi and Hyderabad, similar tactics are deployed by TMCP in various places of West Bengal. The attack on Jadavpur University sparked widespread outrage. News of the incident spread like wildfire, and students across the state began mobilizing in solidarity. In response to the violence, SFI organized large rallies demanding justice for the assaulted students and immediate declaration of Students’ Union elections. Students from Calcutta University took a bold step by locking down their union rooms that had long been used as political dens by the TMCP rather than for student welfare. These union rooms had turned into centers of corruption, nepotism, and intimidation. Students demanded their campuses back.
This new wave of resistance ignited a larger conversation about the importance of campus democracy. It became evident that the absence of elected student bodies had created a vacuum where corruption, repression, and violence thrived. Without elected representation, students have no say in campus policies, no protection against administrative or political bullying, and no formal mechanism to voice grievances.
Moreover, the crackdown on student voices is not just a problem that is confined to the ambit of Bengal but it is part of a larger trend across India. Universities are increasingly being turned into surveillance zones, where students are watched, monitored, and silenced. Dissent is equated with sedition. Critical thought is labeled as rebellion. In such a context, Bengal’s progressive campuses represent hope and resistance. The student movements in Bengal are not isolated; they are part of the larger struggle to protect democracy in India. The Godi media, unfortunately, continues to play a destructive role. Instead of investigating state complicity or giving voice to protesting students, they demonize campuses like Jadavpur. They feed into the narrative that questions student activism and intellectual spaces. Such a portrayal serves the interest of ruling parties of both at the center and at the state level. Both of them want campuses to be depoliticized spaces where they can be used as places to preach the ideas of regressive politics.
Silencing students today means creating a society tomorrow that lacks conscience, questions nothing, and submits to power. At this juncture, restoring students’ union elections is not merely a procedural demand. It is a political and ethical necessity.
It is important to remember that the attack on student politics is an attack on democracy itself. Campuses are where the future of the country is shaped. Silencing students today means creating a society tomorrow that lacks conscience, questions nothing, and submits to power. At this juncture, restoring students’ union elections is not merely a procedural demand. It is a political and ethical necessity. Students must reclaim their democratic rights and demand their space in institutional governance. The SFI has taken the lead in uniting student bodies across campuses. They are organizing protests, awareness campaigns, and building a state-wide student solidarity network. Their goal is clear: force the government to act. The role of intellectuals, teachers, and civil society is also crucial. They must stand with the students, raise their voices in media and public forums, and put pressure on the government to reinstate democracy in educational institutions. A student movement alone cannot achieve systemic change without broader social support. As history has shown time and again, when students rise, regimes shake. From the anti-Vietnam protests in the US to the Emergency resistance in India, students have played pivotal roles in defending democratic values. Bengal’s students are once again rising and hitting the streets not just for union elections, but to get associated with the concept of democracy itself.