Today, the democratic spaces within university and college campuses are shrinking rapidly. It is worth noting that most campuses do not even have the basic democratic right of representation through elected student unions. There is very limited space for open discussion and dialogue among students, and this is under the rabid attack of fascist forces. From Jamia Milia Islamia to DU, from JNU to Allahabad University, from the aspirants in Telangana to UP & Bihar, everywhere we are seeing the brutal repression of students through police violence, suspensions, legal action, heavy fines etc. Moreover, there is increasing surveillance, police presence, and private security firms in campuses everywhere. The fascist infiltration of university administrations has ensured that this attack spreads everywhere. At the same time, the student wing of fascist BJP-RSS is allowed to hold every kind of communal, divisive, xenophobic programs and carry on their hooliganism. Democratic space is the ground on which students can discuss their problems, gather together and resist the attack on their rights. It is the platform for raising their voice against injustice in the country and the world. It is the hard-won right of student-youth movement throughout history. The fascists want to prevent the rightful dissent of students against the rising fees, increasing privatization of education, communalisation of education and myriad other issues plaguing us. They want to ensure that we do not understand the real cause behind our conditions—this profit-driven system, the ruling classes, and their loyal watchdogs, the fascists themselves.
Disha Students’ Organization believes that the campus democracy is an integral demand in the revolutionary mass movement of students and youth. ‘Disha’ reiterates its commitment to build such a movement, and raise the question of campus democracy and take back democratic space in campuses. True education of students is impossible without the space to exchange ideas among each other, to think and act on the problems affecting us and society. Repression always breeds resistance, and history is testament to this fact. Disha Students’ Organization is duty-bound to wage a militant struggle against every attack on democratic space in campuses across the country.
