Rise against the policing of DU students!

Friends!

DUSU president Ronak Khatri who has mastery over populist politics and who is known for reducing student politics into mere symbolic acts is proudly claiming that a police booth will be established in front of Arts Faculty. He is seen celebrating it and portraying it as one of the biggest achievements of the students’ union. It is not surprising but yet another betrayal of NSUI with the students who voted for them. It is a naked example of fascist infiltration in our campus’ that is being justified in the name of student safety. Let us examine why the DU administration needs police in student spaces and whom does the police serve?

There’s already a heavy presence of police in our university campus and the whole campus has been turned into a police cantonment zone. If this heavy deployment was not enough, the administration is opening a police booth in front of our own arts faculty in the name of students’ safety. This is nothing but a systematic way to legalize the policing on students. Is our university a war zone? Are the students studying in our university criminals? If not, then whom is this police for?

In January this year, Disha Students’ Organization called for a rally for reclaiming the legacy of Savitribai Phule and Fatima Sheikh. Delhi police disrupted the rally, tore our posters and erased the wall writing and wall painting that was done by our members. Let us rewind a little bit more. Students plan to screen the BBC Documentary on Modi and this time also Delhi police along with the security guards of the arts faculty dragged students, beat them and man handled female students. Many students were barred from university for many years only for screening a documentary film. The list of steps taken by our brave Delhi police for students’ safety is very long but have we forgotten the case about wall writing in which our member Jyoti was suspended and then expelled on the basis of a police complaint for writing scrap NTA on campus wall?

Now let’s see how promptly the Delhi police act when actual incidents of violence and harassment occur on our campus. This year only ABVP goons beat students at Ramjas college but can we ask why weren’t the perpetrators punished? Can we ask what happened to those ABVP goons who barged into Miranda House and harassed female students there? What about the case of IPCW college? If the safety is the issue and Delhi police seriously cares about it then why do the ABVP goons roam freely in our campus space while a student-youth rally celebrating the legacy of Savitribai-Fatima is disrupted? In fact, when NSUI goons forcefully entered the Miranda House in the name of DUSU campaigning for Mr. Ronak Khatri who is thumping his chest today and portraying the opening of the police booth as a victory for students, no action was taken against them.

The picture is quite clear. The police presence in our own university space is being increased to curb the voices of the students and suppress any sort of democratic students’ movement. Today progressive and justice loving students cannot even hold a discussion session in our campus area while on the other hand fascist ABVP goons are free to beat students, harass female students and even beat our faculty members. Fascist RSS can conduct their shakha in arts faculty on a regular basis but students cannot even screen a film on their own campus.

Campus democracy is shrinking across university spaces and it is not an isolated phenomenon. Along with the commercialization of education, attack on reason and scientific temper and the distortion of history, attacking campus democracy also has a special place in the playbook of the fascists that serves the purpose of the systematic destruction of public education.

Disha Students’ Organization strongly condemns this move by the fascist DU administration. The DUSU president who otherwise makes lofty claims about standing for the student rights and their demands is openly colluding with the fascist administration in this project of curbing democratic space in our university campus. It leaves no doubt before the students that these student organizations that are affiliated to their political parties will never truly struggle for our demands such as campus democracy and free and equal education for all. We appeal to all justice loving progressive students-youth to mobilize for the demand of campus democracy. Only the militant unity of the students can get us free and equal education, employment guarantee and democratic campus spaces. Let us fight together for the India Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh and his comrades martyred for.