New Delhi: Resistance found its voice in songs on Thursday at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, where students gathered to defend what they called their “right to dissent”.Both universities face unprecedented administrative action. At JNU, an entire elected students’ union panel has been rusticated. At DU, a month-long blanket ban on gatherings is in force across campuses. Student groups have criticised the moves as a clampdown on protest and representation.
At JNU, lines from “Hum Dekhenge”, a poem by Faiz Ahmed Faiz that is associated with political resistance, echoed through the park near the School of Languages, where students have been holding an encampment for the last four days. The protest began after the university rusticated the elected union panel over alleged damage to university property during a demonstration last year. The agitation had been against the installation of a facial recognition-based entry system in the university’s central library, which students had opposed. The entry system was allegedly damaged during the protest.Following the disciplinary action, members of the panel were served hostel eviction notices this year and barred from the campus. The rustication leaves JNU without elected student representation for at least the next eight months, until fresh polls are held. Supporters of the now removed panel have since been attending classes in the open, with some teachers and academic units announcing boycotts in solidarity. Student leaders have demanded revocation of the rustication, withdrawal of the hostel eviction notices and fines and the CPO manual which penalises protests on campus. There was no response from the JNU administration on the protest.Some kilometres away, at DU, protests unfolded amid heavy police presence on North Campus, where a month-long ban on public gatherings and protest is in force.Near the arts faculty, Left-affiliated organisations and general student bodies, including All India Students’ Federation (AISF), All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO), Parivartankami Chhatra Sanghatan (Pachhas) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), attempted to march despite a prohibitory order in force since Tuesday. It bars gatherings of more than five people for a month. Heavy police deployment stopped the march. But the protesters regrouped at the back gate to continue their demonstration.Songs again became the language of protest. A visually impaired student beat a dhapli and sang, “Woh sab kuch karne ko taiyaar, sabhi afsar unke…”, a satirical verse that has circulated widely on social media as political commentary. The DU agitation follows last Friday’s protest at the arts faculty against the Supreme Court’s interim stay on the UGC anti-discrimination regulations. The protest turned violent after a scuffle between a woman YouTuber and members of a Left student group, leading to FIRs from both sides. The university then imposed the month-long ban.After it came into effect, several students and teachers have raised concerns that even academic gatherings, including study circles meetings, are being curtailed. The Delhi University Teachers’ Association has sought a review of the order. Student groups have demanded that the ban be withdrawn.“Some student groups attempted to defy the prohibitory order and hold a protest near the campus. University security officials and police personnel prevented them from entering the premises. We urge students to maintain order,” Manoj Kumar, proctor of Delhi University, told TOI.To be sure, protests in other universities in the city — including Jamia Millia Islamia and Ambed-kar University Delhi — are restricted to designated areas, DU’s order applies acr-oss the campus.
