Video Editor: Vishal Kumar
RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has refused to stay silent on the fee hike issue, a day after JNUSU members met the HRD-appointed panel to find solutions to issues raised by them.
ABVP students staged a protest to the Ministry of Human Resource Department (MHRD) building on Thursday, 21 November, demanding the high-power committee be scrapped as well as a complete rollback of the fee hike. The march further saw several Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) students join in, in solidarity.
The protests soon turned unruly with around 90 students being detained at the Parliament Street Police Station, as nearly 400 students continued the protest march.
A number of students were detained during their protest march on Thursday.
(Photo: The Quint)
ABVP students explained why, even though they are on the same page with Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), they do not agree with them accepting the panel’s appeal to “restore normalcy” quite so soon.
‘Need More Funds, Not Panel,’ Urges ABVP
Speaking to The Quint, M Krishna Rao, ABVP’s Joint Secretary said, “Our protest is against the regressive restrictions, and mainly against the fee hike. It will affect more than 40 percent students and the students from marginalised background won't be able to continue their study.”
He continued, “ABVP’s main demand is that we want our VC to have a dialogue with us. We want the fund cut back, that is why we did a signature march first, we called a march to UGC and now we protested at MHRD building today.”
Citing the main reason behind their difference with JNUSU, Rao added, “The main reason of difference was that the protests turned undemocratic. Some students wrote inappropriate words on the Swami Vivekananda statue in the campus and we could not tolerate that.”
ABVP protest to the MHRD building.
(Photo: The Quint)
Among the students who were detained at Parliament Street Police Station, Sujeet Sharma, Vice President ABVP-JNU told The Quint, “We want nothing less than the complete rollback of the fee. As for the HRD-appointed panel, ABVP held a press conference wherein we made it clear that we have rejected it.”
Sharma added, “JNUSU has become hopeless, they don’t know the way forward. It was on the demand of JNU students that today ABVP students protested at the MHRD building.”
Fee Hike’s Impact on Female Students ‘Not Considered’
ABVP member Megha Pardhi stated that even though the hostel draft manual has given concessions for Below Poverty Line (BPL) students, there is a lot of debate over the definition of the category itself.
She pointed out that it isn’t only economic factors that serve as impediments but socio-political factors too.
“If you’re a girl, then whether you are a student who’s fairly rich or poor, it doesn’t make a lot of difference as many of the female students here are fighting social barriers. The only ticket out of the pressure to marry is education. And JNU has been a way out for many.”Megha Pardhi, ABVP Member
In a university where female students form a major chunk of the crowd, she stated that these factors were not considered when the administration announced the “so-called” partial fee rollback.
Prakash Jha, a first-year student at JNU, was also detained at the aforementioned police station. Echoing the view of ABVP students, he lashed out the HRD-appointed panel.
“JNU VC didn't attend the panel meet yesterday. Neither the government, not the JNU administration is listening to us. Hence, we called for a march today.”
As the protests by JNU students continue for over three weeks, a lot of other students’ groups across the political spectrum have offered to stand with them.
JNUSU students, on the other hand, have maintained that their office bearers will take a call on the next protest march.