123 Kolkata: Hours before the scheduled start of first semester B Tech examinations across seven engineering streams, multiple post-graduate courses and some supplementary examinations at Jadavpur University on Monday, the ongoing campus unrest and the strike call have thrown up a sharp difference between a prominent avowedly political section of the campus and a silent majority that wants to shy away from politics and concentrate on academics for most part of the year.
TOI on Monday came across several students, including those from rural areas who stay in hostels and those from suburbs, who encounter numerous challenges and hardships daily to study at their dream institution. These students not only expressed concern on the "unnecessary violence by a section of students," but also pointed to their "illogical demands", when protestors amplify support to cover up accusations of molestation and ragging, demanding "free access" in hostels any time of the day to boarders, and lastly protests to back students caught fudging marks to obtain govt scholarships. They also expressed their concerns of the university name taking a beating. But these voices are muffled by the political pitch.
A JU arts faculty UG student, who wished to remain anonymous, said, "Our friends and family judge us and our institute based on these incidents. As a normal student, I seek peace to study. Is it too big a ask?" Another postgraduate student, who has an exam on Monday, said, "I was not present when the incident took place, but a section of my friends wanted to hold a pen-down protest on Monday. I feel very bad that some of our friends and seniors were severely injured, but I will not appear for a supplementary exam. If I do, I will be singled out." Subhrojyoti Madal, a hostel boarder and JU second year, said, "Our campus atmosphere has been badly projected outside, and that needs to stop immediately."
But the other side remains adamant. Sakhasdip Chakraborty, a student of the international relations department and an active member of AISA, said, "The way education minister Bratya Basu, who is also an academician, behaved with the students is also shameful. We, the JU students, raise our voices, which can be used as a tool by a section to defame the image of this university with their narrative." Rijupalika Mukherjee, a second-year history student, said, "Most college and university students don't raise their demands as we do. A section is deliberately trying to malign the good name of this institution so that students do not choose to take admission here in the future."
Sreya Pradhan, an ex-student of JU sociology dept, agreed with the political character of the varsity but felt that ‘politics cannot transcend to hooliganism'. "Dissent and voicing one's opinion have always been part of the campus, but this agenda-driven politics to merely get into the limelight is hurting JU's image," she said. Some former JU students said the politics cannot mean lawlessness. Earlier, Presidency University faced several student movements which led to student-administration deadlocks, but in the past few years, that has changed drastically. A senior JU professor argued, "Protests cannot be about shutting out mainstream political parties from campus. Manmohan Singh was perhaps the last ex-PM who visited the Presidency campus in 2016, two years after he demitted office. But Singh also commands huge respect as an economist."
Saturday's incident was different from past cases, like when ex-Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar went to the campus in 2019 to "rescue" the then junior Union minister Babul Supriyo who was heckled when he had gone to JU to attend an ABVP event. Unlike Dhankhar who had directly engaged with students, Basu had gone to attend a pre-decided academic meeting. Debashis Ghosh of chemical engineering 1992 batch, said, "It is sad to see the repeated influence of groups and entities affiliated with political parties continues to disrupt the academic ecosystem of JU."
Santanu Misra, an ex-JU student and currently a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), said each university has a character, and JU's is one of a "free varsity's" that raises its students as adults.
(Inputs from Srishti Lakhotia)
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