Hundreds of students coming together, shouting slogans and demanding an end to violence on campus — this is a scene Delhi University (DU) students have become familiar with ever since a debate on free speech and nationalism was triggered two weeks ago.
Clashes v/s debates?
But, the university is not a stranger to such scenes. The only difference, say former DU teachers and students, is that violent clashes are increasingly replacing debates. Also, seemingly spontaneous protests are social media-driven campaigns that cross borders.
The latest controversy on campus started with the English Department of Ramjas College organising a seminar to discuss the “Cultures of Protest” on February 21. Among those invited to address the gathering was Umar Khalid, the Jawaharlal Nehru University student who was accused of sedition over ‘anti-national slogans’ being raised at an event in February last year.
Though Mr. Khalid gave the seminar a miss citing security concerns, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS-affiliated student wing, attacked the seminar.
The next day saw clashes between the ABVP and Left-affiliated students’ organisations, with both sides protesting against what happened the previous day.
Back in February 1982, DU students had come together to protest against an attack on a Ramjas College professor. A lecturer with the History department, Professor Dilip Simeon was attacked by a group of young men who followed him in a car and made him stop the scooter he was riding.
Going back in time
Recalling the incident, Prof. Simeon said he was beaten up with iron rods, leaving his leg broken in two places and his jaw permanently damaged.
Prof. Simeon and some others had gone on hunger strike to press the college to pay a gardener his dues. What followed was a tense situation in the college, with faculty members divided into two camps — one supporting the ABVP and the other backing the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI).
Alumni speak
Rahul Roy, actor and producer who was then a student at Ramjas, said students from across DU, even from South Campus, had come together to protest against the “goondaism”.
Organised under the banner of ‘Committee Against Goondaism’, the students held demonstrations outside the residences of the then DU Vice-Chancellor and the chairman of the college Governing Body.
“It was not an issue of Right versus Left. There were no political banners or affiliations. We would go from college to college, distributing pamphlets and telling students about the protests,” said Mr. Roy, who was a part of the group of students that organised the protests.
While the protests seen now were similar, he said that last week’s “attacks” on students and teachers were not seen in the 1980s.
“There was no censorship. A lot of students who were not affiliated to any party were upset. There were two issues that galvanised students – sexual harassment of women students and goondaism,” said Mr. Roy.
Ideological battle
While the tussle between the ABVP and the NSUI is nothing new, the ideological battle for the hearts and mind of university students seems to have escalated. “The situation on the campus has changed because the atmosphere in the country has changed. They [ABVP] have more political backing,” said Prof. Simeon.
Unlike JNU, which has a geographically closed campus, DU is spread across North and South campuses as well as many off-campus locations, which alumni and teachers say, is significant from a political perspective.
Social media reach
A spread-out campus helps make it a microcosm of Delhi, with political activities of students having reverberations on a national scale. Old hands from DU recalled that while activism and ideological conflicts were always a part of the university’s inherent culture, political scores were mostly settled through discussion and debate. Some also say that the difference between then and now was due to the scope and reach of social media.
A DU alumnus who is now serving in the Delhi Police said: “There was always activism on the DU campus and, sometimes, violence too. But this was usually the case during or around the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections. Social media has made all the difference.”
The police officer added that violence did surface on campus from time to time, but only to protest “outrageous incidents and issues”, such as the Geeta and Sanjay Chopra murder case of 1978.
He added that a senior Union Minister who had visited the campus then was met with stone-throwing students. The protests against the Emergency declared by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the agitation around the Mandal Commission all found space on the campus, the officer said.
In 1990, the anti-Mandal agitation saw Rajiv Goswami, who later went on to lead the DUSU, set himself ablaze on the university campus.
Not just student activism
Former DU student leader and senior journalist, Pankaj Vohra, called the recent events at DU “shameful”.
“There was always ideological conflict and dissent but no personal animosity when I was a part of the university. Back then, the campus was a place where one could clash ideologically during the day and have a cup of tea together with one’s adversary in the evening,” said Mr. Vohra, who is Managing Editor of the Sunday Guardian .
For today’s politicians who started out as student leaders at DU, the marches and protests of today are not just about student activism. Ashish Sood, who was the DUSU president in 1988-1989 and is a BJP councillor in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation today, said that the “ultra Left parties” were trying to regain lost ground.
‘Violence is wrong’
“What is happening now has nothing to do with the students. As students, they are the citizens of tomorrow and of today. They have every right to air their views, but this has nothing to do with that,” said Mr. Sood.
He added that while he had been a part of protests on the DU campus when he was a student, including against the Bofors scandal, the demonstrations did not take a violent turn.
“Violence is wrong on both sides. The Left parties need to have the tolerance to hear out the views of the other side,” said Mr. Sood.
Changing dynamics
Ajay Maken, a former Union Minister in the UPA government and currently the president of the Delhi Congress, was the DUSU president from 1985-1986 as an NSUI member.
He recalled that the rivalry of the ABVP and NSUI was nothing new, but the fact that the BJP was in power at the Centre may have contributed to the changing nature of student politics in DU.
“There is a design behind what is happening. Look at other campuses in the country. We had never seen the police and the State siding with one student group, like we saw recently at DU,” said Mr. Maken.
