After an apology, JNU students want university order withdrawn

Following a signed representation from over 450 students, the meeting was convened this afternoon. Among other things, the students have asked for an inquiry by the visitor (the President of India) into the incident, removal of police from the campus, removal of the dean of student welfare, chief proctor and the chief security officer for their authoritarian role in university matters.

Vijoo Krishnan, vice-president of the JNU students’ union along with two other students will also sit on an indefinite hunger strike from tonight, while a three-day university bandh has been called from tomorrow.

“I will sit on hunger strike and we are hoping that more students will join in. Also, we have called for a three-day strike, which will not hamper the normal registration process that is going on,” Krishanan clarifies.

Students sat in the open, discussing the rustication, listening to the speakers and at the end of it passed most of the resolutions unanimously.The students made it clear that they wanted answers from the university administration on a number of issues, the rustication of Battilal Bairwa and Manoj Purohit being just the tip of the iceberg.

As the meeting progressed, students spoke on the issues they felt were important. Topping the list, of course, was the rustication. “Most of us have just come back for the new session and are not very clear about what happened on December 22. Actually, I want to hear what Battilal has to say and then I will make up my mind,” says Prema Angela, a MA student of Japanese. Like her, most people wanted to know the facts.

Also brought up were the issues of corruption, land transfer and the role of the administration. There were passionate speeches, with some of the speakers resorting to poetry to get their point across.

Everyone wanted to know how the Vice-Chancellor could have called the police on campus. “There were just around 300 of us who went to the V-C’s residence that night. All we did was go up his walkway, in an orderly manner, and ring his doorbell. We wanted to talk to him and in any case, we have never been violent,” says Sudha, a Ph.D. student.

“Why should a V-C be scared of his own students?” was the question everybody wanted answered.

According to the V-C “the students surrounded his house, started banging on the doors and windows and were continuously pressing the bell. The threat of violence could not be ignored”.

The V-C was openly called names, certain professors picked on and the entire administration condemned. The only people supporting the orders issued by the university authorities and demanding the resignation of Battilal were the supporters of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP). They felt that Battilal’s apology meant he had infact beaten up the karamcharis.