From anti-British struggles to the Naxalbari uprising, from anti-Emergency movements to the fight for justice for Rohith Vemula, from the anti-NRC-CAA movement to the ongoing anti-SIR struggles, students and youth of India have always changed the trajectory of history. 

The stepping stone for all these movements has been the political milieu fostered around student unions in the public universities of India. This primary political engagement of people coming of age has had a lasting impact on Indian polity. 

In Karnataka, this stepping stone was snatched away from under students’ feet long ago. With some hope of student elections making a comeback, one must try to understand the past, present, and future of it.

Karnataka banned student union elections in 1989, citing instances of bloody clashes among different groups on campuses. This was done under the Congress chief minister Veerendra Patil as a temporary measure. The ban continued for the next 37 years, as elected student unions were gradually replaced with nominated student councils that have, at most, an advisory role to play in the everyday running of a university. Student councils in private colleges currently function as bodies that provide unpaid labour for college fest management. Most importantly, political apathy has become the normalised sentiment among students through years of propagated aversion against student politics. 

Simultaneously, government colleges and universities have been steadily eroded away and replaced by private ones in Karnataka. The state has played a massive role in the privatisation of education and the mushrooming of technical courses in private colleges. It was also the first state to start a common entrance test for engineering admission, which later paved the way for the coaching industry to flourish. Simultaneously, State spending on education decreased progressively. 

Privatisation did not translate into better quality education or higher placements despite more and more families pumping in money to get their wards a college degree. The managements also act in the most authoritarian manner imposing spurious fees, replicating discrimination on caste and communal lines, continuing moral policing using dress codes, and creating a stifling environment. The demand for an elected student union still could not become mainstream.

The promise and the anti-climax

The Karnataka budget published in March this year had two promises from former chief minister Siddaramaiah: the enactment of the Rohith Vemula Act and reintroduction of student union elections in Karnataka. According to reports, this long overdue announcement came at the behest of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who sees this as a pipeline for producing future leaders for the party. This is perhaps a reductive explanation that omits the demand that Left-Ambedkarite-minority student groups have been making since long to bring back student union elections in the state. Not surprisingly, it is the BJP-RSS’ student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) that has constantly opposed this demand. 

What........

© The News Minute