As we approach the end of the semester at Aligarh Muslim University, things have taken a drastic turn, for after three years of subsequent union formation and leadership, the democratic process has come to an abrupt halt.
As the university opens next year in the month of January, the effect of not having a union will seem to come above, for in this short span of three-four months, we have seen how the university takes control and abuses its power to demolish student unity.
The want for democratic student power is the utmost need of the hour.
The Student Union elections of the year 2016 reprised the culture of the elections in campus and sought to bring change in due course of time, not much time passed and the year 2017 brought about a union which would thoroughly set the stage for student activism and the year 2018, which would beautifully showcase the power of a woman and the uprising of a feminist ideology.
March, 2017
Black Wednesday, a day where we saw fascist forces of the RSS along with the support of the police attack the students of the university, carrying along with them country-made pistols and threatening to shoot the so called “traitors” of AMU, all of this took place while the ex- president, Mr Hamid Ansari was present on campus.
If it were not the voices of the student representatives, we would not have seen a spectacle of sheer prowess of the students been displayed in forms of peaceful dharnas and agitation, highlighting the issue at a national level questioning the workings and sayings of certain members of the parliament. It showed the effectiveness and need for a student body representation in AMU.
March, 2018
As the new academic year began, so came a newly formed union, and in the month of March, for the first time in years, was seen an uprising of the feminist ideology, displayed through courageous feats of the Womens’ Students Union, as they hailed forth breaking the gates of their halls that caged their thoughts towards the Registrar office where they locked themselves up until demands were met, facing and fighting odds and threats from the Provosts and other administrative bodies.
2019, Present
The absence of a union can clearly be felt in light of recent events as the usurping thoughts and actions of the administration ring brilliantly throughout the campus.
Restrictions from holding dharna or protests with threats of show-cause notices at the famous dharna site that is the Bab-e-Syed (Gateway of Syed), bar the voices of students.
The attempt to extinguish the feminist flames in the name of revival of old traditions by the provost of Abdullah Hall – a residence hall for girls comprising the Womens’ College and several hostels – bringing about absurd policies clearly show us the backlash of when change is sought to be brought.
The walls coloured with graffiti saying, “when oppression becomes law, resistance becomes duty,” and “a university that silences dissent is a prison,” etc. are painted off in merely a day.
The students look desperately towards in search of a spokesperson and a representative, only to find none for the administration seems to have won and the students according to them have succumbed to their authoritative rule.
Any attempt to hold protests and candle marches are kept under surveillance and restrictions, so as to not let it turn into an agitation that may disrupt any administrative body.
It is completely understandable to see the side of how a union may be seen in a corruptive light, a stance that must be respected. But with that in mind, one must also be open to see that AMU is in dire need of a union, for it does deserve one.
If one feels it does not, on the basis of wrongs of certain unions from specific years, then question yourself on the choosing of a government which has brought about the lowest unemployment rate since the formation of India, of a government spending taxpayer money on building a ₹3000 crore statues and changing names of cities.
It is not the administration that shall raise its voice when atrocities take place around the nation or when heinous violence and crimes against humanity occur. It is the elected union and the students of the university that shall do so.
The moral perspective is an important one, but the need for a students union is of dire importance. The right to speech and expression is not only a constitutional but also a right that comes with being human.