In order to address the current state of student politics in our country, we must learn to look past the surface and address the roots of this problem. Student politics is essential, if not to groom the next generation Gandhis, but to create a future generation taking active interest in exercising the full dominion of their rights as citizens of the state and to approach politics with a different conscience other than what it is viewed for in our country today; dirty tricks and corruption. The presence of student politics in any campus of higher education undoubtedly makes students more aware about the rights they are entitled to have, regardless of whether the student is directly participating in campus politics or not. Its very presence is beneficial and essential. Prestigious institutions throughout the world, be it Harvard or Oxford, comprise of student unions and politics.
So, the question we must address here is, why is student politics, just proven to be essential and in abundance throughout top tier institutions around the world, under attack in our country? Here is a fact that pretty much answers the question. There are 151 recorded instances, since our independence, of innocent students dying at the hands of politically affiliated 'lackeys'. A surprising majority of these have taken place within the walls of the finest public institution our country has to offer.
In order to approach constructive solutions, we must look at the problem first. Since 2009, administration in public University campuses haven't been singular. There is the university's board of admins but besides them there is also a shadow administration comprising of leaders of the student wing of the ruling party. These youths occupy various dorms regardless of not being parts of the respective institutions and relentlessly torture, harass, bully and instill fear in the students, especially the younger ones, in order to let them know who’s in charge. Students must deal with psychological trauma they go through as a result of the torture while simultaneously coping with rigorous academic courses.
The shadow administration clashes head on with the campus authority, demanding special privileges in the halls based on their membership to student wings of the ruling party and threaten administrators with consequences if denied their claims. This is where we get to the root of the problem of student politics. It is the subjective authoritarianism expressed by student-wing members of the ruling party and their political affiliation which it is based on. Student politics is not the reason why members of such wings are getting unruly, the reason lies in their affiliations. The misplaced sense of authority that these members of student-wings have in them is not because they practice politics but at the root it's because of their attachment to one political party or the other. The limitless power in hand, knowledge of not having to face any consequences and previous instances of such cadres going unpunished is the main reason why the culture of student politics has become more blood stained over the course of time and it shouldn't come as a surprise at all. Utilizing advantageous situations to exercise power beyond its limits is something any human would do and especially when placed into vengeful, uneducated and overly ambitious hands, it can lead to brutal situations, the likes of which we have seen.
The logical step to take from here onward is not placing a ban on the practice of politics, but withdrawing all sorts of affiliations from student level politics and make it purely based on encouragement of leadership and political awareness among students and for providing them with a platform in order to let their voices be heard. This simple step will take all the meaningless bloodshed, authoritarianism, and corruption that has led to the excuse of student politics that we have in our country and will in turn inspire the new-age political thinkers with a real desire to serve their nation for the sake of its development and not for their own cause, as we have so often seen.
Jabir Mahmood Chowdhury
Editor-in-Chief