Bengal student protests escalate against stifling of campus democracy

The campus unrest sparked by recent events at Jadavpur University, including the filing of a criminal case against West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu, has crucial political messages.

The most significant among them is the ruling Trinamool Congress’s reported strategic aversion towards a vibrant campus democracy which has in the past churned out several prominent politicians, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.

Also read: TMC flaunts Mamatanomics growth model, but is Bengal truly shining?

Curbs on student union polls

The disinclination is evident from the systematic curtailment of campus elections after the party came to power in 2011. Besides, the party is stuffing its second-generation leadership slots with dynasts and celebrities instead of nurturing student leaders emerging from campuses as had been a tradition in Bengal’s politics since independence.

The non-conduct of campus elections for years was the genesis of the latest violence at Jadavpur University.

Members of Left-wing student organisations gheraoed the education minister and smashed the windscreen of his vehicle when the former went to the university to attend the annual general meeting of the TMC-affiliated West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA) on March 1.

The students demanded that union elections be held as soon as possible.

Some students, including Indranuj Roy, who had formed a human chain around the minister’s vehicle, were allegedly hit by a car in the convoy of Basu, who incidentally is also the president of the WBCUPA.

FIR against minister

“The minister ordered his driver to start the car and leave the campus. Although initially, the speed was slow, the car ultimately drove past us with the intention to kill us. Most students jumped out of the car’s way to save their lives. I was hit by the car. The car ran over a part of my body,” Indranuj alleged in a complaint mailed to the police from his hospital bed.

The police lodged a criminal case against the minister, his driver and others treating Indranuj’s complaint as a FIR after the intervention of the Calcutta High Court on Sunday.

The events unfolded at the university brought the focus back on the deterioration of political culture on campuses across West Bengal in the absence of democracy.

Virtual freeze on campus polls

There is almost a freeze on campus elections in the state after a police sub-inspector, Tapas Chowdhury, was shot dead during a violent clash between student wings of the Congress and the TMC over the filing of nominations for student union elections at a Kolkata college in 2013.

A few months later, a leader of the Students Federation of India, Sudipto Gupta, died in police custody following his arrest during a demonstration in Kolkata.

The twin incidents resulted in public outrage against the state government, making the TMC wary of holding student union elections even as the education department is mandated to conduct student body elections in colleges and universities every year.

Also read: EC’s goof-up gives TMC an EPIC chance to push its ‘outsider’ narrative

Waning TMC influence

“Student politics in Bengal has been very vibrant and violent. Concern over possible violence is one of the factors dissuading the government from holding elections,” said political commentator and Commonwealth fellow Debashis Chakraborty.

Concurring, an education department official said the government had planned to hold elections in 2019. "But intelligence inputs from police about possible violence prompted the government to change its mind as it would have been bad optics ahead of 2021 Assembly elections," the official told The Federal.

Flip-flop over elections

It was this concern that motivated the state government in 2013 to constitute a seven-member committee chaired by then Calcutta University Vice Chancellor Suranjan Das to formulate guidelines for the conduct of student union elections keeping in mind JM Lyngdoh committee report of 2006 that recommended “disassociation of student elections and student representation from political parties”, the official pointed out.

But the recommendation could not be followed as apolitical students’ union would also necessitate depoliticisation of politically-controlled teachers’ unions, a proposition not acceptable to the ruling dispensation.

Of late the TMC has also become cagey about elections because of the infighting in its students front, the TMCP, and the growing influence of Left-leaning student bodies on campuses, student leaders of the TMC insinuate in private discussions.

TMCP at war within

“The Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) is a divided house. The infighting might take an ugly turn if elections are held. The party has failed to form new TMCP committees in most colleges because of the feuds. In none of the 21 colleges in our East Midnapore district, we have a proper committee,” a TMCP leader from Contai (Kanthi) revealed.

“The infighting has also dented the TMCP’s prospect of winning elections,” he added.

Also read: JU fallout: Leftist, TMCP activists clash as SFI enforces strike at varsities

Growing Left appeal

The influence of Left-leaning student organisations is growing on the campuses as was evident during the protests over the rape and murder of a junior doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital. “A defeat of the TMCP would send across the wrong signal,” the TMCP leader added.

The membership of the Students Federation of India (SFI) which had dipped to around seven lakh a few years ago saw an upward trend in the 2023-24 academic year with over 8.30 lakh members. The SFI is aligned with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The All-India Democratic Students Organisation (AIDSO), affiliated to the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), is another Left organisation making its presence felt strongly in student politics.

TMCP lords over

The exact number of its members in the state is not publicly available, but AIDSO was at the forefront of the RG Kar protests as well as in the latest JU stir over the demand for campus elections.

The demand for elections has been a common cry across 45 universities and hundreds of degree colleges in the state.

In the absence of elections, the TMCP is illegally occupying offices and posts in institutions with the backing of college authorities, alleged Amitava Chatterjee, a senior leader of the SUCI (C).

Quality of politicians

“The campuses have turned into hubs of corruption and cut-money culture,” he alleged. “This has a cascading effect on the overall standard of state politics. When campuses stop churning out good, honest political leaders, it is natural that political space will be filled by mafias, dynasts and apolitical celebrities.”

Also read: Mamata govt goofed up, needn’t hurry now, says RG Kar victim’s father

There were 298 candidates with declared criminal cases in the 2011 Assembly elections in the state, according to data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR). The number increased to 358 in 2016 and 528 in 2021.

The TMC fielded six film stars, two cricketers and five political heirs in the last parliamentary elections.

Rival parties were not far behind in emulating the TMC in what is seen as a growing trend, signalling a shift from the state’s legacy of class-driven politics, forged in the crucible of campus unrest.