Jamia online switch amid protests as students demand restoration of union elections

Jamia Millia Islamia on Saturday switched to online classes amid the escalation of protests by students demanding the restoration of their union through elections despite the administration’s attempts to evict them from the demonstration site.

The campus has seen heavy deployment of police in the last week in view of the protests that began on October 12. Five students are on a hunger strike, while three have been rusticated.

On Saturday, the university administration tried to forcibly vacate the protest site near Gate 7, with security guards removing the tents and banners. But the students resisted the attempts. The university called a staff meeting at the Ansari auditorium, from where teachers and staff members reached the protest site. Two ambulances were called in to take away the five students who were on a hunger strike. The guards asked the protesters to vacate the spot, leading to a commotion. The students entered the political science department near Gate 7 and continued the protests.

Mohammad Athnan, former NSUI president at Jamia, said the university was trying its best to disrupt the agitation, which is expected to escalate from Monday when most students would return to campus after Puja holidays.

“The administration used force against the students to remove us from the site. The security guards vandalised the site and damaged our tents. We are continuing the protests till our demands are met,” he said.

Jamia has discontinued student union elections since 2006. Besides the union’s restoration, the students are demanding the withdrawal of the rustication order and the resignation of Proctor Mohammad Asad Malik for using force to quell the protest.

“The protesting students are sticking to their demand for a union. The administration must also find out from CCTV footage who made a ‘Free Kashmir’ graffiti on the wall of the chemistry department and take action. This could be the handiwork of some groups who are trying to defame the peaceful protest,” Athnan said.

Elaiya Kumar, a research scholar at Jamia, said the university had rejected the demand for union elections on the grounds of possible violence. “The government claims about bringing an end to naxalism and terrorism. Why cannot it hold students’ union elections in a university?” Kumar asked.

On October 21, the university set up a five-member committee of professors to draft the constitution of Jamia students’ union. The committee will consider the circumstances leading to the dissolution of the union, various court rulings with respect to the union, and recommendations of the Lyngdoh committee.

Kumar said the protesters had no faith in the panel that had no student representation.