People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 45
November 10, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 45 November 10, 2013 |
Fourth
Consecutive Win For
SFI in UoH Polls Sampath
V Sambasivan THE Students’
Federation of India has once again emerged victorious
in the Students’ Union
elections of This victory has
been secured in the midst of the joint anti-SFI
campaign launched by all other
organisations in the campus, foregoing all ideological
barriers. The corporate
bourgeois media also joined hands with them by
unleashing baseless slanderous
campaigns against SFI. The NSUI exposed its
pseudo-secular face by resorting to
rampant cross voting in favour of ABVP. The mandate in
favour of SFI, despite
all such efforts from the part of the anti-SFI camp,
is indicative of the
acceptability and faith that the student community has
invested in SFI.
SFI approached
these elections with a clear-cut manifesto, upholding
its unflinching fight
against communal politics and commercialisation of
education. The promise to
continue its steadfast struggles for social, economic
and gender justice was
well received by the student community. The Students’
Union election results of this year are of historic
significance since the
University has elected its first ever woman president,
Sirisha. The candidature
of Sirisha has been a bold step taken by SFI to
strengthen its fight for a
gender sensitive society. Her candidature has been
revelatory in various
respects. It revealed the depth and influence of
patriarchal values in the
campus. It also exposed the gendered prejudices upheld
by certain forces on
campus. Posters and banners with Sirisha’s pictures
were torn down by certain
conservative groups showing their intolerance towards
the participation of
women in public life. This was nothing but an
alternative manifestation of the
patriarchal intolerance displayed by the conservative
patriarchs of the RSS and
other religious fundamentalist groups. The mandate in
favour of SFI by the
politically conscious students of UoH is a strong blow
to the lumpen elements. LEGACY OF STRUGGLES The clear mandate
secured by SFI must be read in close connection with
the uncompromising stand
taken by the organisation against the implementation
of neo-liberal educational
policies in the university. The struggles of SFI and
the SFI-led Students’
Union (2012-13) against the imposition of hostel fee
hike in the form of
service charges to the tune of Rs 6000 upon the
student community, reinforced
the SFI’s staunch opposition to the neo-liberal
policies being followed by the
UPA government. The organisation
could also effectively thwart the move on the part of
the administration to
scrap the fellowships provided to the students of the
university. These
struggles, aimed at preserving the rights of the
socially and economically
backward sections of the student community, have to be
seen in the larger
context of socio-economic justice. The
mandate is also a recognition of the pertinent role
played by SFI in the struggle
against the allocation of university land to corporate
houses. SFI could also
resist the well-crafted plans of the gender-biased
administration to impose
restrictions on the mobility of girl students. Thus
the mandate, in short, is
the student community’s recognition for the relentless
struggles waged by the
organisation against the corrupt, neo-liberal,
gender-biased system. We are well aware
of the fact that the path ahead is tough and the
journey arduous. We are
conscious of the enormous responsibilities vested on
us as the torchbearers of
the progressive Left student movement of the country.
We are solidly committed
to carry forward the legacy of the struggles upheld by
our dear comrades,
Sudipto, Rohit, Sajin Shahul, Fazil and many others
who sacrificed their lives
in the fight for campus democracy, gender justice and
secularism. We stand in
militant solidarity with our dear comrades of Our fights shall
continue. We shall fight! We shall win!! (The
writer is secretary, SFI-HCU
Unit)