Let them study; certainly let them study. But let them also acquire knowledge about politics and jump into the fray and devote their lives to it, when the need arises. Offer their lives to this cause. There seems to be no other way.
– Bhagat Singh (Students and Politics)
A student union is a democratic body of elected student representatives that exists in an educational institution. The student union participates in decision-making processes, ranging from minor day-to-day matters to representation in the highest decision-making bodies at various levels of the institution [from academic (course structure and content) to administrative (students’ welfare, hostel, etc.) as part of the senate]. Student unions still have these rights despite several limitations imposed by the Lyngdoh Committee Report (2006). One example is the student union of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNUSU). Despite constant attacks and curtailing of power, JNUSU continues to hold annual elections in which students elect their representatives.
Student unions uphold the interest of the students, holding university management and the government accountable. They organise dissenting students through protests, boycotts, hunger strikes, and gheraos, depending on the urgency of the situation. Historically these unions have acted as laboratories of democracy, centres of political education, and engines of social change.
Student organisations and unions in Indian politics date back to the freedom struggle against British colonial rule. Dadabhai Naoroji founded “The Students’ Literary and Scientific Society” in 1848 as a forum for discussing society. The students at King Edward Medical College, Lahore, protested against academic discrimination between British and Indian students, marking the first student strike in India. In the Swadeshi movement, students led massive protests, boycotts, and burning of foreign products. Disillusioned by Gandhi’s non-violence, Bhagat Singh and his comrades formed the Naujawan Bharat Sabha in 1926 to propagate revolutionary politics among students and youth, and the Lahore Students Union (1928) for student politics. In the days of HRA and HSRA (1925-31), a total of 1192 students, all under the age of 15, were convicted for political activities. All Bengal Students’ Association (ABSA) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF), both formed in 1928, played a crucial role in organising students against British imperialism. These student groups never functioned merely as campus bodies concerned with examinations or hostels, but acted as organic allies of progressive struggles, often serving as organisers, propagandists, underground cadres, and intellectual leaders of mass movements.
Student unions had a crucial role in the Telangana peasant movement. As the formal independence of 1947 failed to solve the problems of the masses, student unions became grounds for the birth and advocacy of movements throughout India. The crucial break came through the Naxalbari uprising of 1967, that changed the face of student movements in India forever. At the call of Com. Charu Majumdar, thousands left their studies to join the struggle for land and political power in the rural areas facing unprecedented repression from the Indian state. Hundreds of students laid down their lives in this uprising that continued well into the 70’s.
Student unions were at the forefront of opposing the corruption and autocracy of the Indira government during the 1975 Emergency. Students led different language, nationality, and statehood demands across India. 1990s onward, with the introduction of neoliberal reforms, progressive student organisations have played a prominent role in opposing it. In 2019, when the BJP government attempted to enact the NRC and CAA, student organisations stood at the vanguard of the resistance. From the anti-colonial struggle against British rule to contemporary movements resisting the attack of Hindutva fascism on education and society, students have played a decisive role in mass movements.
This is how they are brought into direct conflict with the Indian state. This has often resulted in severe repression, including bans on student union elections in states such as Karnataka linking unions with violence in order to legitimise such repression. Alongside this repression, there has also been an alienation of students from politics, resulting in an overall setback to student movements. This has been caused primarily by privatisation of education since the 1990s, rising educational fees, the structural weakening of arts and science disciplines, the expansion of market-oriented education, and the rise of engineering colleges with placement-driven cultures that make careers heavily dependent on management, and rising unemployment. Together, these factors have increased the burden on students and systematically distanced them from politics. With the introduction of the National Education Policy (NEP), these conditions will worsen.
Karnataka has had an active ban on unions since 1989 while having the highest density of institutions of higher education. Despite Karnataka politicians like DK Shivakumar, Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri, Roshan Baig, Shobha Karndlaje, B K Hariprasad, and others starting out and rising in the hierarchy as student leaders in the ’70s and ’80s, they are continuing the ban. Only recently, after continued pressure from student organisations, a committee is being constituted to review the ban on unions. In Karnataka any dissent from the students is met with suspension and sometimes even expulsion. As the attack on institutions of public education is at an all-time high it is imperative to highlight the demand for restoration of student unions and student elections in Karnataka, rejuvenate campus politics, and strengthen student movements as a whole.
