The assault on the people intensified as the Emergency progressed, and found reflection in the JNU campus as well.
The elections to the JNU Students Union (JNUSU) had been banned soon after the Emergency was declared. Hence the Constitution of the Union was amended through an Extraordinary University General Body Meeting (the University General Body Meeting is the highest decision making body of the students), and the terms of the office bearers were extended till such time as elections could be held. This was duly conveyed to the JNU authorities by the Union President D.P. Tripathi in a letter dated 24 September, and the University had transferred the Students Union funds to the Union's account. On 1 October, the Union President received a letter from the JNU authorities in which he was addressed as President, Students' Union, and inviting him to attend the next Academic Council meeting.
The administration had earlier tried to "do away" with the Union by declaring that membership to the Union would be voluntary. However, to their surprise, almost all students became members of the Union, thus foiling the attempt. And now an Academic Council meeting was scheduled to take place on 7 November to discuss the notorious recommendations of the Deans' Committee, which included the withdrawal of all the rights of the Student-Faculty Committees (see Emergency Files 02 for details) with regard to admission, making "A minus" the qualifying grade to be promoted to Ph.D. after M.Phil. (JNU has an integrated M.Phil./Ph.D. programme), the introduction of purely "merit scholarships" in place of the "merit-cum-means scholarships" (the latter took into account the family income of the student along with academic performance) etc. However, the administration knew that the Students Union would prove a stumbling block in the implementation of these proposals, and that the Union's activities had to be curbed to facilitate the authoritarian designs of the administration and the government in the future as well.
In early November 1975, a fresh wave of attacks began on the students of
JNU. Sitaram Yechury, then Councillor of the JNUSU (and today the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)), was
arrested on 4 November. On 6 November, the JNUSU was "derecognised" by the administration, notwithstanding the fact that the JNUSU was formed by the students themselves and not by the administration. On 7 November, the JNUSU President D.P. Tripathi was prevented from attending the Academic Council meeting. But he insisted that he be allowed to attend the meeting and to express his views, and the meeting was 'adjourned' before it could begin. In retaliation, an order was issued by the Vice-Chancellor on the night of the 7th, expelling Tripathi from the University. The very next day, four and half months after the Emergency was declared, D.P. Tripathi was arrested by the police.
Here is the pamphlet by 'The Resistance' which reported the latest developments:
THE RESISTANCE
The Struggle Will
Continue !
13 November 1975
In the last four months the University authorities have in collusion
with the police and government been launching one attack after another on the
students of JNU and particularly the Union office-bearers. The students have
been unitedly meeting these attacks and their determined resistance has foiled
all these attempts to suppress the Union and the functioning of the left and democratic
organisations on the campus. The latest round of attacks began on the night of
4th November when Sitaram Yechury (student councillor) was arrested
from his residence under Sec. 108 of Cr.P.C. On 6th November, the Registrar
informed the Union of its ‘derecognition’ by the authorities. On the 7th
they did not allow D.P.Tripathi, President of the Union and ex-officio member
of the Academic Council from attending the Council meeting. On the same night
Tripathi was served with an expulsion order from the University for six months.
Finally, on the 11th evening, Tripathi was arrested by the police
inside the campus in the notorious ‘Purkayastha kidnapping’ style. He has now
been detained under MISA. All these reprehensible activities once again
illustrate the hand in glove working of the Nag Chaudhuri clique with the
Congress bosses and the police.
Having failed to stamp out rising protest on the campus, one bunch of henchmen
of Indira headed by Nag Chaudhuri ‘derecognised’ the Union’ seeing that it
would not disrupt Union functioning, another bunch of henchmen headed by the
DSP, Hauz Khas Police Station have resorted to arresting Tripathi. We salute
Devi Prasad Tripathi for ably and courageously leading the students in the last
four months at such great risk. We are confident that the students will
continue to nurture and support the Union in his absence.
The main task of the student community is to preserve our democratic
forum – the Students’ Union. It is our duty to see that the Union functions in
a new way on a long-term basis in a situation characterised by severe
repression. This will be the most effective rebuff to the gang of desperadoes
ruling this country and administering our university. Their storm-troopers
cannot stomach the fact that a strong leftist union continues to function in a
university in the capital city. That is why in the past four months, 9 students
have been arrested under DIR (including the General Secretary of the union); 2
students have been expelled from the university. For this record of black deeds
the culprits in the University echelons will meet a just and fitting
retribution soon.
Prof Nurul Hasan, Union Minister for Education is visiting the campus on
14 November to attend the function being held to celebrate the tenth
anniversary of the foundation of the Centre for Russian Studies. On this
occasion to mark a venture in Indo-Soviet cooperation, we should like to remind
the honourable minister and the pseudo-progressives on the campus that they are
celebrating what Lenin called the “barracks method in the treatment of students
and liberal intellectuals.”
Concrete plans must be drawn up by mutual consultations amongst left and
democratic organisations on the campus to keep the resistance to the
dictatorial regime and in defence of our democratic rights growing and link
them up with action elsewhere. We appeal to the students to continue to
maintain their magnificent unity and unite with the karamcharis and democratic
teachers to further strengthen our common struggle.
(Please read
and circulate this leaflet widely)
(To be continued)
Emergency
Files - Earlier Episodes:
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