Students’ Politics is conceived as an art of channelizing the energy of the youth and preparing them for the task of nation-building. It also seeks to sensitise them on the pertinent socio-political issues of the times. However, over the past few decades students’ politics has become synonymous with flagrant exercise of money and muscle power, nepotism and debauchery. In short, an ethical vacuum has resulted in the derailing of students’ politics from its purpose.
Many fail to perceive the root of the problem - a lack ideas and a clear-eyed vision among the youth of this country. A case in point is the recently concluded Students’ Union elections of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union. As of now whatever ideas you would seek among the AMUSU elections candidates the following were the ones you would get (tick the box):-
a) Please vote, support and dua
b) Tempo high hai
c) Jeetega bhai jeetega.
Over the past few years, this terrible drought of ideas have turned a coveted Institution like the AMU Students’ Union into a licence for running riot into the day to day activities of the campus. A pool of students’ leaders have come onto the centre stage who are oblivious of the contemporary challenges being faced by the largest minority community of this country (ironically whose interests they claim to represent). This has led to an incessant shrinkage of AMU’s role in the task of nation-building and turned it into a thing of the yester years. In their desperation in showing themselves to be concerned about the common students whose corollary is being antagonistic to the University administration, they have repetitively maligned the Vice- Chancellor of the University ( at times in language that crossed the levels of decency) pressed for illegal demands, and stretched out of the jurisdiction of the Students’ Union. The consequence of all the above acts has been vitiating of the peaceful atmosphere of the campus, and a pretext for the University administration to state that Students’ Union Elections leads to problems of law and order and thereby suspension of the Students ‘Union and denial of the democratic rights of the students.
However, it would be unfair to presume that the above mentioned problems are exclusively those of the Aligarh Muslim University. A cursory look into the students’ politics of the entire country would reveal that most of the campuses (even those which are known for its academic excellence) today suffer from a leadership vacuum. The neo-liberal policies that have been ushered in this country over the past two decades have resulted in the constant need of a workforce that would feed onto the market. Thus, the Universities have turned into degree vending factories manufacturing ready-made graduates. In such a scenario it is obvious that the political status quo would be antagonistic to the idea of campus democracy and students’ mobilisation as they have repeatedly proved to be threats to the ruling class in the past. Thus, what goes on is a farce in most of the campuses in the name of students’ politics. The thinking youth is tactfully kept out of the entire political process through the middle class squeamishness “politics is bad”. What is currently going on at the Aligarh Muslim University is actually a microcosm of the situation in the entire country.
The panacea to the above problems lays in active participation of the students in the political process. They have to rise above this culture of apathy in order to secure a better future for themselves. Coming back to AMU, it is essential that we reclaim our politics from the clutches of lobbyism that has eroded the essence of our Students’ Union. There is a need for more political sensitisation among the common students. The onus lies on each and every student who is a stake holder of the prestige of this great seat of learning. The task is difficult, but not an impossible one. With our joint and sustained efforts we can surely salvage our fading glory.
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