A lesson from Bangladesh: Intimidating students is a recipe for disaster

Let us begin by citing a book called When Poetry Ruled the Streets by Andrew Feenberg and Jim Freedman documenting the experience of the French student movement of 1968. The authors were passionate participants in the movement in Paris that was met with brute force by the French state. Their account is infused with the reasoned emotional efforts of the students to kindle political awareness in society. Our contemporary history bears witness that youth and student activism has played a crucial role in questioning authority, demanding accountability, and advocating for a more just society. This tradition of dissent has been a powerful force, whether in the freedom movement or the more contemporary challenges and social injustices across the globe.

During the Swadeshi Movement in 1905, institutions like the Presidency College in Calcutta and Fergusson College in Pune became the important nodes of revolutionary ideas and activities. The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920-1922) saw widespread participation from students, who boycotted British educational institutions, opting for national schools and colleges instead, such as the Kashi Vidyapeeth and Jamia Millia Islamia.

The fervour of student activism did not wane after independence. The 1960s and 1970s were notable for student protests addressing issues ranging from educational reforms to political corruption. Seeking to address deep-seated, socioeconomic inequalities, the Naxalbari movement, emerging in the late 1960s, drew significant student support. During the Emergency, the Navnirman Andolan in Gujarat and the Bihar Movement, led by socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, were fuelled by student participation. These movements played a crucial role in mobilising public opinion against authoritarianism, eventually leading to the restoration of democracy. It was the student leaders emerging from these agitations who defined the contours of Indian politics for almost four decades that followed.

It is often suggested by conservative voices that politics has no place in an institution of learning. However, I believe that student politics is a mark of excellent education. After the regimented environment of school, college or university gives young people a newfound freedom paired with significant accountability. This autonomy requires them to make and own their decisions, fostering personal growth. They learn not only from academics but also from interaction with diverse peers. These interactions and experiences cultivate curiosity, sensitivity, and responsiveness to societal issues. Energised and idealistic, students develop a respect for difference and harmony, environmental concerns and social justice. This fertile ground of intellectual and personal growth naturally extends into political activism, with students championing democratic values and mobilising against inequality, discrimination and injustice, thereby becoming crucial drivers of social and political change.

The French student movement, often referred to as May ‘68, opposed traditional authority structures, both within universities and in society at large. Starting at the University of Paris at Nanterre, the movement quickly spread because students’ radical demands for participatory democracy and social equality resonated with workers, leading to a general strike that brought the country to a standstill. This is reminiscent of the protest of Jamia Millia Islamia students against Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, sparking a wider movement of Muslims against discrimination. It is in the same vein that students on US campuses protested against the Vietnam War or the apartheid. More recently, students organised sit-ins demanding that their universities divest from companies that support or uphold Israeli occupation of Palestine and called for a ceasefire. The resonances of student movements or students sparking wider movements are many.

Students are often the first to observe and articulate the discontent of society. They do not struggle to improve their own conditions only. Allied with peasants and workers, they have risen up for the recognition and strengthening of civil rights, they have been rallying against authoritarianism, and they have been at the forefront of social justice movements. This is what a student who has learnt well is expected to do by professors who teach well and aim to shape students into knowledgeable, skilled, sensitive and brave individuals who can live autonomously, with dignity and confidence. When combined with a wish to lift others from limiting circumstances, these qualities are the hallmark of a good leader.

What is distressing is that instead of listening to students, petty institutional administrators as well as the state seek to criminalise their wholly democratic, peaceful and deeply ethical protests. The students have had to pay a heavy price. Police and vigilantes unleashed violence against them and many have had to face suspensions and bogus criminal cases. Some of the best minds of our times are spending precious years of their youth behind the bars, if not making endless humiliating rounds of the courts. Others became victims of what has been rightly called institutional murder.

If pummelling young people into silence is anyone’s idea of politics or governance, then it betrays a deep sense of insecurity. Intimidating students into timid and submissive individuals is a recipe for disaster.

The situation in neighbouring Bangladesh is instructive. The immediate ‘trigger’ is an issue which signals exhaustion and impatience of students with having to compete for a piece of a small pie.

Looking at student action from across the world, including India, I can confidently say that young people have taken their role as citizens very seriously and have played a huge role in outlining the contours of a just and peaceful society.

Jha, a Rajya Sabha member, is the national spokesperson for the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and professor, the University of Delhi.