Pondicherry University Students’ Protest Against Campus ‘Saffronisation’ Ends

In a major victory for the united students’ protest in Pondicherry Central University, Vice Chancellor Gurmeet Singh agreed to all the demands of the students, such as end to ‘saffronisation’ of the campus, removal of  curfew hours and provision of basic amenities like drinking water and Wi-Fi in the newly built Aurobindo hostel for girls. In a face-to-face discussion with student leaders on Monday, the VC promised to take action on all the demands within two weeks.

Over 400 students belonging to all major student organisations, including the Left and  NSUI, went, on indefinite strike with their demands. The RSS-backed ABVP did not participate in the protest, which took the form of a  sit down in front of the administrative block. Though the registrar and chief warden came to address the students, the strike went on as they couldn’t give any answers to the students’ queries.

The indefinite sit-in  began after the university authorities re-installed a board in the Aurobindo hostel which displayed a quote by him saying that, “That which we call the Hindu religion is really the eternal religion because it embraces all others”.

When the board was first displayed, a group of students removed it and wrote: “Don’t hang this again, forcing us to break it and throw off…#SanghismDown” and “This is a central university and not an RSS office to promote your religion here”.  The board was re-installed in the hostel by the university authorities. Following this, Wi-Fi connectivity in the campus got interrupted. Though the official explanation for this was maintenance work, the student community strongly believes that it  was the aftermath of the incident to block any kind of communication among students.

There is another similar board in the boy’s hostel named Valmiki, with a quote of the poet himself, saying “Then lest the people should repeat their visit to his calm retreat, Away from Chithrakura’s hill fared Lord Rama ever onward”. The students allege that these boards stand go against the secular character of the university. The  VC has now promised to remove both the boards immediately, the students said.

Another persisting issue in the campus was of an indirect curfew on students after 6 pm. On July 27, the University Registrar had issued a circular stating that no students can organise or conduct any programme in the campus without prior permission from the authority. The proper channel for this permission includes seeking  permission 15 days beforehand which effectively curbs any kind of resistance from the students. Students allege that since then, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad has been given permission to conduct programmes while other organisation were disallowed. This will also be addressed by the authority in the given timeframe, the students were assured by the VC..

A National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) team is expected to visit the campus on Tuesday, which is said to the reason behind the sudden response  from the authority. Earlier, the Vice Chancellor had requested the student body to give the NAAC only “good feedback” to earn good points. This had caused a stir among students as their earlier requests to provide basic infrastructure, such as drinking water were constantly denied in the name of fund shortage. But this has proved to be a false argument as the  administration had spent a lot in the past few days for beautification of campus prior to NAAC visit, including re-installation of the boards.