The Political Category that an Indian Student is

The recent Jantar Mantar protests were like perhaps India’s chapter in the Gen-z uprisings all over the world against state apathy and governance distrust. The outcome in form of the cabinet minister resigning in wake of questions of accountability, from his post was attributed and rightly so to the youth from various walks of life, age, streams and regions who carried the weight of something as profound as resistance to governance failure on their young shoulders. Student activism or students shaping organized mobilizations and movements have been widely studied across disciplines like sociology and political science and yet they continue to amuse the state for their validity, legitimacy and effectiveness. We, as people, rightly received the anti-NEET Paper leak resistance and praised the force of the agitating students.

In the past, the West saw vibrant experiences of student activism in the 1960s and the 1970s. We fondly recall visuals of the civil rights protests that began in the United States in the and the anti-war demonstrations in Europe. Gradually, the movements in both western continents adopted a wider range of new concerns, that included the second-wave feminist issues, environmentalism, and global justice. Student activism is significantly remembered for its contribution to generating an anti-imperialist discourse during the military invasion of Vietnam. The organisation of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at the University of Michigan and its issuing of the famous Port Huron Statement created a critical opinion of the US foreign policy and the undermining of public’s trust by the administration. The late 60s also witnessed series of students strikes in the oldest University in Argentina, the National University of Córdoba, that put forth a political confrontation to the then practices of the military regime, suspension of the universities’ statutes of autonomy and privatisation of certain spaces, like the university cafeteria. These events in Argentina which traced their origins to the 1918 University Reform Movement in the same place, also later drew strength from the working class and women’s groups. In France, the year 1968 was marked by the revolt of angry Parisian students, who were eventually joined by a general strike, involving some 10 million workers. These protests initially began against the arrests of students in the Nanterre campus of the University of Paris. Many identified this wave as symbolising the youth’s despair, frustration, and alienation with the system and culture. Eric Hobsbawm once even commented that the end of the 60s felt like the world had come to be “global” for the first time and was experiencing the start of a tradition of “revolutionary internationalism”.

In the case of India, the political consciousness of students goes back in history, as early as 1920 (perhaps even earlier), when the emerging anti-colonial sentiment became an important catalyst in shaping their political presence. The same year also saw the first annual All India Student Conference that facilitated political coordination amongst student activists. Students played a significant role in the revolutionary movements as well as struggles like the ‘Quit India movement’. The question is, where is the Indian student placed today and how does the state view its relationship with them? Must we wait for the student to be responsive and vocal only when there is a grave situation like that national paper leak or we let them be participatory each time? It was refreshing to see how most people and even the most apolitical celebrities, public figures etc. endorsed the protestors’ demand for accountability. But when was the last time that as a nation we received student agitation for an inclusive and emancipatory education system with massive support and public empathy? Were the protests in the past led by student leaderships against privatisation of education, caste oppression on the campuses, gender discrimination, cut downs in fellowships or fee hikes seen in the same light as the present ones? Were the protestors with sharp discursive positions on political questions within India and outside not demonised and vilified? Unfortunately, in all events, present and past, protestors took the baton. The very recent visuals of police personnel firing an AK-47 Assault Rifle towards an harmless protestor remind us of why each protesting student puts a lot at stake while challenging the state (the personnel is reportedly suspended now).

Unless we do acknowledge all kinds of student political consciousness, one is afraid we would hardly recognise the larger and deeper onslaught on education and its commodification in the wake of neoliberalism and market fundamentalism. Education has become a “tradeable service” under the global framework, to which India subscribes to as a participating member. The Indian student, whether questioning the larger structural political system or a strand is resisting an education system that is reproducing alienation. But the alienating education is further a part of larger pervasive scheme of things- that is compromising everything from the learning, teaching as well as researching experience. The Indian student movement continues to face barriers like depoliticization of student unions, fragmented existence with their national and global counterparts and limited visibility in mainstream media.

In the face of this, the Indian student identity isn’t much about what their collective does or fails to do or accomplish but is more about the kind of system they must survive in. It is responsible for both- the perception about their identity as well as their politics.