First time in 30 years, more than 500 from St Stephen’s College boycott classes

The students gathered around 10.30am on the Andrews Court area of campus with posters, banners, tambourines and umbrellas and read the Preamble to the Constitution.

On Wednesday morning, slogans of azaadi (freedom) and inquilab (revolution) rang through the corridors of St Stephen’s College along with words from Preamble to the Constitution of India.

Students from St. Stephen’s College, DU, hold a banner and raise slogans during a protest march in solidarity with Bharat Bandh, and against attacks on students, CAA, NRC, NPR, at North Campus, DU, in New Delhi, on Wednesday, January 8, 2020. (HT PHOTO)

Armed with posters, students of St Stephen’s, who usually shy away from political issues, boycotted their classes on Wednesday — after almost around 30 years — while voicing their dissent on issues ranging from the Citizenship Amendment Act to violence on university campuses.

The students gathered around 10.30am on the Andrews Court area of campus with posters, banners, tambourines and umbrellas and read the Preamble to the Constitution. Around 500 students and teachers, with women protesters at the forefront, attended the meeting that was held to talk about current issues, including violence against students and CAA-NRC issue among others.

While students said they had been campaigning and mobilising for the meeting for over a week, the turnout number was unexpected even for them.

“Though the turnout at the recent general body meeting in college looked promising, we didn’t expect this kind of support. It shows that students want to raise their voices against issues,” said Umara Zainab, 20, a third-year student of History.

Her classmate, Naumaan Anwer, added, “The narrative that the so-called best institutions of India are apolitical and have achieved their academic status because they are not politically involved is a problem. We need to change that.”

Voicing their opinions on violence at Jawaharlal Nehru University and Jamia Millia Islamia, which left several injured on university campuses, students said the recent incidents had prompted them to speak out.

“We are getting sucked in a cycle of violence and students on campus are being beaten up. This is why students participated in Wednesday’s boycott . Like other student movements across the country, this too was organic without any political affiliation,” said Raman Mohara, president of the college’s students’ union, which is not affiliated to any political outfit. “Reading the Preamble was to remind ourselves of the country our founding fathers envisioned and commit to the values of secularism.”

While individual students have been involved in different students’ led movements over the years, including the one on curfew timings in hostels, the collective gathering witnessed on Wednesday is one of the biggest in recent times, teachers’ said.

“After the Mandal agitation, this is the first time in 30 years that students of St Stephen’s went on strike and boycotted classes. Students are sensitive about political developments and after the incidents at Jamia and JNU, they are just as agitated as those in any other educational institution. The protest was also striking because it was led by female students,” said Ashley NP, associate professor at the department of English in St Stephen’s.

The students also joined a march from the varsity’s Faculty of Arts to different north campus colleges in the afternoon, joining hundreds of students, teachers and activists who participated in a protest organised in solidarity with the All India Strike. The protest march also saw slogans against CAA-NRC, violence inflicted on university campuses and on protesters in Assam, UP and other parts of the country.

Different trade unions had also called for a pan-India strike to protest against a host of issues include the government’s “anti-poor” and “anti-labour” policies. Boycott of classes was observed in other DU colleges such as Lady Shri Ram College and Miranda House. Unnimaya R, general secretary of LSR students’ union, said, “On Tuesday, we had called for a gathering on attacks on public universities and students. The boycott on Wednesday was a continuation of it and was also because of the strike.”

In order to express solidarity with students injured in Jamia and JNU, the students’ union of Hindu College also postponed its two-day literary fest, which was to begin on Thursday. “There has been violence around campuses and in such a scenario we didn’t want to celebrate the literary fest. That is why it was postponed,” said Ashish Kumar, leader of Hindu College students’ union.