IIT Madras and Modi Government Play Big Brother, Ban Student Group
On 22 May 2015, the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
(IITM), one of the country’s leading academic institutions, ‘derecognised’ a
student group that had been organising discussions on campus that took a
critical view of the Narendra Modi government’s policies on a number of issues. IITM’s decision to ban the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle
(APSC) followed the receipt of a letter from the Ministry of Human Resource
Development in New Delhi which forwarded an anonymous complaint against the
student group and asked that the “comments of the institute” on the complaint
“may please be sent to the ministry at an early date.”
One week after receiving the letter, and without giving the
student group a chance to explain itself, IITM informed the APSC that it had
been ‘derecognised.’ In a statement circulated Friday afternoon by a fan
group of HRD minister Smriti Z. Irani on Twitter, the IIT Madras spokesperson said the student
group had been temporarily derecognised “pending their presenting their
stand to the Board of Students”, which “consists of all elected student
representatives.” The spokesperson said the group had violated guidelines
issued by the Board, without mentioning specifics.
The following is an edited version of the statement
issues by the Ambedkar- Periyar Study Circle (APSC) regarding the banning
of the group by IIT Madras authorities:
We, the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle (APSC), an independent
student body of IIT Madras (IITM) have been derecognised by the Dean of
Students (DoS), on 22 May 2015, who stated that we have misused the privileges
given by IITM. We were later informed that this move is based on a
letter from the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle was created as an
independent student body on 14 April 2014 by a group of students from IITM to
promote Ambedkar-Periyar thoughts and to initiate debates on socio-economic,
political and cultural [issues] which affect the common mass within the
academic fraternity… IITM has a long history of being a platform for
right-wing groups alone to propagate their own ideology and train young minds
for their intellectual wings through the Vivekananda Study Circle, RSS shakha, etc…
In the past one year, we organised hall meets, movie
screenings and pamphlet distribution among students and ignited debates on
issues like: agriculture under threat, Coal bed Methane, GM crops and their
impact on agriculture, the Industrial Disputes Act amendment, language
politics in India – past and present- based on the Sanskrit week
celebrations, the MHRD’s overt attempt to have a separate vegetarian mess halls
in IITs and IIMs, and the IITM administration’s move in replacing the name
board of the faculties and laboratories with Sanskritised Hindi. We celebrated
the birthdays of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar and organised talks on understanding
Bhagat Singh and the contemporary relevance of Dr. Ambedkar.
Through the platform, we created a space for the students of
IITM to discuss and debate issues directly affecting peasants, workers and
the common masses. The APSC continuously faced threats from right-wing groups
inside IITM. Even the administration tried to curtail our activities. In
June 2014, the Dean of Students, Dr.M.S.Sivakumar directed us to change
our name, stating that the names ‘Ambedkar and Periyar’ are politically
motivated and thus the study circle should be renamed with some apolitical
titles without any personality’s name. The APSC decided to stick with the
same name. We also pointed to the activities of right wing groups under
the banner of the Vivekananda Study Circle, but the Dean of Students (DoS) said
they have been using this name for many years.
For a second time, in September
2014, he sent a mail for the same reason stating that the name is polarising
the students. We clearly explained to him the motto of the study
circle and the relevance of Ambedkar and Periyar’s names.
In this scenario, the APSC celebrated Ambedkar’s birth
anniversary and its own first anniversary in April 2015 by organising a talk on
the “contemporary relevance of Dr. Ambedkar”. Pamphlets were issued on how
communalism and corporatism are two sides of a single coin which is tossed by
the present government against the common people. The pamphlet’s contents were
drawn from leading magazines, newspapers, and the writings of Ambedkar.
After this event, on 22 May, we received mail from the
DoS stating that “because of the misuse of the privileges” given to
your study circle as an independent student body, your student body “is
de-recognised by the institute.” However, his mail did not contain
any details regarding the privileges misused by the APSC.
When we met the DoS, he gave us a letter from the MHRD
with the subject matter
“Distribution of controversial posters and pamphlets in the
campus and creating hatred atmosphere [sic] among the students
by one of the student group [sic] namely Ambedkar Periyar” and which forwarded a copy of the complaint sent anonymously
by [right-wing] in IIT. The complaint letter – as mentioned by the MHRD
official – states that the “APSC is trying to de-align the ST, SC students and
trying to make them to protest against MHRD and Central government and trying
to create hatred against honorable prime minister and Hindus”. Based on this
complaint and the MHRD letter, the Dean of Students charged the APSC with
misusing the privileges given them and derecognised APSC.
We resent the fact that the DoS has derecognised our
study circle unilaterally without giving us a fair hearing and an opportunity
to represent ourselves. In our face-to-face interaction with the Dean of
Students, we have been told that our study circle engages in “controversial
activities” and violated the code of conduct of independent student bodies. We
are clear on the stand that we have not misused any privileges given by the
institute. So far, our activities have involved healthy discussion on
socio-economic issues on a scientific basis to promote the scientific temper
among the students, which is allowed by the Indian Constitution. We have not
been given a satisfactory definition of what entails “controversial”.
Further, we were asked to give assurances that we shall
desist from such activities in the future before the Dean can allow us to
restart our activities. We have also been asked to route all our activities
through the Dean’s office rather than the usual practice of routing all our
discussions, plan of activities and pamphlets through our faculty adviser. This
excessive scrutiny is unprecedented and does not apply to any other students’
organisation.
This clearly shows that only opinions put forth by the
right-wing groups will get consent to see the light of the day, while the
voices and opinion of democratic students like us will be curtailed hereafter.
Our discussions, meetings and pamphlets are meant to
kickstart a discussion within the campus among the academic fraternity. The
issues that we discuss are very important and define the way we live our lives.
IITM is a publicly funded higher education institute, whose vision and mission
should contribute to the upliftment of the common masses, who are the
taxpayers. Rather, the move from DoS, IITM says there is no space for such
opinions and discussions.
We strongly believe that what we stated in our pamphlets and
in the content of our discussions is correct as per the Constitution.
Therefore, action against the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle by the DoS, IITM is
undemocratic and unilateral and against the interest of the common mass for
whom the Institute itself is indebted; hence we are not accepting this decision
taken by the Institute.
Voltaire said, “I do not agree with what you have
to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.” We need a
democratic space within the academic fraternity to debate matters that affect
the common mass.
see also
The Broken Middle (on the 30th anniversary of 1984)
