Is Student
Politics a
Waste of Time?
By Kamal Mitra ChenoyA
slogan in the student
movement shaking many parts
of India today is ‘Don’t be Silent,
Don’t be Violent’. This slogan is good
politics. Students are learning about
good politics (debate, discussion,
tolerance and democracy), the politics
of neutrality (look the other way) and
bad politics (use of force, sycophancy,
hatred of others, exclusiveness). They
can make a choice.
Student politics had a niche during
the Indian independence movement
against the British. Institutions like
Allahabad University, Aligarh Muslim
University, Banaras Hindu University
and others became invigorated by the
freedom struggle. In 1942, when the
Quit India movement was launched, ani^ photouniversity students, who joined the
struggle, were jailed and punished.
This tendency intensified and
widened in independent India. A num-
ber of political leaders were born based
on their experiences in student politics,
including jail terms. Clearly, student
politics is part of ‘learning democracy’,
asking questions to the establishment
and speaking truth to power.
The process of politicization of In-
dian students could not be contained
from the 1960s onwards as many uni-
versities and colleges began to be
radicalized. Many students joined
movements across the right, left and
centre. Senior leaders tried to get stu-
dent leaders from the universities into
positions in the political landscape.
In the 1960s and ’70s, colleges
and universities worldwide widened
the horizon of the most acutely
aware students and their teachers
(for example, the anti-Vietnam War
movement). Of course, there were26 february 2020
There is a view that
youngsters in our college
campuses are whiling away
their time in political activismCONVERSATIONS