Over the past one month, many things have been said, for and against the student movement, some people have insulted and disgraced our professors and our university nine ways to Sunday, but we have managed to persevere. While we have received overwhelming support from all quarters of the society, we still continue to face opposition from a section that believes in political suppression and thinks that constantly imposing their "discipline" on us will eventually give them a win. I can't begin to emphasize just how wrong they are!
Before I go ahead with my rant, I have to trace the events that led to the student movement for the benefit of anyone who actually reads my blog (which I am sure is very few).
It all started on 28th Aug, during the university fest held by the Arts dept. A girl was dragged into the hostel (which stands literally about 10 steps from the fest venue) and molested by 10 boys. Her male friend was beaten up. No one knew what happened, and the fest went on, undisturbed even as the girl went home and tried to deal with the trauma, all alone. The victim's father asked for the VC's cooperation in this matter, only to be told to "come back two days later" and "don't send your daughter to college for a few days" and even "I can't take responsibility of their (girls') safety" by our 'honourable' VC. We students only came to know of this entire incident three days later, and then started a movement for the safety of the women on campus. This was not the only instance of violence on campus and the students were getting tired of these repeated incidents where the perpetrators went about scot-free. The student representatives repeatedly ran into various walls, trying desperately to get anyone to listen to them, but not many did.They started a sit-in demonstration in front of the administrative building, demanding an impartial probe into the matter, only to be told by our 'honourable' VC that it was beneath his dignity to talk to students, and that he wasn't getting paid to negotiate with students. That it would hurt his pride. In spite of this blatant insult, the students persevered and the sit-in demonstration, which was utterly peaceful, stretched upto 150 hrs. Then finally, when after the EC meeting on 16th sept, the VC and the EC did not even take up the molestation issue for discussion and instead branded the agitation as the "indiscipline of students", the student finally resorted to the only thing they knew that would put some pressure on the VC. They resorted to a gherao (i.e. refused to let the VC leave his office). They demanded that the VC come out of his air conditioned office and face the students and assure them that he will look into the matter and set up an impartial panel for the probe. The VC, who is a very 'honourable' man, flatly refused to give the statement. The professors who were negotiating, finally left the admin building at 1:45 am, after promising to come back and start negotiation where they left off. As soon as the professors left, completely unharmed by the students, who were singing songs outside the building in protest, the VC called in the police and Rapid Action Force (which is called upon only in cases of communal riot) to "release" him, claiming that the students were going to kill him!
Then he turned off the lights so the students couldn't flee and had the police brutally beat them up at 2 am in the morning. Many girls in that crowd were molested, one even had her dress torn off her back. Following this police brutality, 40 students had to be hospitalized, 2 were critical and one was in a coma for two days! 37 students were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location (which later was revealed to be the police headquarters) and released on personal bonds only after the students demonstrated outside the police station.
That's when the students, after having suffered for days, been humiliated, hurt, beaten, molested and finally accused of attempted murder by the VC, started the movement against campus violence and demanded the VC's resignation. The movement started trending on social networks... #Hokkolorob, meaning 'let the voices rise'. The country suddenly woke up to this clamour and this apolitical student movement found support pouring in from every corner of the world.
Moving on from the rather tiring narration of the outrageous turn of events, I would like to put forward a few questions that have been tormenting me for days now. Ever since the news broke of this assault, the situation has been made worse by our ministers and govt who shamelessly paraded in favor of the VC, throwing their weight behind the criminal, as is becoming their trend now.
But why?
Wouldn't it have been MUCH simpler if they just fired the VC and sided with the students? They would have earned some brownie points for standing up for what's right, and God knows, they desperately need any good publicity they can get right now. But by being the egotistical idiots that they are, they decided to show their powers (of muscle flexing and idiocy) and came down hard on the students, trying to crush them in every way possible. All I can say is, by doing this the govt has ensured that they will never score any votes from 99% of the student community, ever again.
What made the governor think that this pathetic excuse of a man was fit to be made the permanent VC of JU?
If anyone figures out the answer to that one, do let me know! The Governor is also probably playing his own game. He lets the situation go from bad to worse as he enjoys the show and then before the 2016 elections, his party swoops in with a very strong campaign, and the deliberate destruction of an university as reputed as JU becomes one of the major issues. If you want to be a saviour, then you need something to save, don't you? *sigh*
We, the students, haven't given up. One month on the students are still protesting, still sloganeering, still demonstrating and all the while being very peaceful. We may have lost some battles, which is inevitable when one is up against the entire state machinery, but we wont back down. We have seen just how low people can sink, and more importantly, we know just who those people are. The next election, we will have our sweet revenge. And for the university, we love it too much to let it slide into disintegration under this incompetent and cruel VC. We will take back JU, it belongs to us, Its our home and if we don't take the responsibility of keeping our home beautiful, then who will?
LATHIR MUKHE GAANER SHUR, DEKHIE DILO JADAVPUR!
#Hokkolorob
Before I go ahead with my rant, I have to trace the events that led to the student movement for the benefit of anyone who actually reads my blog (which I am sure is very few).
It all started on 28th Aug, during the university fest held by the Arts dept. A girl was dragged into the hostel (which stands literally about 10 steps from the fest venue) and molested by 10 boys. Her male friend was beaten up. No one knew what happened, and the fest went on, undisturbed even as the girl went home and tried to deal with the trauma, all alone. The victim's father asked for the VC's cooperation in this matter, only to be told to "come back two days later" and "don't send your daughter to college for a few days" and even "I can't take responsibility of their (girls') safety" by our 'honourable' VC. We students only came to know of this entire incident three days later, and then started a movement for the safety of the women on campus. This was not the only instance of violence on campus and the students were getting tired of these repeated incidents where the perpetrators went about scot-free. The student representatives repeatedly ran into various walls, trying desperately to get anyone to listen to them, but not many did.They started a sit-in demonstration in front of the administrative building, demanding an impartial probe into the matter, only to be told by our 'honourable' VC that it was beneath his dignity to talk to students, and that he wasn't getting paid to negotiate with students. That it would hurt his pride. In spite of this blatant insult, the students persevered and the sit-in demonstration, which was utterly peaceful, stretched upto 150 hrs. Then finally, when after the EC meeting on 16th sept, the VC and the EC did not even take up the molestation issue for discussion and instead branded the agitation as the "indiscipline of students", the student finally resorted to the only thing they knew that would put some pressure on the VC. They resorted to a gherao (i.e. refused to let the VC leave his office). They demanded that the VC come out of his air conditioned office and face the students and assure them that he will look into the matter and set up an impartial panel for the probe. The VC, who is a very 'honourable' man, flatly refused to give the statement. The professors who were negotiating, finally left the admin building at 1:45 am, after promising to come back and start negotiation where they left off. As soon as the professors left, completely unharmed by the students, who were singing songs outside the building in protest, the VC called in the police and Rapid Action Force (which is called upon only in cases of communal riot) to "release" him, claiming that the students were going to kill him!
Then he turned off the lights so the students couldn't flee and had the police brutally beat them up at 2 am in the morning. Many girls in that crowd were molested, one even had her dress torn off her back. Following this police brutality, 40 students had to be hospitalized, 2 were critical and one was in a coma for two days! 37 students were arrested and taken to an undisclosed location (which later was revealed to be the police headquarters) and released on personal bonds only after the students demonstrated outside the police station.
That's when the students, after having suffered for days, been humiliated, hurt, beaten, molested and finally accused of attempted murder by the VC, started the movement against campus violence and demanded the VC's resignation. The movement started trending on social networks... #Hokkolorob, meaning 'let the voices rise'. The country suddenly woke up to this clamour and this apolitical student movement found support pouring in from every corner of the world.
Moving on from the rather tiring narration of the outrageous turn of events, I would like to put forward a few questions that have been tormenting me for days now. Ever since the news broke of this assault, the situation has been made worse by our ministers and govt who shamelessly paraded in favor of the VC, throwing their weight behind the criminal, as is becoming their trend now.
But why?
Wouldn't it have been MUCH simpler if they just fired the VC and sided with the students? They would have earned some brownie points for standing up for what's right, and God knows, they desperately need any good publicity they can get right now. But by being the egotistical idiots that they are, they decided to show their powers (of muscle flexing and idiocy) and came down hard on the students, trying to crush them in every way possible. All I can say is, by doing this the govt has ensured that they will never score any votes from 99% of the student community, ever again.
What made the governor think that this pathetic excuse of a man was fit to be made the permanent VC of JU?
If anyone figures out the answer to that one, do let me know! The Governor is also probably playing his own game. He lets the situation go from bad to worse as he enjoys the show and then before the 2016 elections, his party swoops in with a very strong campaign, and the deliberate destruction of an university as reputed as JU becomes one of the major issues. If you want to be a saviour, then you need something to save, don't you? *sigh*
We, the students, haven't given up. One month on the students are still protesting, still sloganeering, still demonstrating and all the while being very peaceful. We may have lost some battles, which is inevitable when one is up against the entire state machinery, but we wont back down. We have seen just how low people can sink, and more importantly, we know just who those people are. The next election, we will have our sweet revenge. And for the university, we love it too much to let it slide into disintegration under this incompetent and cruel VC. We will take back JU, it belongs to us, Its our home and if we don't take the responsibility of keeping our home beautiful, then who will?
LATHIR MUKHE GAANER SHUR, DEKHIE DILO JADAVPUR!
#Hokkolorob
