AISA Movement and Challenges ahead

AISA Movement and Challenges ahead

The last two decades have witnessed radical changes in Indian political and economic structures at various levels. Firstly, the neo-liberal policies of Indian state have deepened the socio-economic disparities in the society, strengthened the process of privatisation of education, fee hikes and heavily reduced the employment opportunities for the youth. Secondly, ever since the demolition of Babri masjid the entire state machinery has been mobilised, by the right wing saffron forces with their agenda of dividing the society along communal lines. Thirdly, the Indian politics was stormed by the question of ‘social justice’ and implementation of the recommendations of the mandal commission where the attempts were made to mobilise the upper castes to oppose the same.

In the decade of 1980’s in the course of our resistance to all these three trends, we were active in various campuses such as PSO in Allahabad, All Bihar students union, All Bengal students union and All Tamil Nadu students union. By the end of the decade on national stage while on the other hand left organisations like AISF and SFI seemed to have surrendered against rising communal forces and accepted neo-liberal agenda. Understanding the immense need to mobilise the student youth under the revolutionary left leadership with a Marxist-Leninist response to the three tendencies, AISA was established on 9^th of august 1990 at Allahabad. The revolutionary zest was reflected in forceful student movements that we led in Bihar and UP and by 1992-93 we won student union elections in JNU, BHU, Allahabad and Kumaon universities.

AISA led revolutionary student movement against fee hikes and job cuts by organising an ‘employment march’  of thousands of students from BHU to AMU in 1993 and holding an All India students’ parliament, gherao of Bihar legislative assembly and students strikes in various parts of the country. We also took the communal agenda of Babri demolition and protested against the activities of VHP and BJP leaders such as Ashok Singhal, Uma Bharti in JNU and BHU.  AISA was the only revolutionary force to take the upper caste domination head on and it was proved when anti-mandal protestors attacked the very conference in which AISA was established at Allahabad. We not only emerged as strongest advocates of reservation across the campuses but also exposed the pseudo advocates of social justice, who thrived on caste polarisation, by exposing the government education policies that made education expensive and unemployment rampant.

That we don’t believe in talks was proved by our intensified struggles for students once we were voted in JNU students union in between 1993-95, when we won deprivation points in favour of backward students. By the coming of vishakha judgement, we were the ones who started to argue that there must be a cell which can address the gender issues and the result was the formation of a gender sensitive body (GSCASH) in JNU. We strongly resisted every move to privatize education, against fee hikes in various campuses which we were in power.  Struggles on similar lines were waged in Assam, Tamil nadu and Bihar. And the impact it had on the rulling classes was seen in the way Comrade Chandrasekhar was shot by Shabuddin’s goons in Swian (Bihar) after which thousands of students across the nation gathered demanding immediate arrest of Shabuddin. How this martyr inspired students was witnessed when the students braved the police atrocities and lathicharge on April 1997, which wrote a golden chapter in student movement. Similar spirit was shown in students’ struggle protesting the firing on the students in BHU in 1997. AISA widened the paradigm of students’ struggle by aligning them with struggle against feudal oppression in Bhojpur, tribal struggles, struggle against state oppression in Kashmir and north-east and international imperialism in Iraq and Palestine and world over.

Thus, the dawn of 21^st century was brightened with student revolutionary activism led by AISA. We rekindled the secular ethos of student movement by daring the communal fascists and organising ‘Shaheed mela’ in their den, Faizabad (UP). Thousands of students across the nation joined and induced imprisonment by BJP supported government. We continued winning elections on regular basis in JNU, Uttaranchal, Allahabad and other parts of UP, Assam, Jharkhand and turned these unions into platforms of revolutionary struggle. On the one hand, in JNU we showed black flags to World Bank sponsored PM, Manmohan singh, while in Bengal we induced imprisonment for weeks for standing in support and solidarity of peasants from singur and nandigram. The continued struggle against YFE’s attempt to forestall implementation of OBC reservation across the campuses and for justice in the case of fake encounter of Batla house in 2008 has reaffirmed AISA as the champion of social justice and secular ethos of this country. We have also been the only force which aggressively countered attempts of the patriarchal forces to embark on ‘moral policing’ and ‘honour killing’ and DU is strongest example where all attempts of ABVP and other saffron brigades were constantly squashed. Students of present generation are witness to AISA’s incessant campaigns and struggles to expose UPA government’s  attempts to robe campuses’ all democratic rights and institutions and implement ‘virtual emergency’. Our sustained to restore elected students unions in all the universities have come at the expense of immense victimisation of activists by university administration. On 14-15^th November, 2008 students from more than ten universities sat on two day hunger strike on Parliament Street on the same issue.

UPA government on its second term is determined to put Indian education system on sale in the name of education reforms and thus it identified students union and radical student movement such as ours as the main centre of resistance. We were also in no mood to disappoint the Indian ruling classes and organised along with ‘All India forum for Education’ a national public hearing in front of parliament on august 2009. Earlier in the same year on 5^th to 20^th February, we organised a nationwide student’s campaign on the issue of right to education and campus democracy. Even in 2010 AISA led the most rigorous campaign in DU resisting college, hostel, Exam fee hike and organised 48 hour hunger strike on 27^th September on 2009. The sustain campaign against semester system, hostel eviction and labour exploitation in CWG kept the mettle of revolutionary students movement alive. We organised students a nine days long hunger strike in august along with UCD resisting CWG exploitation. Revolutionary agenda of AISA nationwide have groomed activists who are playing important role in democratization of society. Carrying forward the thoughts and legacy of Bhagat Singh and Chandrasekhar, AISA has given voice to the most progressive, creative and democratic spirit of students aligned them to the agenda of revolutionary transformation and democratising of politics and bringing them into an organized political force which has brought about paradigmatic shift in the discourse of traditional students’ politics. AISA has been popular stage to mobilize massive section of student community into various forms of political, cultural and academic activities. It has prepared students to grasp the challenges in the building of the revolutionary students’ movement by putting forward the sharpest analysis of situation and forms of struggle.

Lets walk as the destination has not yet arrived.

AISA’’s movement has attained youthfulness during its struggle of two decades. The neoliberal regime has converted the rationale of ‘right to education’ into ‘right to trade’ and has been bringing about bills which would completely transform higher education and dictate it according to the requirements of big corporate. UPA has played the role of shameless agent in selling our agriculture lands, forests, mines, mountains and mineral resources to corporate companies and is adamant to doing the same for our educational institutions. This is new economics of loot of our education and resources paid by the suicides of peasants, displacement of tribal’s and unemployment of the youth of India. UPA government as facilitator of this loot is in a mood to crush every voice of dissent. The students of various universities our country have experienced the terror of despotic suppression of democracy in campuses. In AMU a student was rusticated only for criticizing the VC on face book and more than one lakh rupees was collected as fine against minor charges last year. Last month, in Jamia Milia Islamia 300 students were not allowed to sit in exams for shortage of attendance in the courses which had never had any regular classes. Similarly, in BHU students were beaten up by security guards for assembling in more than five  numbers. In DU, fees are hiked by more than hundred percent over night has taken place on a regular basis without any consultation with students or their democratically elected representatives. By all this they want to control our thoughts, curb our dissent voice, and snatch our right to expression therefore squashing our dream of a democratic society.

AISA entering into 21^st year of its long journey reiterates its firm resolve to strongly resist all these fascist attacks on fundamental rights of students and carry on with our revolutionary pursuits to organize a new All India Students’ Movement for 21^st century. Come, let’s be the representatives of the dreams of our martyrs and as vibrating aspirations of millions of student-youths. Let’s repeat the words of Maheshwar: “Who else but us who can lay the firm foundation of new millennia.”

Ravi Rai, Gen. Secretary, AISA