Mumbai: The students’ strike at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) entered the sixth day on Monday, after a public meeting between the administration and students on Sunday failed to make headway.
Fahad Ahmed, general secretary, TISS Students’ Union, said, “It’s our right to get the scholarship, and until all our demands are fulfilled, we’re not calling off the strike. Our fight is not just against the TISS administration, but this government as well. Prime Minister Narendra Modi played the OBC card in the last elections, but his policies are excluding students from marginalised sections from education.”
The administration has offered to waive hostel fees for SC/ST students of the 2016-18 batch. Prof. Shalini Bharat, acting director, TISS, said, “They will have to pay the dining hall fee as it is an actual, but it can be done even after graduation. The 2017-19 batch will have to pay both hostel and dining hall fees. We have written to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and the University Grants Commission, highlighting the issue being faced.”
Call off strike: notice
On Monday, the TISS registrar issued a notice asking students to call off their strike and stop blocking the main gate. The notice said that residents have written to TISS authorities complaining about the inconvenience due to the main gate being blocked, and noise by the protesters. It asked students to not take the law into their hands, and warned them that failure to follow instructions given in the notice will result in action against them, as per the institution’s rules.
The notice also said copies have been sent to the Mumbai Commissioner of Police and the Senior Police Inspector, Trombay police station.
In their response, the students said they haven’t blocked the movement of anyone living on campus. They said movement of essential services like school vans, food, dining hall and ATM vehicles have been unimpeded. They also has asked the administration to check CCTV footage to verify this. “Threat of action (including police action) is unjustified,” the students’ response said.
Mr. Ahmed added, “We’re conducting a democratic and a peaceful protest to protect our constitutional rights.”
Students started an online campaign on Sunday with the hashtag #injusTISS, as well as a Facebook page and Twitter account dedicated to the protest, as support has poured in from across the country. Students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi University and Aligarh Muslim University staged protests on Monday outside the MHRD to express solidarity with TISS students.
