Newly elected president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union N. Sai Balaji, speaking immediately after the poll results were declared on Sunday, said the victory of the United Left panel was the victory of the students who have stood together against the anti-student policies that the Vice-Chancellor and the Central government have been implementing for the past few years.
“We have sent a message across the country that is valid even for the 2019 general elections that if we are united, they stand defeated. If we come together, the fascist forces that do not believe in the Constitution and democracy will stand no chance,” said Mr. Balaji, who hopes that the unity of students against the attack on higher education will become a strong force across the country.
‘Keeping struggle alive’
He congratulated the students of JNU for putting faith in a union that would keep alive the struggle not only on campus issues but against the “hate propaganda” that he alleged was being spread by the RSS and the Central government. “JNU has chosen a union that will fight for gender justice and social justice and will raise voice against those forces that have scuttled the reservation policy and have shut down the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment [GSCASH] and replaced it with the Internal Complaints Committee [ICC],” he said.
Commenting on the friction between the JNU administration and the students, he said, “This students’ union is not afraid and will not be suppressed. Fine us in lakhs, file FIRs against us, put us in jail by filing fake sedition cases, but we will not relent until we get justice. We will not let public education be destroyed and replaced by the Jio model across the country,” he said.
Launching an attack on the V-C, he said the V-C will either have to speak to students or leave as the unity of the students will not let him destroy the ₹283-fee model of JNU by taking a ₹515-crore Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) loan that will destroy the university by making it unaffordable.