‘SFI continues to threaten us’

Thiruvananthapuram: The newly appointed president of KSU unit at the University College, Amal Chandra, said that the situation at the college remains the same for students who are not affiliated with SFI. Amal, who spoke to reporters during the release of P K Shamsuddin Commission Report here on Monday, said that there were constant threats from SFI members against him for the past two weeks.
“Students who are affiliated with KSU are being singled out from classrooms and constantly threatened that they will not be allowed to participate in examinations or study in peace if they support other student organizations. I have been threatened by members of SFI who warned me that they will ‘deal with me’ once the elections are done. There is also strong support to the SFI from Left-aligned teachers. Most of the teachers, who are being transferred from the college now, are those who stood by students like me, which suggests the influence these people have. There should be an atmosphere where students can focus on academics which is still not the case at University College,” said Amal.
A student, whose suicide bid led to the atrocities at University College getting exposed, also shared a similar concern. “The incident, involving a third-year student getting stabbed at the college, which happened soon after the incident involving me, shows that not much has changed in the college. We need to start viewing this as a social issue rather than as a political issue and only then can a solution be formulated,” she said.
Former director of student services at Kerala University, T Vijayalekshmi, shared the trauma of being verbally and mentally harassed at University College by SFI leaders and then syndicate member A A Rahim in 2017.