Vacate students’ union room or we will lock it, JNU tells office-bearers as protests break out

Students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University protested Wednesday after the administration, citing legal reasons, asked them to vacate the students’ union room by 5 pm Wednesday in order to lock it up.

The JNUSU, however, staged a sit-in protest at the office from 3:30 pm, preventing the administration from locking it. Students also screened Anand Patwardhan’s ‘Raam ke Naam’ in the office as a mark of protest at night.

In a circular dated October 15, Dean of Students Umesh Kadam said the “JNUSU for the academic year 2018-19 has not been notified by the university due to non-compliance of Lyngdoh Committee Report (LCR)… by the candidates of JNUSU elections 2018-19” and added that “the JNUSU for the academic year 2019-20 is yet to be notified”.

“To prevent the misuse of university property, it is decided by the competent authority of the university that the said room shall be locked immediately and the same may be handed over to the JNUSU after notification of the same… Therefore, it is directed to all concerned to vacate the room on or before 5.00 pm on 16/10/2019, failing which the concerned authority of the university will double lock the said room. The university will not be responsible for any damage/loss of items housed in the said room,” Kadam added.

JNUSU condemned the notice and said it would fight the “authoritarian measures”. “We would like to remind the JNU administration that the JNUSU office is not the personal property of the Dean of Students to allot, it is a symbol of the JNU student community’s right to representation and unionise, that is entrusted to the JNUSU,” they said in a statement.

“The JNU administration has, one by one, snatched away our public spaces for democratic debate and dissent, be it our dhabas, or the mess halls that are currently only allotted to the V-C’s political front on campus. The JNUSU office has become one of the last spaces where we can organise our meetings and discussions,” the JNUSU added.

Kadam, however, said:“If students have blocked the JNUSU office from being locked, it’s illegal. The office is the property of the university.”

According to officials, office bearers of the students’ union have always been allotted space in the campus since the 1980s. Earlier, the JNUSU office was situated in the old campus, but when Teflas (student activity centre) opened in the current campus sometime during the 90s, the student union was shifted there, where it continues to remain.

The space is used by JNUSU office-bearers for all kinds of meetings, ranging from a student council meeting, organisation meetings, and even meeting with hostel presidents. During the JNUSU elections, the space becomes all the more important, with the Election Committee operating from there. The first press conference, where the JNUSU presidential candidates make their pitch, is also held in the JNUSU office.