PM Narendra Modi today attended the closing ceremony of the Delhi University’s (DU) centenary celebrations as the chief guest. Many colleges affiliated to DU like Hindu College, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College and Zakir Husain Delhi College have made it compulsory for students and faculty to attend the live telecast of the event. No black dresses, compulsory attendance, suspension of classes between 10 am to 12 pm were among the guidelines issued by some Delhi University colleges. Notice put up by colleges said that students’ attendance is mandatory and they will be given five attendances for attending the live streaming and it will be submitted to the college.
English Jagran reported student activists alleging that they were detained inside their flats and allowed to leave as the PM visited the university. “Citing the PM visit as a reason, I and AISA DU secretary Anjali have been held in detention at our flat and not allowed to go on the campus”, AISA Delhi President Abhigyan said, as quoted by the PTI.
The teachers and student organisations of Delhi University condemned the forced attendance through coercion, lure and advisories that preceded the Prime Minister’s visit to Delhi University calling the blatant use of administrative diktats to ensure a captive audience for the PM as nothing but an assault on the academic freedom of teachers, students and employees. They decried the advisories not to wear black clothes, announcement of extra attendance for students who attend the function, threats couched as advisories to teachers that photographs of attendees would be uploaded on college and University websites as revealing the mindset of the University administration whose only preoccupation seems to be to please their political masters.
The University and college authorities, however, maintained that they have only “requested” the students and faculty to attend the event .The Delhi University administration also clarified that they have not made attendance compulsory, adding the live telecast is being arranged so that those who cannot make it to the event can watch the same.
The teachers and student organisations of Delhi University took to social media (FB, Twitter and Instagram) with the hashtags #ModiVisitsDU and #All_Is_Not_Well to demand urgent attention to burning questions that plague the University as well as the country. The teachers and students raised important issues such as: the implementation of the FYUP with no grants, the withdrawal of grants and forcing universities to take loans from HEFA, the NEP and it’s fallout of increasing costs due to commercialization of education, the manner in which hundreds of serving ad-hoc teachers have been displaced from their jobs, the CUET which has further marginalized those who already found it difficult to make it to higher education, Old Pension Scheme for all, grants for releasing arrears and pensions to teachers.
Larger questions plaguing the country which needs the government’s immediate attention were also raised, prominently the situation in Manipur where the State and the Central government are mute spectators to the widespread violence causing loss of lives and property, the blatant protection of sexual offenders highlighted by the women wrestlers as well as the larger question of academic autonomy and freedom in institutions across the country.
The protest on social media whereby hundreds of teachers raised their voice demanding answers from the PM highlighted the fact that All is not well either in DU or in the country. The anti-teacher, anti-student policies of the government need to be exposed and civil society must be made aware of the systematic dismantling of public funded education in the country.
The PDF of the Joint Press Statement is attached below.