SFI strongly condemns the mindless violence by the police, Rapid Action Force (RAF), and TMC
goons against students in Jadavpur University (JU) on Tuesday night. The condition of two students is critical. Students were demanding fresh enquiry into a case of molestation of a girl student in the campus which occurred last month. The enquiry process in the case had been seriously compromised after several enquiry committee members, instead of investigating the case, questioned the woman complainant about “what she was wearing”, “was she drunk” etc. The outraged students have been staging protests for quite some time now demanding justice in the particular case and demanding the formation of an institution like GSCASH to deal with cases of sexual harassment. The meeting of the Executive Council was scheduled to be held on 16 September. The students had organised a set-in and demonstration in front of the administrative building, and gheraoed the VC demanding the inclusion of two external members in the enquiry committee. But during their peaceful demonstration, a group of TMC-led employees’ union members tried to evict them forcefully, and even beat up some of the students. The Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakraborty showed a vindictive attitude towards his own students and called the police to evict them. The police indiscriminately lathi charged the students, and several woman protestors were molested by the policemen. 37 students have been arrested and 17 have been injured. In protest, the students went for road blockade. SFI has called for state-wide students’ strike on 18 September. The students of JU have called strike for an indefinite period. The students brought out a huge rally demanding the resignation of Abhijit Chakraborty, a loyalist of the TMC who was in the past chosen by the ruling party to hush up a huge financial scam in a B.Ed. College by holding a sham enquiry.
SFI reiterates the demand that bodies like GSCASH be formed on an immediate basis
in all colleges and universities across the country. Struggles for this purpose have been
taking place in campuses all over India in the recent past, including an important movement led by SFI in Pondicherry University. The latest violence by ruling class hooligans and the police has once again exposed the TMC’s intolerance towards any kind of dissent, and its evident contempt towards the cause of gender justice. The TMC’s attempts to crush student resistance against its policies using brutal violence will not go unpunished.
The Central Executive Committee of SFI strongly condemns the cold blooded murder of forty eight Adivasis, including women and children in the Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District (BTAD) in Assam. It is not the first time that the region is witnessing such gruesome violence. The National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) is attempting an ethnic cleansing of the area, by merciless massacres of the non Bodo population. Eye witness accounts of the activists from SFI who are trying to assist the affected people confirm the miserable failure of the state in protecting the lives and livelihoods of the people of the BTAD.
The Congress government of Assam has miserably failed in protecting right to life of the residents of the BTAD. There should be immediate action to curb the activities of NDFB. There is an urgent need to assist the people who are fleeing from their homes and villages, fearing further escalation in ethnic violence. SFI urges all progressive sections to stand in solidarity with the affected people.
V Sivadasan Ritabrata Banerjee,
President. General Secretary.
The world community is in deep shock and grief as Pakistani Taliban has once again trained its guns on school going children. The attack on schools which are seen as canters of anti Islamic values is a key tactic in the strategy employed by Islamic fundamentalists to create an illiberal and conservative society. Boko Haram, the militant outfit of Nigeria is also infamous for their gruesome attacks on schools, burning children alive, kidnapping girls and making them sex slaves or forcibly converting them. The Pakistani Taliban attack on the Army school in Peshawar has left 148 people dead including 132 children.
SFI CEC condemns this dastardly and cowardly massacre of innocent children. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the people of Pakistan. SFI CEC salutes the students who, through their nationwide protest actions stood in solidarity with the grieving people.