The Killing Fields of Student Politics in India

Rohith Vemula is not the only incident. A look at the history of student politics and political vengeance in India.

The death of Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar from Hyderabad who hanged himself at his own campus, after he was expelled from the hostel has ignited a political storm.

Rohith was a member of the Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). Along with four other students from the same group, he was facing the allegation of attack on a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) – the student wing of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It all started with ABVP’s resistance to the screening of a documentary on the Muzzafarnagar riots by ASA.

From Activism to Ambition

While it is being alleged that two central ministers, Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, pressurised the university administration to initiate action against ‘Ambedkarites’ Rohith Vemulla and others, what lies behind the incident is the long history of violence, intimidation and political vendetta in educational campuses in India.

Student politics in India dates back to the pre-independence era when students were fundamental to any revolution, movement or change. From the days of the JP movement when students mobilized and shaped the movement on the ground, student activism and politics is now a breeding ground for personal ambition and political clout.

Money and muscle power hijacking students elections is an old story, what troubles political observers now is the use of student bodies to seek political vengeance. A look at history reveals the reasons behind this fear.

The Killing of the Olympic Hockey Star – 1983

In the 1980s, when Punjab was embroiled in the Khalistan issue, the daylight murder of former Olympic hockey star Prithipal Singh at the campus of the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana, sent shock waves throughout the country. Prithipal, an international figure, was an Arjuna awardee, a Padma Shri and the director of the student welfare programme. It is said that Prithipal was a strict disciplinarian who initiated a crusade to rid the campus of increasing violence between students’ unions in Punjab. No arrests were ever made in the case.

Stoned and Drowned to Death – 1996

ABVP supporters and a student of Devasom Board College in Kerala, Kim Karunakaran, Sujith and Anu PS found themselves in the middle of a scuffle soon after they landed in their class. Mercilessly beaten up by the rival students’ group, they ran to the college boundary wall and jumped into the neighbouring river to save themselves. The mob encircled them, gathering on the banks of the river, trapped them in the water and stoned them. They drowned because they could not swim. In June 2000, all the 14 accused were acquitted by the Additional Sessions Court, citing lack of evidence.

Professor Sabharwal’s Death – 2006

On the fateful day of 26 August 2006, 30-35 students belonging to Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad barged into the room of Prof HS Sabharwal (59), head of the department of Political Science at Madhav College in Ujjain, MP. The students were agitated because of his decision to cancel the students’ council elections. He suffered a cardiac arrest in the midst of the attack and died at the hospital next day.

The prime witness of the entire episode was a peon of the college, who witnessed the mob attacking the professor and how there were no attempts to help. Investigations revealed that the incident involved a former ABVP state president. All six accused in Prof Sabharwal’s murder case were later acquitted. The case is now pending in the higher court.

A Dream Chased to Death – 2011

Sixteen-year-old Swapan Koley, a student from West Bengal was assaulted and thrown into a nearby canal by members of a rival students’ union in 2011. According to the reports, Koley, bleeding from the head, ran out of the college compound to take shelter in the home of a local leader.

The assailants, however, chased him to the terrace and threw him into a nearby canal thinking he had already died.The revenge attack, as it was termed later, took place during the nominations phase of the students’ election in the college at Howrah. The then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya laid a wreath on the body of Swapan Koley and the cremation was followed by a round of violent clashes between CPM’s student wing SFI and Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool student unions.

The youngest of three brothers, Koley, came from a humble background and worked as a newspaper delivery boy to make his way to his dream of attending college.

Police Officer Shot Dead – 2013

Bloody clashes between the students affiliated with Congress and Trinamool Congress at Harimohan Ghose College in Kolkata ended with the killing of a sub-inspector of Kolkata Police. He was shot dead while trying to control the clashes between the student leaders and their supporters.

According to the media reports that followed the incident, bombs and weapons were frequently used in student clashes allegedly supported by the respective national parties.