NEW DELHI: “It’s not as if us minorities and youths are against the BJP,” said Shumaila Masood, a PhD student, during the lunch break at Jamia Milia Islamia University. The time is such that they ‘talk of politics more frequently than ever’, another research scholar, Neha Abbasi, cut in. Asked to articulate the reasons why they are not with the saffron, the duo list them out — state of higher education in the country and dwindling number of jobs.
“For a year now, we have not received our grant of Rs 8,000 per month. This is a government which has ignored higher education. There’s little or no facilities for those pursuing higher studies. Not enough jobs are being created. This government, which had listed job creation among its top priorities, is now facilitating brain drain,” said Abbasi, a PhD student of chemistry.
“The government needs to spend more on research. The government increased the salaries of MPs. What about students? What else do we have to bank on apart from stipends?” said Masood, who hails from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. He claimed to have not received her grant for a year.Ahead of the polling in Delhi, which is to be held in the sixth phase, students raised concerns on the ban on unions inside the varsity, cracking down on student community over dissent, increase in mess fees, funding cuts, pending stipends and poor hostel facilities.
What happens on campus bears a distinct reflection of the political climate outside, said Jatin Jain, who described himself as ‘Centre-Right’. The student of media and governance added that he tries to maintain an equilibrium of views through the prisms of philosophers like Louis Althusser and Antonio Gramsci whose works are among his favourite reads. “But there are aspects of the current political regime that are problematic. This government should be come out with detailed job data,” he said.
While several students complained of the shrinking democratic space inside the university, Shubham Rai, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) unit, said the Left units inside the campus play politics of appeasement. “The ABVP has tried to sort out the issues of Kashmiris. But the Left units try to use the varsity as a political space without being genuinely interested in issues of Muslims and Kashmiris. These units just try to portray themselves as secular.”
The ‘politics of appeasement’ seemed to have left the students a disheartened lot. With issues remaining unaddressed for decades, students have little hope of things changing on the ground.“Students help society move forward. But they (authorities) do not want students to move forward. For me, Congress, BJP, or any party for that matter, are all the same,” said Wasim, from Jammu and Kashmir.For some, NOTA (none of the above) option on the EVM is the only way to express their dissent against ‘polarization’ in the country. “We sit here and share our meals as Hindus and Muslims. But the outside world portrays us as polarised,” said Ankur Mishra, an MTech student who voted NOTA this time.