PUDUCHERRY: The protests over the Pondicherry University administration’s decision to debar 11 students who led an agitation against the fee hike in February-March 2020 have intensified with opposition parties joining the student groups in a demonstration organized near Raj Nivas on Wednesday.
DMK MLA Anibal Kenndy, former MLA Neela Gangadharan of Congress, Sudha Sundararaman central committee member of CPI and General Secretary of All India Democratic Women's Association, Dev Pozhilan, former Secretary of VCK, S Balasubramanian, Secretary of CPIML and leaders of student wings of various political participated in the demonstration seeking revoking of the order.
The students are not only debarred, but are also prohibited from taking admission in any course offered by the university for the next five years. The university order, dated December 17, also prohibits their entry into the campus for five years and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 to avail their degree certificates.
The agitation would be further escalated through protests in all universities across the country till the Pondicherry University and central BJP government relent, said V P Sanu, National President of SFI, who participated in the demonstration. The enhancement of the fee by Pondicherry University is not an isolated matter of the university, but the fee has been hiked in education institutions like IIT, IIM and other universities across the country. It is the education policy of the central BJP government to make government institutions like private institutions by charging high fees, he charged. As of now only 27 percent of the students are able to pursue higher education and this high fee will further deprive students, particularly from rural areas and economically backward families, in pursuing higher education, he said.
The order issued 22 months after the agitation in 2020 not only spoils the academic career of the students by punishing them, but is also a warning to those who raise their voice against the decision of the BJP government, he said.
While on the one hand, the agitation will continue like the farmers protest till the order of Pondicherry University is rescinded, on the other hand students are now moving the Madras high court too, seeking justice, he said.