Bhubaneswar: Various student groups are up in arms ever since the state government declared the cancellation of student elections for the year 2019.
The students of Ramadevi University Monday staged protests at the university premises and locked the main gate of the varsity. During the protests, the students burned photos of Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo.
Madhusmita Nayak, a student at Ramadevi, said that the elections were cancelled without the consent of the students which violates their rights.
“The college authorities did not even try to discuss the issue with us and that’s why we will continue our protest in the university premises,” she said.
Other colleges and universities such as Utkal Universty and BJB College had also seen protests of similar manner since August 22 when the higher education department decided that this year the student elections will not be held.
Earlier, students groups such as ABVP and NSUI had protested the decision and had gheraoed the Higher Education Minister’s residence Saturday.
More than 50 ABVP student protesters have been detained by the police so far. “Minister Arun Sahoo himself was a student leader. Now, he is opposing the same. Who gave him the right to snatch away the rights of students?” said Sanjay Mullick, another student.
“By cancelling the elections in the name of ‘safety and violence,’ you are only teaching the students to give up and stay in fear. Fighting the polls is the only way to establish a cleaner and safer system. Why is Chatra BJD silent now? Where are the most vocal leaders who believed in student activism?,” Sanjay continued.
“The fact is that, there is rift within the BCJD. On every campus, there are two or more groups of BCJD. If student union elections take place, there will be an internal clash between the 111 MLAs. So they cancelled the elections. But in my point of view, this decision will teach a lesson to the students and youths of Odisha, and now they will know the originality and guts of the ruling party of Odisha,” he said.
PNN
