The JNUSU alleges that the administration’s decision to make it voluntary for students’ to join JNUSU is the first step towards demolishing the students’ union in particular and a vibrant political cultural in general.
The New Leam Staff
Student’s politics has always been central to JNU but in a recent move to sanitise the campus and disrupt its political culture, the JNU administration has now made it non-compulsory for students to join the JNU Students’ Union.
The members of the JNUSU allege that this step was targeted towards sanitising the campus and making its politics matter less in the life of the university. They also allege that this is a first step towards demolishing the student’s body from the campus. The students at large and members of the JNUSU slammed the administrative measures and alleged that it was nothing but an attempt to depoliticize the campus and break student’s joint bodies. Earlier the practice in JNU was that the fees for becoming a JNUSU member was included in the total fees submitted during the registration but now the administration has made it optional for students to join the JNUSU and therefore paying the membership fee.
The administration is alleged to have come forward with a form that makes it optional for students to pay a fee of Rs 15/- for becoming a member of the JNUSU and giving a declaration if they choose to join it or not. This is unprecedented in the history of JNU and it being heavily criticized by the JNUSU. The new M.A. forms cost Rs 175 and M.Phil forms cost Rs 187.
Many students in JNU resist the decision of the administration and see that campus politics was fundamental to the way students learnt in JNU and developed as critical thinking beings.
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In the absence of any radical thought process, the right to resist policies, speak up against oppression and collective mobilize on issues- the entire process of education is incomplete. The administration’s decision to make joining of the JNUSU voluntary and permissible for students to not pay the basic fees for becoming it’s remember can be seen as a measure to demolish the vibrant political space that JNU enjoyed.
The JNUSU has condemned this step and sees it as an attack on the liberating potential of JNU as an institution of higher education.
