 Hello and welcome to NewsClick. Today we have with us three of the newly elected representatives of the JNU Students Union. On my immediate left we have Balaji, who is the president and he is from ISA, is that right? And we have Sareka, who is the vice president and she is from DSF. And then we have Ajaz, who is the general secretary and belongs from SFI. So we are going to be discussing how after 50 years in the past there has never been such kind of violence, unrest in a campus like Jawaharlal Nehru. So we are going to be talking to them about why are these things happening and also about the elections and the victory of the United Left. So beginning from that, you know there have been attacks since 2016, not just right now or even before that. And the administration's constant try to curb the democracy on campus. So with all of that happening, how do you see this victory of the United Left? We will have to understand the victory in two simple ways. One, this election was not something, it was not an election between left and right. It was an election that was fought between students, EVP, vice chancellor and the government. All the students were on one side trying to save public education, trying to save JNU, trying to give a message to the Modi government saying that for the past four years you haven't done anything, Jumla or Hamla, and other things that they have only done is fund cut, seat cut, non-implementation of reservations and weakening of institutions or removal of institutions. For example GS Cass in JNU and other universities, non-implementation of sexual harassment committees. Even if they are there, they are puppet bodies. We have seen what happened in BHU, in JNU and other places. And more important is the funding aspect of public education, which has been gradually reducing. And the matter of fact is the best result which we have seen in this election is not about our victory, but the margin and the number of votes we got in science schools. The reason is this. The most impact of fund cut is felt on students who work in labs. And JNU is the only university I think in the whole world where someone can do quality science education at 283 rupees because their equipment costs a lot. The chemicals, the lab material, yet we have been able to find a model where everyone is able to study. Now, our Vice Chancellor is trying to implement a model of education that is on model of GEO. He has taken a 515 crore Hefa loan, which would mean there would be a fee hike for everyone. And the science students will have much greater hike because of the cost of their equipment and so on. And CSIR from past, I don't know, two years, they have not been funding any of their labs. Students are spending their own money from their pockets on equipment of their labs. The situation is bad. And the second issue is employment. First, you are not allowing students to study. And those who have somehow studied and have gone into the job market, there are no jobs. The promise of two crore jobs has turned into a joke. The government is only able to produce two lakh jobs per year, its own department, Labor Department has given the stats. That too is debatable, but yet we will have to understand. But the massive scale of destruction of this economy in the name of demonetization, which resulted in four crore job losses around the sector, has resulted in much more volatile situation for youth in this country. I think this election in JNU was a resultant of these all factors. So that is the reason you see the margin of victory is much greater than how much, I mean, the number of votes AVP has got. Because it was the message that they were trying to give to the vice chancellor and to the government. That was the reason, that is the sheer frustration why they are indulging in violence. Right. So how do you guys feel about it? What do you think is the same reasons that he cited as to why? Yes, definitely the same reasons, because as you can see, as soon as the ballot of the science school is opened, first of all, there is a councilor's ballot. There is a councilor's decision to win or not to win. Generally, the ABVP councilors used to win at least 2-4 times. But it happened for the first time that they won only one. And a lot of the left activists or anti-ABVP groups also won. They sympathize with the left, but they were not left activists. When this kind of environment started, you will see that since that night, as soon as the ballot of the science is opened, a violence environment is heard from that night. And in the JNU campus, this is the first time in history in JNU, that the EC, which is chosen by the students, has a complete faith of JNU. Because the election committee chosen by us, has the highest level of reflection of democracy. Because we choose our election committee through a GBM. In the GBM, not only the political party, if any common student, even one person, if they raise their finger and say that he or she is partial, at the same time, they are not allowed to become EC. When an EC is chosen in such a situation, you do not say anything that you are partial or impartial. Suddenly, when you see that your result is getting bad, when your results are getting clear, then you go to do the violence. It is the first time in history, where the counting is going on, the ballot tempering will not be less than the boot capturing. They try to do that. They sit inside and say that they want a reelection, they want a recount, and such things are said. But the way I have told the faith of JNU, the faith of the entire student community of JNU is based on their position. They say that the decision we have taken, according to the rule and regulation, ultimately the counting of the election lasts for 15 hours. But once they take that position, it starts again from that position. The allegation that they are partial, they reject such things in a completely different way. They do not do that and the entire campus is with them. So it is clear that in the campus, the people who were trying to create the environment, the people who were trying to say that they are partial, there is no violence in the campus. That is why when they start to lose, they are in all the violence. So you can tell us, and if you can also tell this a little, why the election committee of JNU, like elections are conducted there, why is it so different? When we see a lot of muscle power in D.U., what is different about JNU? First of all, I want to tell you that when we went into this election this year, we said that we have been in struggle for the past two years. And continuously, we also said that this is a very ideological battle, there is a right-and-left binary, there is an ideological battle there. After that, anti-student policies will be applied there, there will be a seat cut. A very big policy has been made by which we can never forgive Vice Chancellor. And there will be a lot of funds cut. Before that too, hip-phone, etc. All kinds of anti-student policies and all types of funds are being cut. Particularly, there is an attack of the Modi government on public education, or on liberal education institutions. You have seen that all kinds of anti-student policies have been defamed. Now, especially in JNU, after that you have seen that this is not the first thing that today the ABP has done violence. Before this, the Modi-Mahdi-Hoshton has done violence. We have the issue of Najib Ahmad in front of us. And this time when we went into the election, then it is not that the debate of the JNU-SU has done ABP violence. In that, the entire 2016 JNU-SU sector, it was attacked. It was handled by a man. His neck was torn. He was our female activist. He snatched his phone and went away. So it started from there. And it was a joke, because the students at the campus had totally understood what ABP's politics are and what the rest of the politics are. If we look at this year, ABP tried equally. That in JNU, if we look at the politics of the D.U. If we look at what actually happened there. When the JNU-SU was held, there was violence. There were dirty abuses. It was handled by a man. There were some women activists. They were called child ellipters. And after that, a different way of politics started. The first year's children were taken to the Mughal court. After that, the parliament was taken straight. And just like how we always say in JNU that our politics are different from the other campus. But ABP tried equally this year that the money, power and politics outside, we brought them to JNU. And they did that equally. But in JNU, there is always one thing that when a student of JNU goes, he sees, listens, consciously gives his mandate. What is different in JNU? What is different in JNU is the JNU's in itself constitution. JNU-SU. JNU-SU. He was a student who wrote his own constitution. He was a student who said that he will make his own constitution. Because the electoral process and the election process is clean and clean. And in that, no way of money, power, government, other things, there is no interference. The democracy of the campus, the in itself meaning of democracy can exist. And that is what we are seeing. From the last 40 years of history, the fear and fear of election. Our expenses, the election commission tells us that you cannot spend more than 5,000 on your candidate. And we have to give that return. We say it equally. We show our expenses. You see what is happening in D.U. In D.U. Film tickets are given there. Dinner parties are given there. And the concept of democracy from the ground, democracy, it exists in JNU. And it exists which was the internal mechanism there. Which was the first student there. Your presidential debates that is one of the most popular things in JNU. The essence of that is like you mentioned that attack on the public education, the public system. So JNU stands as a symbol for that. The first attack will be in such a big university. So as a JNU as a platform for people from different walks of life. Not just in academics to help them. But to give them a space, a platform to do more than just study. So I would like to directly ask you as a woman and as a left activist have you seen the struggles? Or have you seen the changes? You are from Kashmir, from the southern part of India. There are a lot of different diverse leadership. So what have you seen the changes in your experience? Have you seen your left politics or politics in general? In 2012 I came to BMA in German language. And like me a lot of students who come to BMA come from a constraint. Because if you see that if you want to study then you need more money. There is no hostel facility. In JNU where we are provided with an MCM for students. All those things give us a chance that we are not under loan. At least we are always kept as a burden. Just study so that you get a job in the end and you get a loan. All these things are not in JNU. In 2012 when I came to this campus I had no idea who has an idea after the 12th. But JNU becomes a platform and the leader as I am sitting here as a leader I have learnt all those things in JNU. So when I came in 2012 there was a way of discussing that people stay open all night and drink tea there. While drinking tea they teach you why you should do activism. The first thing that is taught in JNU is to question what you have learnt in JNU. Acceptance of things. Like when I was in school if someone is troubling you then they tell you not to say anything. Keep quiet. But in JNU it is taught that you don't need to keep quiet. If someone is saying anything then speak directly to them. You have an institution like GSCAS go to them. But keep your words assertive. You don't need to fear. Let's talk about freedom. Let's not just talk about security. I learnt all those things in JNU. In 2012 when I started activism I started with a movement. In 2012 if you remember there was a case of Nirvayak in Delhi in which JNU SU was leading that movement in that movement on 16th December at 12 o'clock in Delhi we were free to walk at night. Through that movement I came to JNU politics and when I saw that JNU SU is not limited to JNU it talks about many things. What we see in the movement on 16th December is that a Justice Verma committee is formed which gives a better report. In this report it is also written that GSCAS is a better institute which should be in the whole country but they don't implement it. Along with that two finger tests are banned. It was a huge achievement and at that time the government changed when Congress came to Bajapap the leaders of today when they protested they said that the Justice Verma committee will be implemented. Today they are going to be 5 years old. Justice Verma committee report is thrown in the dustbin. We have all these questions. When we learn politics in JNU we change ourselves and we also think that we should change the outside world. And we should find a institute like JNU so that everyone can study and become a person who has a dream of changing the society. Thank you. The place I come from is the hold of regional parties. But there is a strong left movement too. The civil society is the strongest and from the background I came to study in JNU I didn't want to do engineering. We have so much corporatized education so much commodified. You just bring marks get a job and your life is over. When a person comes out of such a situation I study in CBC till 12th and my graduation is in Delhi When I came to Delhi I was exposed for many things all of a sudden and I had to go to JNU for the first time and I took admission in JNU and the biggest which hit my political understanding because of which today I started my journey I would say 2008 financial crisis in my own house near my house for which the system was considered secure that you will give job security You study very well you will get a job and you will be happy for life. You don't have any tension your tension will be your wage and your house will be happy I was in front of my eyes I saw the house breaking and I am in Hyderabad so many depression in my personal life and in my economy I got to learn a lot that this system is not perfect and the journey of why it is not perfect I brought me to JNU and after coming to JNU all the married women were born in Modi country so you can understand that we were on the road from the first day we took FTI now from 2015 Occupy UGC Justice for Rohit Vemmula then in 9th February after that I got a seat cut then UGC's notification then after that I ended GS cash then I got my attendants then I got married today before becoming union president we attacked people so we thought the government is accepting us and in this country I have seen and accepted this and yesterday I was talking to a journalist why is every question asked to JNU on the media why does every question what does vice president think what position does general secretary have on Kashmir because in this country the community the first voice that was raised was for students and it came from the campus whether it was HCU or JNU from the first day we were their leader because from the first day we were anti-student and we had to go to society we had to do the job and we were against these policies that's why they hate us that's why they want to shut down JNU there is a special reason because we are exposing them and they don't want to expose themselves that's why there is violence that's why the media is captured that's why it is called anti-national so today the defense minister is the defense minister of the country but yesterday the defense minister became the defense minister so leave it there were many people for the MVP there was Venkain Adho there were three main ministers if the matter is not enough then the defense minister is also coming think about it there is a purpose for them to win but we have a life students should have a scope of employment that should not be the question that's why we are called anti-national so many people play the victim card right because you are also coming from Kashmir so do you have any extra double attacks or do you have any you tell me as you said I come from Kashmir and I come from South Kashmir obviously it is the most disturbing area so actually what I mean what I had been thinking is that I have a family but in particular my academic side was a support in which I got my degree towards left and all so after that after that I came to Jamal from Kashmir University so there I came with an active left movement I came with cleanliness then after that I came to JNU so I started in JNU it was very different I was the third university when we used to talk about Kashmir student activism there are different issues there are a lot of issues student activism the politics of students it was not like that when we came to Jamia there was a student activism when I came when I came at the time the four students were sitting together then as an active student we created JSM Jamia student forum through that we used to do a lot of cultural work but when we came to JNU we saw a lot of differences the common ideas are being expressed the opportunity to talk the opportunity to listen there is a culture in which people are told to speak what is going on in the society what is going on in the country what is the economic condition what is the social condition what is the issue of the gender what is the issue of the Dalit what is the issue of the rest of the Pasma Datap so if you look at it it has abruptly changed I came to JNU in 2016 but if you look at it because there is a government in the country which is a right-wing government so if you look at it although in 2014 a lot of promises came we will give the farmer a job we will give so much work we will do this for the public education so all that what was complete was a sentence and when after two years we see that we are not able to do anything so the first normal thing is the way our students are there comes a tab which reads, which asks and in JNU people are encouraged to do all this so what we read in our books we don't want to keep it limited to ourselves we want to explore it we want to tell it we want to bring it to the ground so if we look at it the first attack of the Modi government was on student movements take a look at Rohit Vaimullah's movement the way it was first attacked by public institutions because there were public institutions which believed in progressive democratic values and when the Modi government said if you look at the HCU if you look at the Pondicherry Central University if you look at the FTTI if you look at the rest of the universities the category which was called the leader of this which started to fund their education said against it so there was an attack and a media trial was run by JNU so that it was defamed so that the policies of our government the policies of our government the thoughts of our government were not raised on it it was defamed in this way and we have been seeing that for the past 2 years look at the issues of 9th February the other issues the sad thing is the security minister of the country there are a lot of issues in the country so does he see a campus for which he will come the institutions there and this is also a sad thing JNU is an institution it is a democratic institution which is set up our security the minister what is the institution what is democracy is it good for democracy so the second thing the second thing is the questions that arise whether it is about democracy whether it is about minorities whether it is about minorities the attack on public education from those questions the government does not have any answer so deliberately the attention is diverted the narrative is changed from the other side the binary of national and anti-national so that the questions that we are not able to complete will end so this is a good attack that is going on on education because JNU is in an academic way it is not the most excellent but the cultural and the entire environment the awareness of questioning that why activists why activism should be done all these things are going on that there should be a political awareness so JNU inevitably becomes a very big target for the government but with all this the future as ABVP also tried its best they have made all the ways so you also said it is not about left or right it is about these people anti-ABVP people and the common students so while you are going a public funded institutions to save because they are bringing these policies and these policies where they have done VCs the administration is also not pro-student the administration is not caring about students so how do you think that we can go forward with saving our education system for JNU I have a lot of hope because people are there but in other places where we are being attacked quickly so to get out of that how do you see the way for I think that the Prime Minister of this country is the CEO of corporate and my Vice Chancellor and all Vice Chancellor are the Vice Chancellor of Public Universities and the Vice Chancellor of Geo University why? because the children of some public universities will become like Geo or if Geo is coming then make a place for it if there is no place then make JNU a Geo so the answer to this is simple what is the farmer doing what is the labourer doing everyone is getting together one another is fighting with each other the company the worker, the farmer we are fighting with each other against the government's rules together I am saying this in a clear way whatever political party is watching this interview you gather the public to fight the public is together and fighting against the government now see how the government will be defeated because until the narrative that this is, that is there will be no narrative I am saying this as soon as a student came to this campus and voted against the AVP the Vice Chancellor the public came and voted against the Modi and the rest of the political parties whatever they have made and as per that I believe the one who burns the constitution is with the government today the one who saves the constitution and this time the election of 2019 will be won on the road so we can get down on the road and save anything or win I just want to add that we are talking about a unity there was a left unity in our campus which you saw was the pride of the students and a very strong pride so that unity was not a compromise we had certain positive agendas that we have to reclaim our spaces how our policies are being attacked to save that we will have to fight united so if I want to give a message to the opposition or the people outside then I just want to say that if there is unity then there are basic principles that at least we don't have the same policies because if we say as BJP has got a chance our decent is doing but privatization was not brought up by the BJP in congress Birla Ambani reports on selling our education so if you want to fight united you have to fight basic minimum things our education is health the way we privatize we are against that we have to position on those things that if a government comes then we have to forget that every poor person no matter how poor they are they get free education free health facility we don't have to compromise on these things but today the farmers the workers if you are talking about them fighting for them then you have to take a position see what happened in our country in the city of Delhi we went to the Jain to protest there whatever we do we don't talk about the campus so we went to protest there but the uproar should have come it was lacking if we compromise then our state will never improve in one thing students are the party of this government students will defeat this government I would like to say if you want to then you have to be with the principals and be sure that a dream to be made to reclaim that dream to bring that dream back to the ground when we were free then we were workers, farmers and students today the state is the same that the workers, farmers and students are on the streets that is the fight once again see the friends who told us today the fight and the attack is an ideological attack and the second is the policies that are being implemented now see if we talk about public education or about the students the way the MHRD and UGC policies are coming now see UGC, Gadget, Seat Cut it didn't happen in JNM it happened in every university now in JNM we fought a moment after that autonomy is such a dangerous thing that the entire education the idea of public education wants to end and this is a direct conspiracy that education should be commercialized education should be made capital the way we see in the market how much money is sold the same way education should be sent and after that now see the same way a farmer goes to the bank your land is there you take that much money similarly in education the public education the universities they are saying that you are free you can take the money you can pay that is what we always say education is our right it is not a privilege and giving education is the responsibility of the government the neoliberal policy which we call before this the Congress the BJP there is no difference both of them are following highly corporate policies the field of education is very impacting today if we agree the idea of public education is in danger and the idea of public university they say that they should be closed and the rich can come and study now what we are fighting as they said we want this fight is not empty at this time when you see the people in the struggle the policies of the women are being brought at this time what is happening in Adivas what is happening on Dalit particularly on farmers how many farmers are getting suicide how many problems are there or on minorities so we want when we go ahead in all these policies we always say that we don't want leaders we want good policies so when we go against these policies when we fight obviously we have to go to a broader left democratic progressive unity the farmers of this country the struggle of this country whether they are workers Dalit or minorities women everyone will have to fight and whatever the other political parties the democratic progressive principle we trust them together the policy of the Modi government we will have to fight we used to say our message our alliance was not an electoral alliance it was not an electoral alliance the ABVP is saying that every media channel is telling that this Mr. Vampanthi Sangat Khan because they believe that if the ABVP in JNM doesn't come to the alliance then we will defeat them but this is not the case we have criticized it for the category we have criticized it for the category because our alliance was a political alliance a purely political alliance that is the policy of the Modi government that is happening on the educational institutions that is happening outside it was against them and it was a message for the people of this country that we have to fight together only then in 2019 we will be able to go ahead the government any last points I say this time we have to win the people not the Indian people we have to win the people of this country anything ok so thank you so much for joining us thank you this is all the time we have on news click