The SFI and the DYFI never doubted the goodwill of the bill even after the Supreme Court consigned it to the waste bin.Around the time the members of the Students Federation of India vandalised a private management school at Pampadi near Kottayam for its alleged abetment of a student's suicide, the rival Kerala Students Union was also protesting against the management. Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition members in the Kerala Legislative Assembly joined hands to pass a bill to whitewash the irregularities committed by the managements of two self-financing colleges in the state.
As an afterthought, the KSU and the Youth Congress condemned the legislation when it was all over. The SFI and the DYFI remained uncharacteristically mute. They have never doubted the goodwill of the bill even after the Supreme Court consigned it to the waste bin.
Why were the student and youth associations reluctant to challenge the political administration on the bill? After all they had shed blood in the streets to counter the private self-financing colleges. Have those associations forsook their roles to bring change in the educational sector? Have they lost their credibility?
The leaders of these associations were ready with justifications but all of them seemed to share the belief that the controversial bill was a misstep.
The SFI trajectory
The SFI, formed in Thiruvananthapuram 48 years ago, is preparing for its 33rd state conference. On Thursday, former president A Vijayaraghavan inaugurated the formation of a committee to oversee the conduct of the conference in Kollam.
Strangely, the student leaders would raise slogans to safeguard equality and liberty in the educational sector after struggling to justify the efforts of the government to regularise the Kannur and Karuna medical colleges. They would be protesting the privatisation of education and calling for an end to the commercialisation of education.
SFI state secretary M Vijin was not perturbed. "We believe that the two colleges are into the business of education. Still there are 44 students in those colleges who were eligible to gain admission to other colleges. The government opted for the legislation to help them. That is why we are backing the move," he said.
Vijin proudly flaunts on his Facebook cover a photograph of him presenting chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan with the leader's portrait. He, however, refutes the claims that the SFI has become too subservient to the parent organisation which is in power in the state.
"We were protesting against the UDF government because their policies were faulty. The LDF government, on the other hand, is following what the SFI had wanted." The student leader does not see any scope for an agitation during the term of the LDF government.
Nobody’s business
The Kannur Medical College, situated at Ancharakkandi, which falls within Pinarayi's constituency, is run by a trust controlled by a non-resident businessman, Abdul Jabbar. The Karuna Medical College is run by a trust led by Unneen Kuty Maulavi, one of the leaders of the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahiddeen. The college comes under the constituency represented by ruling MLA K Krishnan Kutty.
Both the colleges were audacious enough to take stands that subverted the self-financing college system in Kerala yet the ruling LDF did not think it fit to control them. Even the CPI members voted for the bill despite their claims to act as a corrective force within the ruling coalition.
CPI's student association AISF often claims it was more revolutionary than the SFI. "We had pointed out the problems with the bill earlier. That is why we burned copies of the bill in front of the secretariat even before the Supreme Court nullified it," said AISF state secretary Subhesh Sudhakaran. The association could not even convince its parent organisation though.
KSU on the wrong foot
When the SFI and AISF falters, it is hard to blame the KSU. Youth Congress state president Dean Kuriakose and KSU state president K M Abhijeet lament the fact that they did not do enough homework on the bill.
The KSU claims that it had drawn up a memorandum against the bill to be submitted to the governor but they could not do it before the governor flagged the bill.
Students associations in Kerala have hit headlines by insulting their teachers and even burning their chairs despite warnings from the chief minister and party bosses.
The anger is absent at the crucial moment though. They have no problem singing along the chorus to help law-breaking private managements by holding up the plight of a few meritorious students. The revolutionary slogans are forgotten for a while.
