STUDENTS’ FEDERATION OF INDIA
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY
UNIT
Unite against Authoritarianism and Stifling of Democracy
10.07.2012
A meeting of the SFI Delhi State Committee was
convened today to discuss SFI-JNU’s position against CPI (M)’s support to Pranab
Mukherjee in the presidential elections. The meeting was attended by the SFI
All India General Secretary Ritabrata Banerjee, All India President P K Biju
and All-India Joint Secretary V Sivadasan.
The 4 Delhi State Committee members from JNU
explained the rationale behind the political position adopted by the SFI-JNU
Unit. Unfortunately, there was no effort on the part of the All-India
leadership to provide any political explanations or arguments. Instead a tirade
was launched against the SFI-JNU Unit. The state committee members from Delhi
University and Jamia Millia Islamia, who tried to intervene and argue for a
political resolution of the matter, were coerced into submission.
The State Committee meeting has passed a resolution
by a margin of 8 votes to 4, expelling the 4 state committee members from JNU:
Roshan Kishore (President, Delhi SFI), P K Anand and Zico Dasgupta (Vice
Presidents, Delhi SFI) and V Lenin Kumar (State Committee member); and
dissolving the SFI-JNU Unit. It is to be noted that 3 Delhi State Committee
members of the SFI, including the Secretary of the Delhi State Committee, are
out of station and were not present in the meeting.
The SFI Constitutional provision invoked during the
meeting relates to the purview of a primary unit in taking decisions on
international and national issues. The SFI-JNU Unit has always adopted
positions on international and national issues over the past 40 years of its
existence. SFI’s Constitutional provision has never come in the way nor been
invoked by anybody concerned. Moreover, the SFI CEC has not taken any position
so far on CPI (M)’s support to Pranab Mukherjee or the other issues raised by
the SFI-JNU. Therefore there is no question of violating any all-India
political line.
The decision to dissolve the SFI-JNU Unit is
nothing but a mockery of the democratic processes of organization functioning,
as laid down in the SFI Constitution and a grave assault on the independent and
progressive character of a student organization like the SFI. The SFI-JNU Unit
has not indulged in any anti-SFI activity. The political position against CPI
(M) support to Pranab Mukherjee was adopted in a transparent and democratic
manner, after convening EC meeting and a GBM, which is the highest decision
making body of the unit. Neither did the All-India leadership of the SFI take
any public position on the issue nor did it make any attempt to engage with the
SFI-JNU Unit in a democratic manner.
The decision to expel 4 SFI Delhi State Committee
members from JNU because the SFI-JNU Unit has taken a collective decision on a
political issue, smacks of an authoritarian, undemocratic and vindictive
attitude. The All-India leadership seems to be under the misconception that by
targeting a few individuals they will be able to browbeat the entire unit and
divert attention from the relevant political issues. They are taking the
collective political consciousness and organizational unity in the SFI-JNU Unit
for granted.
The SFI-JNU stands by the principled political
positions it has adopted in the GBM and articulated through subsequent
pamphlets. SFI-JNU Unit will carry forward the legacy of Study and Struggle and
continue to function in the name of SFI-JNU and retain its adherence to
the SFI Programme and Constitution. It is the All-India leadership of the SFI
who have acted against the SFI Programme and Constitution. We appeal to SFI
Units across the country, SFI State committees and SFI CEC members to register
their protest against such violations and reverse the undemocratic decisions.
SFI-JNU appeals to the students of JNU to join a
protest march at 9:30 pm tonight from Ganga Dhaba against this authoritarian
and high handed decision of the SFI All-India leadership. We also appeal to all
progressive-democratic sections of the student community to unite against
authoritarian attempts to throttle political debates which would corrode the
legacy of progressive student movement in our country.
Sd/-
Arjun (Secretary SFI-JNU), Anagha (President
SFI-JNU), Lenin; Divya (Vice President SFI-JNU), Anshul; Rahul; Altamash (Joint
Secretary SFI-JNU)
