On Saturday, the convoy of Bratya Basu, the Education Minister of West Bengal, ran over a protesting first year student from the Department of English at Jadavpur University. The incident occurred after a meeting of the TMC led West Bengal Colleges and University Professors’ Association on campus, protesting students asked to discuss the Union Election, which has been halted since 2020, with the Education Minister.
The incident occurred after a meeting of the TMC led West Bengal Colleges and University Professors’ Association on campus, protesting students asked to discuss the Union Election, which has been halted since 2020, with the Education Minister.
Alleging fund crunches and lack of facilities, the students reported that they were peacefully protesting demanding the reinstatement of the Union elections which would allow them to effectively communicate their grievances with the concerned authorities. The students were also demanding the implementation of a Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) on campus.
According to the students, the Education Minister refused to meet them.
‘He refused our requests and tried to leave campus. When the students tried to stop his car, the convoy ran over a protesting first year student,’ P*, a UG student of Engineering told FII.
According to medical reports, the first year student who was run over might have permanent damage to one of his eyes and legs, the students say. As chaos unfolded after this, protesting students allege that members of the TMC as well as TMCP, the student wing of the ruling party, attacked the students who were protesting, injuring many in the process. ‘When we went to the nearby Jadavpur Police Station to file a complaint against the miscreants as a collective student body, the police refused to take our complaint, demanding the names and phone numbers of all the complaining students, thereby making the process extremely difficult and endangering our privacy by making us easily identifiable,’ says S*, a third year undergraduate student of the Department of English.
According to medical reports, the first year student who was run over might have permanent damage to one of his eyes and legs, the students say.
‘The harassment did not just stop there,’ says P*. ‘FIRs have been lodged by the State against the protesting students. TMCP goons have tracked students down, gone to their homes and threatened them. One student has been accused falsely of burning the TMCP office and taken away by the police. His whereabouts are unknown at this time.’
The media disinformation around the Jadavpur University case
Jadavpur University, like many progressive and liberal public universities, has been historically vilified by the State and mainstream media to serve a political agenda. The initial media reportage around this incident on Saturday, too, was mired in misinformation and disinformation. A headline from The New Indian Express read, ‘West Bengal education minister Bratya Basu attacked by SFI leaders at Jadavpur University‘. Most news headlines mentioned how the minister was “heckled” and his vehicle “vandalised”. However, the attempt to murder a protesting student was tactfully left out.
‘Half-truths are always dangerous. The mainstream media’s malicious attempt to play lackey to the Statist forces is apparent as the existing media narratives are attempting to distort the actual truth and put the blame on the students.’ Ritwik Goswami, a student of History at JU told FII.
As the state of West Bengal grapples with staggering rates of unemployment, the media’s tendency to divert attention from pressing, real issues in the State to the supposed “hooliganism” of students who were protesting for their rights, shows a concerted effort to paint liberal University spaces in a negative light so as to turn the public consciousness against such progressive spaces.
‘The media’s vilification of Jadavpur, Jamia Milia, JNU and other such spaces has been a continuous effort.‘
–Ritwik Goswami, student.
‘This narrative is not only anti-JU, it is anti-progressive. The media’s vilification of Jadavpur, Jamia Milia, JNU and other such spaces has been a continuous effort. We have seen it recently in Jamia and also in JNU in 2016,’ says Ritwik.
‘There is an effort by the media to weaponise misinformation and disinformation to twist narratives. This is shameful,’ says A* a UG3 student of English.
Protests continue at JU, medicos join in
On Monday, the students called for a University wide protest and strike following the incident. After a Departmental General Body Meeting in the afternoon, the students of the English Department drafted a list of demands which included written statements of support to students from faculty, condemning the incident. Following this, a protest rally was conducted by the collective student body of the University, who demanded accountability for the Education Minister, removal of FIR against innocent students and the immediate reinstatement of the Union Elections.
‘We are fighting for our right to vote on campus and make our voices heard. We demand an immediate resolution of our grievances,’ a protesting student told FII.
The protest rally was also joined by medical students from various medical colleges in Kolkata. ‘JU had shown unconditional support to the medical faculty during the protest against the 2024 RG Kar Rape. There is a need for the student community all over to come together to fight State-sanctioned injustice,’ K*, an intern from Calcutta Medical College who was present at the protest told FII.
The need for the State to recognise the demands of the students
From the JU protests of 2014 during the Hok Kolorob (Let there be noise) movement where the students protested the brutal police attack on students who were resisting the authorities’ attempt to trivialise a case of sexual harassment in the University to the recent attempt to stifle the RG Kar protests, the TMC government had been instrumental in shutting down student-led mobilisation in the state. The cessation of the Union Elections and the attempt to scrap admission tests at JU, were among the many efforts by the State government to curb the autonomy in JU, thereby stifling dissent in any form.
There is a need for the government to create a space for students where they can address their issues and get speedy resolution. The authorities and the State must work together to empower students and solve their problems. The students at JU demand the government hear them out and immediately work to ensure that the University space becomes conducive to discourse, dissent and democracy.
*names have been hidden to protect identity.
About the author(s)
Ananya Ray has completed her Masters in English from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. A published poet, intersectional activist and academic author, she has a keen interest in gender, politics and Postcolonialism.
