Student leaders should have an opinion but they needn’t express it. At least that is the message the CPI(M) seems to be giving out through its decision to dissolve the SFI unit in the Jawarhalal Nehru University because student leaders opposed the party decision to support Pranab Mukherjee in the upcoming Presidential poll.
The party also expelled four student leaders from the SFI unit for for reportedly “indulging in anti-organisational activities and violating its line on national issues”.
The student unit had protested the CPI(M) decision to support Pranab Mukherjee for President: AFP
Protesting against the decision, SFI Delhi State Secretary Robert Rahman Raman resigned from his post, saying the decision was taken “without adequate consultation”.
Raman, who is currently on leave from the organisation for academic purposes, said he resigned from the post in protest against today’s “high-handed decision” taken in the “most undemocratic and apolitical manner”.
Taking the CPI(M) leadership head on, the SFI unit in JNU deplored the move saying there was no effort on the part of the party leadership to provide any political explanation on issues raised by them.
A statement by the student union added, “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 organisational unity in the SFI-JNU unit for granted,”.
It added that the decision “smacks of an authoritarian, undemocratic and vindictive attitude.”
The action by the CPI(M) came close on the heels of the JNU’s SFI unit passing a resolution criticising CPI(M)’s decision to support Mukherjee claiming that the former Finance Minister supported the “neo-liberal” economic policies which CPI(M) opposes.
After due consideration, the SFI JNU unit finds the CPI (M)’s stand to be unconvincing and not in the best interests of the Left and democratic movement,” the resolution said. Of the 46 members present and voting, 37 voted in support of the resolutio
With inputs from agencies
