After a long hiatus, students at the state-run Osmania University and Hyderabad Central University are in a protest mood for two different issues.
The students of Osmania organized a round table on Monday, criticizing the circular issued by the university administration. As per the circular, gatherings, protests and sloganeering by students have been banned inside the campus. This decision came following the protest by students after a portion of a blade was found in the food served in the hostel mess.
The students have called the move undemocratic and dictatorial and an attempt to muzzle their voice.
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“Do the university authorities mean that we should keep quiet even if we are not provided basic facilities? This university has a long history of dissent and agitation against serious issues which matter to the students and society. The university management thinks that by issuing the circular they can wash their hands off the problems plaguing the university. Students across departments will fight tooth and nail against this circular till it is taken back,” said a student at the university.
Student unions affiliated with the Communist parties had already called for a bandh last week and the joint action committee (JAC) has demanded a rollback of the circular. The ABVP, a member of Sangh Parivar, also opposed the circular.
The matter reached the High Court which has issued notices to the University seeking clarification on the circular.
In Hyderabad Central University, a premier institution in the country, the issue pertains to a land bank that will be up for auction in the coming weeks.
The Congress government in Telangana is looking to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli in the IT corridor of Hyderabad to raise around Rs 20,000 to 25,000 crore. The JAC of the students and workers union as well as the non-teaching staff of the university have written to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to halt the auction, citing that the land originally belonged to the university. It was later carved out by the previous governments to utilize it for industrial development.
The JAC is protesting since it feels that the university is being robbed of its precious resources. Apart from JAC, an organization, ‘Save City Forest’, comprising of the city’s nature lovers, issued a press release opposing the auction as they reasoned that the city’s valuable biodiversity will be lost if the land is developed as per the vision of the government. They said different varieties of trees and wildlife will vanish due to the auction.
