FEDCUTA PRESS RELEASE, 12.10.2015

The FEDCUTA condemns in strongest terms the intimidation of and attack on the teachers of the Barkatullah University in Bhopal by some students and a motley group a few days ago.  The teachers of the university were sitting on a  peaceful dharna at the call of the AIFUCTO on the occasion of International Teachers’ Day, 5th October, to draw the attention of the administration and government to issues such as the Sixth pay commission anomalies, the drawbacks of the new education policy and other demands.

This peaceful protest was interrupted and the teachers were heckled as terrorists, anti-nationals etc. When questioned by the press on this issue the local ABVP unit said that the students were not members of ABVP but they said that they were backing them because they ‘did not want another JNU on the Barkatullah University campus’.According to them the teachers were protesting under the AIFUCTO banner and that AIFUCTO ‘had backed Kanhaiya Kumar of JNU’.The FEDCUTA condemns these constructions of ghettoised nationalism and the attempts to impose these on democratic protests. We are of the view that in a university a space for dialogue on various issues and points of views should always be kept open in a spirit of mutual respect.The students and the motley group accompanying them did nothing of this sort and even went on to abuse the lady teachers present there at the peaceful dharna.
          
The AIFUCTO has rightly come out with a statement condemning this episode as yet another instance of growing goondaism on the university campuses.Indeed this goondaism increasingly complements what the eminent French thinker Paul Virilio has called ‘social swamps’ which develop in the context of societies moving towards hyper modern development such as the one we live in.These swamps are an outcome of lack of educational development and the lack of economic and employment opportunities in such societies.In the universities they foster sectarian ideas and ideologies and close off debate and dialogue which results in the kind of micro-fascism which we witnessed at the Barkatullah university. The FEDCUTA appeals to all the responsible political parties to take cognizance of this situation and come forward to condemn the violent incident at the Barkatullah university. The FEDCUTA also demands that the government take adequate measures to ensure that basic civil rights and law and order are maintained in the university campuses.

     Nandita Narain                                                                                                         Ajay Patnaik