Political patronage unconditional, SFI goes on to hold campuses hostage
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While being beaten up at SFI’s “torture room” on the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala on Tuesday night, all KSU leader San Jose could think about was J S Sidharthan, the veterinary student who had to reportedly endure brutal torture at the hands of SFI workers.
The public trial and torture of the KSU leader is the latest in the series of violence involving SFI workers. In a similar instance in Koyilandy, SFI workers not only allegedly hit the principal of Gurudeva College of Advanced Studies on his face but also issued a public threat that, if the SFI decides, the teacher will not be able to enter the campus on two legs.
These back-to-back instances of violence by SFI come barely a week after criticism came up in CPM meetings that Sidharthan’s death and the party’s inability to control its student arm cost it dearly in the Lok Sabha elections.
Armed with the unconditional patronage extended by the ruling CPM, a section within the student outfit has been on a rampage on Kerala campuses. The SFI, which had promised “self-introspection” after the involvement of its activists in Siddharthan’s death, is yet to walk the talk, if recent incidents in campuses are anything to go by.
Be it the manhandling of the principal or beating up of a KSU activist, SFI has emerged as the unquestioned perpetrator of campus violence, say academics as well as functionaries of other student outfits.
According to political observer and academic J Prabhash, lumpen elements have crept into the SFI leading to not only attacks on rival student outfits but also manhandling of teachers and heads of institutions.
“SFI has been at the forefront of agitations, many of them violent, for major causes and issues. However, the unrest seen on campuses now is over very trivial issues, often related to opposition to the functioning of other student unions,” he said.
On the CPM’s justification of the violence involving its student outfit, Prabhash said it reflects the lack of “self-criticism” or “self-correction” in the party.
“A communist party like CPM has not yet fully understood the requirements of democracy. As long as the party does not imbibe a democratic culture, this mindset will percolate to its feeder outfits,” he opined.
Prabahash said the unchecked violence by the SFI in campuses will also work against the interests of the Left democratic movement. “It is a paradox that Kerala follows a multi-party system, but in college campuses, only a single-party setup is allowed,” he said.
