The Students Federation of India (SFI) on Monday demanded that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan and Higher Education Minister Roji M. John clarify their stand on the Governor’s order regulating student political activity on the campus of Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University. Addressing a press conference here, SFI state secretary P.S. Sanjeev said that the University Syndicate had rolled back the order following protests by the SFI.

“Such orders are the result of the Sangh Parivar’s agenda of not allowing politics that is not palatable to them. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is spreading its politics through the Governor, the Vice-Chancellors and Syndicates. However, they have realised that their student union ABVP does not have the ability to stand up to the rest of the political outfits, which has led to attempts like this. The CM and the Higher Education Minister should make their stand clear, else it can be assumed that they are in agreement with the Governor,” said Mr.Sanjeev.

He said that the SFI will lead strong protests if similar attempts to curb student political activity are made in other university campuses. “Every campus should have a space for students to take part in political activity. Some autonomous institutions have made attempts to curb politics on their campuses, but some have realised their mistake and reversed their earlier decisions,” he said.

“The CBSE is following in the footsteps of the National Testing Agency (NTA) which presided over the leaking of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test Undergraduate (NEET-UG) papers. The public education system in the country, on which the common people depend on to educate their children, is being destroyed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi who organises Pareeksha Pe Charcha has not uttered a word on these issues,” said Mr.Sanjeev.

The SFI also condemned the decision of the Idukki District Congress Committee (DCC) to nominate Nikhil Paily, the prime accused in the murder of SFI activist and BTech student Dheeraj Rajendran in 2022, to the committee.