On the West Bengal Universities and Colleges Act 2017 and seeds of fascism
The West Bengal Universities and Colleges Act, 2017 was passed by the Bengal legislature in 2016 and is quite possibly one of the most draconian acts to be put forward into existence last year. The act gives overriding power to the state government in almost all major administrative spheres of the universities. The state now has the right to dissolve the Governing Body of a college and to appoint its administrator. What makes matters more absurd is that this (along with some other) clause(s) of the act don't apply to "minority" colleges which are defined as colleges that are "run and administered by a minority, whether based on religion or language, declared and approved as such by the state government". Keeping in mind the notoriety of the TMC party, this may in all probability be the Mamta government's way of sowing seeds for communal tensions in the region which will ricochet onto the country. It is important to be aware that it is not the minorities that are at fault but the state that is to be blamed.
The seeds of fascism in universities don't end there. If any college fails to comply with any provisions of the act, the state government may supersede the college authority for a certain period and appoint an administrator to discharge the functions of the college during that time. In essence, the law implements a sort of presidential rule that can easily be imposed on colleges which dare to dissent or step up against the invasive actions of the state. It is important to note here that the minority colleges are excluded from this clause. The state also has the power to audit the funds and accounts of every university from time to time. A clause that could have had a positive impact under a functioning welfare state but is extremely dangerous under a increasingly fascist government.
Leaving no stone unturned, the state also has the power to cause inspections of the affairs of the colleges (excluding the colleges run by minorities), including its financial and administrative activities as and when deemed necessary. A perfect clause to root out the "anti-nationals" from the colleges and enforce a high degree of compliance. The appointment of all employees of the university will be made by the governing body - the same body whose president and a few other members are directly appointed by the state. Thus the state has greater influence over college employment. Under successive governments, this clause can and has (one just needs to look at case after case throughout India) ensured that certain individuals, groups and castes face enormous obstructions to entering higher fields of education and are left powerless by the institutions that were created to empower them in the first place. Moreover, transfers for employees may be ordered by the state government under the new law.
Stepping over to exercising soft power on universities, the provident funds of all employees shall be held hitherto by the state treasury. The dangers of this should be obvious enough to avoid further discussion. The state may also revise and recommend the UGC recommended pay scales and it may regulate the expenditure of a university. There are also provisions to enforce attendance and codes of conduct on students and staff such as implementing biometric attendance. One does not need to be a Snowden to see the perils of this.
After all that has been mentioned, I believe that the worst and perhaps the most dangerous aspect of this draconian law is the political suppression of its students. I have held the view that Bengal and Kerala have for over a century been the seats of intellectualism in our country. West Bengal has seen the flames of political activity burn brightly even before its renaissance. It has given birth to worker movements, political ideologies and has also seen tectonic movements within its communities for better or worse.
Students have always been at the forefront of these movements and rightfully so as no other generation bears the burden of the future as the generations that come next. This political freedom is now under attack. The state through this act blatantly attempts to suppress any form of dissidence in student unions by directly being able to control its functioning. In essence the act, deems student unions (as student unions should be) illegal. The state has attempted to deem students and their bodies apolitical. It's motives are clear. It wishes to erase union power, the way Stalin erased photographs of Trotsky to reshape history and the future. During the watershed movements of the 70s, the question that was asked in the activist state of India was "Freedom for Who ?" The question we must ask today is "Unions for whom?". What is the purpose of a jar that can hold no water? And what is the purpose of a union that is non-partisan or apolitical? A union is political or partisan because of its workers that firmly believe in the liberating ideologies of their union. Thus, a union is political because it's worker are political. It is important to remember the contributions made by student unions to the liberation of India from threats both foreign and internal. It was not a Gandhi that made the Quit India Movement or a Tilak that made the Swadeshi movement, it was the unions that organized in resistance against British imperialism. It was the student unions that organized during the emergency when even the opposition was silenced. If these unions are rendered powerless pieces of bureaucracy, who shall resist the ongoing injustices and struggle for the betterment of Indian society? And more importantly who shall resist the looming specter of fascism in India today?
The push for unionization and resistance against the state must be shared by all of us. I am not a student of law but it doesn't take one to see the fascist tendencies of the act put forward by the government. Before being hanged, Bhagat Singh told the British, " Let us declare that the state of war does and shall exist so long as the Indian toiling masses and its natural resources are exploited by a handful of parasites". His words still ring true 70 years after Independence. The parasite has not been killed. It has merely changed forms. Resist.