Student Election in Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU)

To

Dr. M. Veerappa Moily
Hon'ble Union Minister for Law and Justice
Government of India
4th Floor, A-Wing,
Shastri Bhawan,
New Delhi-110 001
Email: vmoily@kar.nic.in

Subject-Student Election in Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU)

Sir,

On behalf of the student of Jawaharlal Nehru University [JNU], we wish to draw your urgent attention towards the stay order on the election of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union passed on 24.10.2008 by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The subsequent bench of the Hon’ble Court itself recognized in its order dated 11.11.2009 that the said order is an interference in the Fundamental Right of Expression and forming an Association and it observed “the case may be placed before the Hon'ble Chief Justice for referring the questions before the Constitution Bench.”

Hon’ble Court averred, “There is broad separation of powers under the Constitution, and hence one organ of the State should not encroach into the domain of another organ.”

The stay on the JNU’s student union election is resulting in gradual non-participation of students in the matters of public and national interest. The vibrant and lively political culture which had developed in the University campus as a consequence is under erosion. Everybody feels that it is necessary to revive the student’s union at the earliest.

JNU is the only university in the country where students conduct their own elections in accordance with their Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union (JNUSU) Constitution framed by the students themselves, without any support, control or interference of any kind from the university administration or from any of its departments. This process of conducting elections has been in vogue for more than 37 years. Elections are highly structured and regulated. The elections are conducted peacefully, harmoniously and on the basis of self-imposed discipline as given in the JNUSU Constitution and the Code of Conduct which is made applicable by the JNUSU Election Committee when the elections are announced.

It is acknowledged by the University Authorities as well as eminent people in different walks of life. Lyngodh Committee which was looking into the vice of money and muscle power in student election, made several recommendations to the Supreme Court wherein it recognized the JNUSU as a role model. The Supreme Court instead of looking at the real issue, stayed the student’s elections nearly two years back.

The JNUSU’s Constitution, Code of Conduct and Grievance Redressal Mechanism are more democratic and evolved than elections conducted elsewhere. It is consensual in nature and is protected by Article 19 of the Constitution: forming an association and following a method based on certain ideas/ ideals/views which are covered by the Freedom of Expression.

In view of the fact that keeping student elections in abeyance does not appear rational, we submit that the law officers of the government may be suitably instructed to ensure hearing of this matter expeditiously so that the elections are conducted in the JNU at the earliest.

Yours faithfully

Appeal to the JNU Student Community

Please sign on this appeal & tell your friends too


Appeal to the JNU Student Community

Dear friends,

One is witness to perhaps an unprecedented division among the student community in recent memory of JNU. In a context where the supreme interest of student community is at stake as a consequence of the stay on the JNUSU elections, absence of due process within the Joint Struggle Committee and engineered fracture in the student’s unity, we are making an appeal for unanimous action henceforth.

Amidst a manifest conflict between the optimists and pessimists of the campus, the undersigned call upon the student community to ensure that only those resolutions are placed before the 9th Feb. 2010 University General Body Meeting (UGBM) which can be passed unanimously. There are precedents for the same. This would strengthen the resolve of the entire student community to stand firm in face of the irrational and unconstitutional stay on the JNUSU elections. We are in an extra-ordinary situation akin to those instances wherein the most fractured legislatures both in India and in the world have passed unanimous resolutions. We demand that an all party meeting/JSC meeting should be convened urgently to finalize the text of teh resolution before the UGBM.

While this is an appeal for the entire JNU student community, it is primarily aimed at those students who are not affiliated to the political organizations. This is especially an invitation to those students who have so far been deprived the opportunity to participate in the student election process and to enrich JNU’s vibrant culture.

Saintly and sane interventions and conscience keepers have a role even in JNU campus. We invite the student community to endorse this call for unity for unanimity and for a consensual future course of political and legal action.

Signatures

Reclaim the Supremacy of the Joint Struggle Committee of JNU

Reclaim the Supremacy of the Joint Struggle Committee

The current Solicitor General for India has given a puzzle to the JNU student community to solve. One must appreciate and acknowledge that so far our Joint Struggle Committee has shown earth shaking patience and wisdom in dealing with the poser from Government of India through him. What Solicitor General for India has failed to achieve is to make JNU students perfect conformists. As JNU student community we are at times so self critical that we fail to discern how we have put the legal acumen of the apex court and government of India under rigorous scrutiny.
Be the witness of these historic moments but do not let impatience of any sort nullify our combined achievements. It is good to be argumentative but beware of the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious and the unsocial. Do recollect what Marcus Aurelius (105 BC) says in Meditations, "Constantly bring to thy recollection those who have complained greatly about anything, those who have been most conspicuous by the greatest fame or misfortunes or enmities or fortunes of any kind: then think where are they all now? Smoke and ash and a tale, or not even a tale."

We must take constant cognizance of the Joint Struggle Committee which has been constituted by the students of JNU through a University General Body Meeting on 25th October 2008. The Resolution of this UGBM reads:

This UGBM expresses its distress at the Supreme Court order to stay the JNUSU election process for non-conformity to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. This UGBM resolves to defend the JNUSU Constitution and our unique election process. To carry forward this struggle in a united manner, this UGBM convenes a joint struggle committee: The Committee should be convened by the existing JNUSU Council, and should comprise of the existing JNUSU Council, two representatives from each student organization and concerned individuals…All future decisions and endeavours to defend the JNUSU Constitution and our unique election process, must be taken by this Committee. The decisions taken by this Committee will be final. No unilateralism should be shown at this juncture from any quarter…This UGBM empowers the Committee to decide on all appropriate actions in the future course of struggle.

The relevant prayers (ad verbatim) of the Joint Struggle Committee in the Supreme Court is as under:

PRAYER
That in view of the above, this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to :

(i) Accept the submissions/suggestions of the Joint Struggle Committee of which JNUSU is a part and vacate the stay order passed on 24.10.2008.

(ii)Accept the apology for not bringing the suggestions/views of JNUSU on the Lyngdoh Committee for consideration of this Hon’ble Court earlier.

What is missing from the debate is the audit of the work done by the Joint Struggle Committee of students of JNU which consists of JNUSU and student organizations i.e. AIDSO, AISA, AISF, ABVP, DSU, PSU, NSUI and SFI. What merits attention is to ensure that no miscreant succeeds in diluting and undermining the mandate of the Joint Struggle Committee. Under the extraordinary circumstances with which the JNU student community is faced with what today’s UGBM must do among other things is to empower the Joint Struggle Committee so that its supremacy over JNUSU and other student organisations remains intact. Do "Remember the arguments by which it has been proved that the world is a kind of political community, and be quiet at last", says Marcus Aurelius. As a student community we are one and we are faced with the whims and fancies of the nation- states and non-nation states, we must use our intellectual capital and the social capital to safeguard JNU as a place to cherish for generations to come. In literature we note that in crisis a character evolves, in the current crisis too JNU student community would evolve to inject motion in stagnant entities. We must salute the work done by the Joint Struggle Committee and tell them in the words of a poet ,

"If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;....

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools",

JNU student community would have gained the trust (amidst the flood of ulterior motives of political outfits) in themselves to take on the might of both the states and non-states and still remain resilient to be ready for the next struggle. Attempts to prove the student community incompetent must be defeated under the leadership of the Joint Struggle Committee, to solve the riddle and to bring back the normal democratic process that has the historical legacy of giving befitting reply to the lethal designs.

----- Gopal Krishna, Prakash K Ray, Shashank Y

Drafted on 4 December, 2010