Harnessing students' power : Significance of August 27
- Sangai Express Editorial :: August 28, 2013 -

Students power.

A new turn in the history of Manipur, with young people, especially students taking up issues confronting the people and taking the fight to the Government.

This central idea behind the annual Chaklam Khongchat (Hunger Marchers' Day) organised by the All Manipur Students' Union should not be lost to the people.

From women folk taking up cudgels against the powers that be, read the two Nupi Lans, to students coming out on the streets to protest the indifference of the Government, the social resources of Manipur have been proven time and again.

Manipur, of course, is not an exception when it comes to students power or students taking the leading role in taking up issues which are important to the people.

There are examples galore from across the world and one just has to look at the antiforeigner drive taken up by the All Assam Students' Union in the mid 80s and which ultimately led to the signing of the Assam Accord when the late Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister of the country.

That the Accord has been confined to the dustbin or that nothing substantial has come out of it, is a different matter, but it is a strong statement on how students movement can bring a Government to its knees.

It was the Hunger Marchers' Day of 1965, which ultimately gave birth to the All Manipur Students' Union and the important question is whether the students movement, as seen and understood then has moved along the right line or has been side tracked, with the passage of time corroding the principles and beliefs under which AMSU was born.

A question which may throw up some disturbing answers, but the right time to raise such a poser.

From a single student organisation, with a pan Manipur appeal in the form of AMSU, today there are numerous student organisations each with their own agenda. A sign that more student organisations are needed to keep up with the demands of the time, or something else, which may not be spelt out but understood anyway ?

Even as homages and tributes have been paid to the martyrs who laid down their lives in the course of a struggle, August 27 should be the day to introspect and study where student power and student movement stands today.

A worrying and disturbing trend that has emerged in the last couple of years is the growing tendency of some of these student organisations to throw their weight around and in the process defile the sanctity of the uniform they wear.

It does not exactly befit student organisations to summon school teachers or even Principals to their office and seek explanations for some acts of commission or omission.

Students should be students and this fact should not be lost whenever they take up a cause on behalf of the people.

It is not always the case that student organisations have been found wanting when it comes to taking up issues confronting the people.

They have done it and they are doing it and this is being manifested in the many drives conducted at Government run educational institutions, where many shortfalls have been exposed.

For those who saw it, students of Manipur University braving the brutal lathi charge of the police at the gate of Raj Bhawan during the month long protest, after the bullet riddled body of Tn Manorama was discovered in 2004, will understand the point that is sought to be made here.