Guess who’s afraid of CAA-tested student power on campus? -Basant Kumar Mohanty

-The Telegraph

First-year undergraduate and postgraduate candidates of Jamia Millia Islamia began a boycott of their online classes on Monday

Most first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students of Jamia Millia Islamia began a boycott of their online classes on Monday, demanding reopening of physical classes amid a widespread feeling that the Centre wants them to stay away from a campus it deems troublesome.

Some commentators had earlier expressed fears elsewhere that autocratic regimes could misuse the so-called post-Covid “new normal”, marked by fewer face-to-face interactions and chances to mobilise public opinion, to put a lid on dissent.

Jamia had in 2019 been one of the hubs of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and witnessed a violent police raid on the campus. The Narendra Modi government has taken a stance against the minority character of the central university in a continuing court case.

All the central universities and IITs and most state-level universities have reopened in-person classes for all batches, but Jamia has resumed physical classes only for final-year undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The South Asian University (SAU) is the other Delhi institution not to have resumed offline classes but an official said this was because flight restrictions would till recently have prevented its large number of foreign students from returning to India.

A senior Jamia professor told The Telegraph the protests and the police action on the campus had been bad publicity for the government, and it therefore wanted to keep as many students out of the university premises as it could.

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