In a historic moment for the student movement across the country, students and activists gathered at the Ambedkar University Delhi (AUD) Kashmere Gate campus today for a Victory March.
The demonstration celebrated the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a victory achieved after an unrelenting 37-day sit-in protest and a 23-day hunger strike at Jantar Mantar by AISA activists, including Comrade Aameen, former CC member of AUDSC KP alongside renowned educationist and activist Sonam Wangchuk. Despite the celebratory and peaceful nature of the march, the AUD administration barred several students from entering the campus, including AUDSC KP Treasurer Comrade Vivek. The administration cited ongoing internal events, such as orientation programs and a Kargil March, as the reason for denying entry to its own students.
Furthermore, the campus witnessed a heavy deployment of the Delhi Police. This heightened security presence comes in the immediate aftermath of the brutal police crackdown during the July 20th Sansad Chalo March, where multiple AUD students and AISA Councillors suffered severe injuries from lathi charges and pellet gun wounds while protesting. Addressing the gathered crowd, Comrade Vivek and Mrinalini from AUDSC KP extended their unwavering solidarity to the nationwide movement and condemned the administration’s exclusionary tactics alongside the violent and brutal police crackdown across the nation.
Comrade Ali, President of AISA AUD, addressed the gathering to highlight how the systemic crisis in national education is directly mirrored within Ambedkar University Delhi: “The rot we see in the Ministry of Education is the exact same rot we witness on our own campus. From the continuous administrative crackdown on student activists to the scrapping of the PhD fee waiver and relentless annual fee hikes, university spaces ensure these policies are systematically designed to shut the doors of public education on marginalized students.” Com. Ali, President, AISA AUD
While celebrating the resignation of the Education Minister as a monumental testament to student power, we reiterated that this victory is not the conclusion of their struggle, but merely the beginning. We will continue to take our fight against the violent police brutality, release of all political prisoners including CPI ML & AISA activists Com. Dhananjay, Sandeep Saurav, Dipankar, Saba , repealing NEP 2020, scrapping of NTA and rollback of privatisation of public institutions!
