By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
Thirteen workers of the Students Federation of India (SFI) have been arrested in connection with the attack on students including girls at the Madappally Government College in Kozhikode. Three among them have been remanded for 14 days by the Vadakara First Class Judicial Magistrate in a case of attacking a local trader. Other SFI workers, arrested in the case of attacking United Democratic Students Front (UDSF) workers, were bailed from the police station itself. Five cases have been registered against a total of 21 people in connection with the attacks inside and around the college campus.
Meanwhile, the brutal attack on girls on a public road by SFI workers has invited sharp criticism from several corners with the Kerala Students Union, the Muslim Students Federation and the Fraternity Movement protesting against the cruel act.
The SFI workers attacked two members of the MSF–Ijas and Ajfan–in the Madappally college campus on Wednesday afternoon. The same evening, they attacked Adil Ali, Salwa Abdulkader, Safwana and Thamjitha outside the campus on the road. Thamjitha is the Kozhikode district general secretary of the Haritha, the women’s wing of the MSF while Salwa is the Kozhikode district committee member of the Fraternity Movement. The local people who came in to help the girls were also attacked and a shop nearby was destroyed. A hartal was observed locally by traders against the incident.
The incident happened at the SFI stronghold of Government College, Madappally, in Kozhikode district on September 19. Some SFI workers called out Ijas, a student of first-year BCom, from his class. When he did not come back, some students went to search for him all over the campus. However, instead of Ijas, they saw SFI workers attacking Ajfan, a first-year BSc Botany student and MSF worker in the gents toilet around noon. Adil Ali and his friend Munavir tried to intervene and help Ajfan out but they were also beaten up. The boys could be brought out only after third-year students Salwa Abdulkader and Shahiya intervened and went in amid abuses. The SFI workers also reportedly threatened Ajfan against speaking when he was being taken to the hospital. Ijas (who also was badly beaten) and Ajfan were taken to Government Hospital, Vadakara. A leader of the MSF in Vadakara area, Mansoor Onchiyam, who had come to the college hearing about the attack, was also beaten by the SFI workers, and he too had to be hospitalised.
In the evening, Adil Ali and Thamjitha had a meeting with the Principal regarding an earlier SFI attack against a postgraduate student named Fahad (KSU worker) and went out from college around 5 pm. That was when some SFI workers attacked them from the road in front of the college. Around 20-30 SFI workers attacked Salwa, Safwana and Thamjitha, beating and pushing them to the ground. A few auto drivers nearby came in to help the girls, but they were also beaten. A few shops were also destroyed when the shopkeepers came in to prevent the attack. The injured students were taken to hospital by the local people when the police came in and lathi charged the attackers.
The police have reportedly registered seven cases in connection with the SFI attack on students and local people. Cases have also been registered against eight SFI workers in the complaint of the MSF and against two SFI workers in the complaint of Salwa Abdulkader.
In another development, students Salwa Abdulkader and Adil Ali, and their parents last day submitted a complaint to the Rural SP. The complaint asked to arrest the attackers, to document the testimony of the girls in the presence of women police officers, to file a case against the attackers for an attempt to murder and to conduct an impartial inquiry by a high-level officer. The leaders of the Fraternity Movement and Welfare Party were also present with the students.
The police should take strict action against the SFI attack in the Madappally Government College, urged Mishab Keezhariyur, state president of the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), in the press meet held at Vadakara. “Other students’ organisations were not allowed to function in the campus earlier. But now that other organizations are also becoming active in the campus, the SFI is trying to suppress them by all means possible. A second-year postgraduate student Fahad was attacked last week and the college authorities have not got ready even to receive the complaint in that matter. Weapons have also been collected in the union office in the campus, but the police have not taken any action on the matter despite bringing it to their notice,” said Keezhariyur. He added that the MSF would hold a protest march to the Madappally Government College on September 24 condemning the attack and asking the police and college authorities to take the necessary actions.
The Government College at Madappally has been the stronghold of the Students Federation of India for long. SFI was the only party functioning in the campus till about a few years ago. In 2014, a few students formed a collective named ‘Inqilab’, comprising of supporters of the Muslim Students Federation, the Kerala Students Union and the Students Islamic Organisation along with others fed up of the autocratic acts of the SFI in the campus. When they joined BA Political Science in the college in 2016, Adil Ali and Salwa Abdulkader along with a few friends joined the Inqilab and began to work against the SFI. But SFI workers physically attacked and injured Salwa and other Inqilab activists when they were holding a protest march two years ago, and this was widely criticized. From then on, Salwa was singled out and verbally abused several times, but she did not turn back from her struggle. There were no incidents of physical abuse last year. On September 5 this year, second-year postgraduate student and KSU worker Fahad, was attacked and hospitalized, but the college did not take any action on the attackers, according to reports.
“I will question the wrong, be it from whomever,” said Salwa Abdulkader to TwoCircles.net. “It is a sad thing that they (SFI) take things communally. They see me not only as a girl but as a Muslim girl. Whatever I say is framed as communal. They now ask me why I entered the boys’ toilet. And I tell them I cannot stand it when my brothers are getting beaten. They beat me first aiming to suppress me. But instead, we won elections in the second year and continued to contest in the third year. They are really angry at the fact that we are still active even after so many adversities.” Even after the recent attack, Salwa put up a very courageous post on the Facebook making her stand clear on going forward.
Following the Inqilab-example of an alternative to the SFI, student organisations formed their units in the campus. They could secure a few seats in the campus elections held last year. In the recent campus elections, the MSF, the KSU and the Fraternity Movement had formed their own informal umbrella alliance to fight the SFI. However, they could not win any seats in the elections held early this month. The SFI won all the 23 seats, including the 16 to which elections were held. “A few years back, there was no option for any other party to function in the campus, nor were there elections. But now there are different parties and elections at least,” said Adil Ali who is also a worker of the Fraternity Movement to TwoCircles.net.
Adv Fathima Thahliya, national vice-president of the MSF, told TwoCircles.net, “This is indeed a type of fascism; the SFI is trying to implement red fascism. We always talk about (the fascism of) the BJP and the ABVP, but this is another version of such deeds, and it can’t be allowed. How the SFI workers get this brave enough to do all this? It should be seriously addressed, or else will grow to a graver social problem”, she added hinting towards the attack on those who oppose the SFI and the contempt shown towards religious symbols such as the hijab and the nun’s attire.
