By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Protesting the rustication orders of the Jawaharlal Nehru University administration on Wednesday, the university students’ union leaders including the union president Sandeep Singh have sit on hunger strike.
On February 25 five student leaders, including three office bearers of the JNU Students’ Union were served show-cause notices and within hours their rustication orders were passed by the administration.
The student leaders were rusticated after they gathered outside the administrative block and demanded that the sale of admission forms be stopped. The student leaders have waged since long their struggle against commercialization of education, and they had been demanding slashing of prices of admission forms and prospectus. Rather than heeding to their long pending demand, the JNU authorities served them a show-cause notice and asked them to respond in two hours. As they could not respond to the notice, they were rusticated.
Talking to TwoCircles.net from the hunger strike site in front of the JNU Administration Block, JNU Students’ Union president Sandeep Singh, who along with others is on the strike for last 48 hours, said he and his friends will continue to be on the indefinite hunger strike until their demands are met.
Singh has demanded revocation of all rustications and roll back of prospectus fee hike. He has called on students to resist JNU administration’s attempt to commercialize the university.
Besides Sandeep Singh, those rusticated are: JNUSU vice-president Shephalika, JNUSU joint secretary Mobin, JNU SFI secretary Roshan Kishore and Renu from Progressive Students’ Union.