Students Must Not Take Part in Politics
STUDENT MUST NOT TAKE PART IN POLITICS Albert Einstein observed: “It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacity to give validity to his conviction in political affairs. ” I’m sure, this pretty much sums up why we’re debating on this topic today, since we students are considered to have become “politically aware” by the age of 18. So, what exactly do we understand by the word “politics”. Politics is the art or science of influencing people on a civic, or individual level, says most of us present here.
I’msure all of it sounds really great but in reality, politics has been synonymous with violence and vandalism ever since its origin, and associating students with it only worsens the scenario. Students are mainly at a tender age and cannot make proper political judgements as they can be easily misled by emotional values or brainwashed by big leaders from big political parties and with the political parties realising the benefits of harvesting voters young, university elections have entered the big league.
Big money, big campaigns, big names and big intimidation. We have to understand, that when we use the term “student politics”, the body to benefit the most from its decisions should be the students themselves. Unfortunately, it is not really so. Infact , the students are the worst sufferers in the war of Power and there is only one reason for this-the financial benefit the so-called student leaders are receiving aims at promoting the mission and vision of the national political leader.
This is why, despite the existence of several student unions since times immemorial, government colleges and institutions continue to be in their sorry state with no development or advancement whatsoever. In order to develop a political awakening within the students,we need not join politics at a time when we should be educating ourselves, rather we can engage in social services and learn how to speak up for what’s right or wrong without any fear in a non-violent yet an impactful way.
Student politics has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, like expensive campaigning, violence, nepotism, threatening, intimidating professors, and conducting strikes. Student leaders, once elected, think themselves of more like ministers, surrounded by hangers-on and unapproachable to the students actually in need. Attacks on the principal and higher authorities in Raiganj and Rampurhat College are just a few examples of how terrifying and horrific the reality regarding student politics is.
At the end of the day, for an ordinary student, all that student politics means is loss of study time, without any redressal of problems. In fact, some may even suffer discrimination when student leaders carry out nepotism in various forms like wanting to take up all hostel space to accommodate their supporters, and insist on out-of-turn admissions or forcefully make the students swear allegiance to their party in exchange of such favours or resort to violence yet again. Student politics has become as bankrupt of issues as national politics.
What matters now are affiliations, caste, history, religion, and of course money. It was never imagined that student politics would breed terrorism, extortion, vandalism and even murder. Students have been used as tools taking them away from pursuing their academic goals. These days student politics is not concerned about the academic problems, such as computer facilities, photocopies at nominal charge, but only about violence, and cadre politics of flexing muscles in the academic areas.
And the main casualty of all this violence is Education. The campuses these days have turned out to be arsenals of sophisticated weapons. But this was never the objective that drove the parents to send their wards to join colleges and universities or pursue higher studies. What could be more shocking for the parents than their wards coming back home in a coffin as a sequel to campus violence? It is high time that everyone realises the incalculable harm that “politics in its ugliest form” has done to the student community.
It is evident from the growing incidents of campus violence that Hooliganism is gaining ground than idealism among student leaders. The student unions have become more inclined towards their political identity rather than protesting against ceratin causes for the welfare of the students. Only recently, a second-year BCom student of Prabhu Jagabandhu College in Andul, Howrah, died after he was thrown into a canal by members of a rival students’ union. Two days after this incident, a student Of Ashutosh College lost vision in his left eye after being an innocent victim of campus violence once again.
Such incidents are not only limited to India,only last year, in the north-eastern region of Nigeria,26 students were killed,in the aftermath of students union elections, at the college hostels, wherein the the newly elected leader of the student union alongwith his supporters other went from door-to-door, shooting or stabbing their victims. Student Politics has increasingly led to the loss of innumerable young and promising talents of the country. Last but not the least, in spite of the strong presence of students taking part in politics, an inhuman dearth of noble natures in Politics at the national level is being witnessed.
Students who are active in politics tend to neglect their studies for that. They have got themselves scholarships or loans and a chance to study at a college or university. Why not wait until they have finished their studies first? The discredit very much lies with the students taking part in politics, because, unless they are educated and refined themselves, there is little hope of its resurgence because it has been rightly said that without education, man is a splendid slave, a reasoning savage.
