Just when everyone was relieved that there was some sort of thaw in the relations between the All Nagaland College Students Union (ANCSU) and the government after a recent meeting with the chief minister, another bombshell hit the headlines. The latest issue pertains to alleged threat from the leaders of the students’ union that they would resort to vandalism in case the government does not settle the issue of land encroachment in government colleges, especially Kohima Science College at Jotsoma. The alleged threat was made known earlier too which was stated to have been repeated at the meeting with the chief minister. The demands of the students’ community are genuine and it is the duty of the present government to look into it. However, untoward utterances and intimidation are unbecoming of the student leaders and it needs to be checked immediately.
It has now also become quite suspicious whether all the demands, although genuine, are backed by some hidden hands. A government official rightly said that the students cannot be led by rogue leaders and that the citizens and the state should not be held to ransom for a demand that was already in the process of being addressed. It was in the month of May 2018 that the same organisation gave a threat that about 1 lakh college students would abstain from voting during the Lok Sabha by-election if its demands were not met. No law would be broken if such an action were a voluntary abstention by an individual. However, if it is an action forced by an organisation, then such organisations need to be blacklisted and banned because it would be against the law and the democratic norms of the country. Although the present government had hardly completed two months at that time, it was able to diffuse the situation.
Even in the recent case, the union had warned in a press release on Aug. 11 that “any college students defying the call of ANCSU shall be dealt seriously as the volunteers will be vigilantly monitoring the institutions.” The audacity of the organisation and its leaders has reached beyond limit. The young minds are being led astray and it is not a healthy situation.
It is agreed that in Nagaland, with its long history of the Naga political issue, the brand of civil society in the local context is different from other places in the country. Some are political in nature but apolitical when comes to electoral politics of the state and the country. Some were needed to act as the voice of the people although a popular government had always been present since statehood. The evolution of many of the organisations that originated from the villages and the tribes is a case in point. However, it is time that such organisations with political motives are not made to function at centres of learning.
It is time now that parents must ponder whether a union is needed in our society at present. Why cannot it be just an association of colleges with learning as its main objective, and not political? Every college in Nagaland has a student’s council through which students get opportunities to hone their leadership skills and to experience community welfare. It also acts as a body that speaks out the concerns of students. This right is actually given by the college authority to students. The problem in the country and in Nagaland is that students under the leadership of vested interests at times try to eclipse the very authority that empowered them. It is to ask whether a union is required for their college-going children. What are its benefits? What good does it do to the college students by being associated with an organisation that preaches violence?
