Left-leaning students of the University of Delhi protested demanding reopening of the university. Both the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students' Association (AISA) protested at the Arts Faculty on January 18.
The AISA submitted a memorandum to the Dean of Student Welfare, Dr Rajeev Gupta asking the administration to reopen the campuses with all safety measures in place. They also demanded that the administration disburse all pending scholarships, take immediate action on the OBC Commission report, provide adequate aids of internet and laptops to all students in need, reopen the Central Library immediately and ensure uniform access to Hindi reading material. "While the Dean maliciously denied the discrepancies committed in the reservation policy implementation and the issues faced by the students, the delegation submitted the memorandum, reiterating the need for the immediate reopening of campuses with all safety measures," said a statement from the organisation. "There were about 40 students from AISA and then the students who were at Arts Faculty also joined later," said Abhigyan, who along with Shreya and Saumya, both AISA delegates, went to submit the memorandum.
A delegation consisting of SFI Delhi State President Sumit Kataria and Committee members Anil Sethumadhavan and Unnimaya met Dr Gupta as well and submitted a memorandum addressed to the Vice-Chancellor. The memorandum demands reopening the campus with adequate measures of testing and quarantine centres in the light of the loss of education due to digital divide, along with the immediate reopening of the key faculty libraries, including the Central Library, Science Library, Law Faculty Library, Departmental Library. They also asked for the reopening the Equal Opportunity Cell office, Computer Centre and Science Labs, and the sports ground.
"A vast majority of students are unable to access online education. Reopening the campus is the only solution for their crisis. This kind of exclusion is against the ethos of a public university," said Unnimaya, General Secretary of Lady Shri Ram college and state committee member of SFI Delhi.