The Indian National Congress-affiliated Kerala Students' Union (KSU) welcomed the Bill to legalise students' political activities on campus, which is set to be introduced in the Kerala Assembly soon. The state's Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel on Tuesday said that the bill to legalise student unions and strikes is in its final stages.
On February 26, the Kerala High Court had banned protest activities that disrupt the normal functioning of educational institutions. The court also banned organisations from forcing students to take part in these activities. Members of student political organisations across the state had raised their voices against this. "For a long time, democratic and secular organisations like ours have been demanding a bill of this sort. A move like this will be welcomed by the ruling party as well as the opposition. This is a step towards the kind of society that we are hoping for. We welcome this," says K M Abhijith, KSU's state president. "A lot of campuses in the state, especially the self-financing ones do not have political organisations present in them, even now. They've always tried to crush democratic and union activities," he adds.
At the same time, he added that the freedom to conduct political activities must be unbiased and should not be exclusive to certain groups. "We have seen campuses in the state, where only one political organisation functions. This should not happen. Every organisation must be allowed to function, unlike the previous situation in University College, Thiruvananthapuram. We still struggle to continue our activities there. We do not want a dictatorship-like situation," he adds.
