The Delhi University's Lady Shri Ram College has told its students that the college does not "recognise any political party or its students' wing" and no one is authorised to say that a unit of the Students' Federation of India even exists in the college.
The students who are part of the unit, that was reportedly formed in 2019, said that the notification takes away their right to express themselves.
The college said that LSR has never had partisan politics on campus and they wouldn't encourage it now. "The strength of LSR lies in encouraging debate and freedom of expression without subscribing to any partisan politics. LSR doesn’t recognise any political party or its students' wing in college. Therefore no one is authorised to make any claim as SFI LSR Unit. The list of units and societies recognised by the college have been clearly stated on the college website," said the notice from staff advisors to the Students' Union, Rukshana Shroff and Jyotsana Arora.
The students who recognise themselves as the LSR unit of SFI said that the notification is incorrect on two counts. "First, it is contradictory. Second, it goes against the principles of campus democracy. The statement by the administration is inherently contradictory. On one hand, they claim that they encourage debates and freedom of expression, and on the other hand, they discourage students from engaging in an organised form of student activism," said a statement from the students.
But is there a rule in place that prohibits partisan politics on LSR campus? "We do not have a rule per se. But our policy has always been against partisan politics and since in these times online the only way to get in touch with our students we thought we needed to tell the new students coming in as well about this issue," said Jyotsana Arora.
Unnimaya, the General Secretary of the Students' Union and the convenor of the SFI faction of LSR said that the SFI LSR since it's inception in 2019 has been fighting for student rights. "From the hostel issues to the institutional murder of our dear friend and collegemate Aishwarya, we have been in the streets to fight the administration. These protests consisted of both partisan and non-partisan students," she said.
SFI is the only student party in LSR that has a political colour to it. The only other organisations are The Collective and Pinjra Tod, which have made headlines with their protests.
