The week-long protest at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to save the Centre of Historical Studies (CHS) library has ended on a successful note. Today, Thursday, August 10, the university administration informed the protestors that the CHS library will not be relocated.
Saib Bilaval, PhD scholar, CHS, JNU and former JNUSU, Presidential Candidate (2018), took to Twitter to share the news. In a statement about this victory, the CHS student community said, “Library is not an act of generosity from the administration but a fundamental right of students and with our collective effort, the students of CHS were able to retain this fundamental right.”
The students also expressed their gratitude to various historians, academicians, politicians, journalists and activists who stood in solidarity with the protestors during the week.
To recall, the university had decided to relocate the library to accommodate a new Centre for Tamil Studies. However, the students of CHS department resisted this move highlighting that the CHS library houses a wide collection of important books, journals and documents, some of which are not in print anymore,
Last year, the university had received a grant of Rs 10 crore from the Tamil Nadu government to set up a Centre for Tamil Studies.
The students’ protest received support from the JNU Teachers Association (JNUTA), eminent historians and former faculty members of the CHS department.
Today, on August 10, Dr D Ravikumar, a Member of Lok Sabha, who played a key role in arranging a Rs 10 crore grant for the centre, also wrote to the JNU Vice-Chancellor, Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, saying that, “facilities funded by the public for a specific purpose should not be repurposed without due consideration”.
