The Hok Union movement is re-emerging as the students of Jadavpur University (JU) gathered at iconic Aurobindo Bhavan on February 13 at 2 pm to demand immediate elections for the JU Students' Union. The last election for the union was held in February 2020 and most of the current office bearers have since graduated, making it difficult for the union to function effectively. "The absence of an active union is hindering the student body's ability to effectively represent their needs and desires," says Asif Iqbal, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, JU.
Students were expecting an election announcement after the university resumed post-pandemic, but that has yet to occur. Subhayan Acharya Majumdar, General Secretary of the Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) at JU, stated, "As an ex-student, I have to work informally, even with tasks such as signing, which makes it extremely challenging to function as an office bearer. This often leads to miscommunication and a disorganised work environment."
While the state government is responsible for announcing the students' union election, students believe that the delay is intentional for several reasons, including the potential indirect impact on the state elections. "I believe the state government is purposely holding off on announcing the election due to the upcoming panchayat elections," says Subhayan
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To recall, in 2017, the West Bengal state government announced plans to replace the mandated "student unions" on campuses with "student councils". This proposal sparked a major controversy as many feared this would completely change student politics. As the 'councils' were meant to be apolitical and elected by the university administration, the students felt this would undermine their voice. The students immediately rejected the change and came together to protest.
Massive rallies plagued the state till the government eventually repealed the council rule in 2019. As Subhayan, the General Secretary of AFSU at JU, explains, "Councils will represent university administration and be answerable to them. This way, it will become a non-inclusive representative of the state government. On the other hand, a union represents the voice of the students and is elected by the students," says Shubhayan.
The students also alleged that apart from the Presidency University, Rabindra Bharati University and Jadavpur University, student union elections have reportedly not been conducted in the last seven years in most of the state universities.
The three students union of JU met earlier this month on February 9 and 10 to pressure the university administration to speak to state representatives for fresh elections. "We have given an ultimatum of one week to the administration to give a date for the tripartite (university administration, student unions and a state representative) meeting or we shall escalate the movement," the students informed.
As of now, the movement is limited to JU, however, the students hope to make it a mass movement across the state. "Our main intent is to make union elections happen throughout the state. It is almost as if everyone has become used to unions without elections in the last couple of years," concludes Subhayan.
