The students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar have come out in support of Jawarharlal Nehru University students’ fight against the sudden exorbitant fee hike.
In a statement issued by 80 students and faculty of IIT Gandhinagar condemned the university’s administration and supported the students’ battle against the privatisation and contractualisation of higher education.
In the statement, it said that the authorities were treating the students’ agitation as a mere ‘law and order problem’. The students and faculty members have also pointed out the brutal police violence against the students who were protesting peacefully.
It also said JNU is the benchmark for institutions of public higher education in India due to its values of inclusivity and critical thinking. The statement read that the fee hike was a direct attack on the institution’s inclusiveness.
Apart from JNU, the statement shed light on the protest against the authorities going in universities such as Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jadavpur University, Visva-Bharati University, and Delhi University. The statement said that the right to protest should be respected.
