The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), a left-wing union, expressed solidarity today with the protesting students of North-Eastern Hill University (NEHU).
Protests have now entered a ninth day, with hunger strikers demanding better facilities and the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor (VC), Prabha Shankar Shukla, and four other senior officials, including the Registrar.
The SFI said that while the health conditions of hunger-striking students are rapidly deteriorating, the VC has chosen to escape from the university and has been staying in a hideout, showing a lack of concern for the students.
Stating that this has legitimised the students’ demands, as the NEHU administration remains unresponsive to the ongoing students’ misery, the SFI said it believes that NEHU, once a leading university in the North East, is now in decline due to administrative negligence.
It stated that this also reflects the broader crisis that higher education is going through under the current central government, which has consistently cut funds for public universities and tried to undermine premier institutions across the country.
