Youth Unrest
Brief overview of Student unrest in India
India is also a country with a long tradition of student activism. The political demonstrations organized during the fight for independence saw the beginning of student unrest in India. Students participated in the independence struggle and thousands of students were arrested and put in jail because of their nationalist activities. There existed strong political student organizations on most Indian campuses representing not only the nationalists who were under the leadership of Gandhi, but also socialist, communist and communal elements. Until today, student organisations such as the All-India Sikh Students’ Federation in Punjab and the All Assam Students Union in Assam form the backbone of sub-national movements throughout India.
The student community had high ideological consciousness and since a large number of the student population came from wealthy urban families, students had time for political activity.
However, post-independence period saw the transformation of student political life and movement in many ways. Before independence, the primary aim and purpose of the student movement was independence for India which had a large number of supporters from both the student community as well as major nationalist leaders of that time. After 1947, the goal of independence was achieved and many of the student organizations began to have differences over ideological politics. In addition, the nationalist leaders who had formerly lent their support to student activism withdrew their co-operation and changed their attitudes after they became government leaders. Even the educational authorities who had been neutral towards the student movement prior independence became negative in their attitudes and tried to keep any political organizations off the campuses. All these factors along with the weakening of a sense of community among the students led to the collapse of the pre-independence movement.
The Indian campus began to
India is also a country with a long tradition of student activism. The political demonstrations organized during the fight for independence saw the beginning of student unrest in India. Students participated in the independence struggle and thousands of students were arrested and put in jail because of their nationalist activities. There existed strong political student organizations on most Indian campuses representing not only the nationalists who were under the leadership of Gandhi, but also socialist, communist and communal elements. Until today, student organisations such as the All-India Sikh Students’ Federation in Punjab and the All Assam Students Union in Assam form the backbone of sub-national movements throughout India.
The student community had high ideological consciousness and since a large number of the student population came from wealthy urban families, students had time for political activity.
However, post-independence period saw the transformation of student political life and movement in many ways. Before independence, the primary aim and purpose of the student movement was independence for India which had a large number of supporters from both the student community as well as major nationalist leaders of that time. After 1947, the goal of independence was achieved and many of the student organizations began to have differences over ideological politics. In addition, the nationalist leaders who had formerly lent their support to student activism withdrew their co-operation and changed their attitudes after they became government leaders. Even the educational authorities who had been neutral towards the student movement prior independence became negative in their attitudes and tried to keep any political organizations off the campuses. All these factors along with the weakening of a sense of community among the students led to the collapse of the pre-independence movement.
The Indian campus began to