KSU-MSF-led students’ union at Calicut varsity staring at a crisis

Activities of students’ union at the University of Calicut for the 2023-24 academic year could be cut short if the reported plan of the authorities to hold college union elections for the 2024-25 academic year in October and university union elections in November turns into a reality.

The current students’ union at the university is run by the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and the Muslim Students Federation (MSF). Its functionaries claim that though the college union polls for 2023-24 were held in November 2023, the university authorities deliberately held up the university union polls for around eight months, conducting them only in June this year. P. Nithin Fathima, chairperson of the union, said on Sunday that subsequently, the swearing-in ceremony of the functionaries and the approval for the university union budget too got delayed.

“We have already lost around 10 months. Because of the unfortunate Wayanad tragedy on July 30, there was some more delay. And now, when we are planning to take up activities such as a ‘kala jatha’, a film festival, and the university inter-zone arts fest, the authorities are planning to issue the notification for the college union elections,” she said.

There are over 400 colleges affiliated to the university spread across the districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Wayanad, Palakkad and Thrissur. Once the notification is issued, model code of conduct will come into force and the current union may not be able to hold events. If the college union polls are held in October and the university union elections are held in November, the current union’s tenure will automatically be over too.

Ms. Fathima alleged that the pro-Left Syndicate, Dean of Students’ Welfare, and the Registrar were trying to help the Students Federation of India (SFI). “If the activities of our union are cut short, the SFI can accuse us of being inactive and gain political mileage in the next elections,” she claimed.

Meanwhile, SFI activists recently managed to get a promise from P. Raveendran, Vice-Chancellor, that the notification for the college union polls would be issued on September 23. However, the university union functionaries later gheraoed Mr. Raveendran and got the date changed to October 3. “Admissions for first year postgraduate courses will be over only by October first week. If the notification is issued on September 23, those students will not be able to participate in the college union polls,” Ms. Fathima pointed out. Functionaries of the current union said they would hold protest events in the coming days to change the university’s plans.

Published - September 22, 2024 10:41 pm IST