Student unrest signals maturing of democracy

Gangtok witnessed violence involving students and the police. National Highway 31A leading to our borders with Tibet (Nathu La) remained blocked for a couple of days and there were bursts of tear-gas shells many times to open up the passage. The unrest is a matter of concern for the region's students as well as people. Strikes and blockades were not commonplace in this part of the country. Compared to other North-Eastern states, Sikkim, generally known to be peaceful, has been witnessing disturbances since the last elections in May 2014. Two people had lost their lives in election-related violence, which is uncharacteristic of Sikkim's politics.

On July 14, students of Sikkim Government College, Tadong in Gangtok, protested against fee hike by blocking National Highway 31A. The hike was unjustified as the government, in one stroke, increased the semester fee from Rs300 to Rs1,700. The government's justification was that a hike in tuition fees had been kept in abeyance for several years.

The Sikkim government college in Tadong is the first college to have come up in the state; it was established in 1977, as a night college, after the merger of Sikkim with the Indian Union in May, 1975. Prior to that, students had to go to colleges in Darjeeling and other parts of West Bengal; those who had money could land up in Delhi. Access to higher education was the preserve of those who could spend money on travel and live in hostels outside of Sikkim.

On July 14, the day when the academic session began, students from the Government College marched to the Ministry of Human Resources Development, demanding a repeal of the fee hike. The officials were not in a mood to entertain the frustrated students who resorted to road blockade; this indeed is an effective means of protest as it is the only main highway to the capital and the Government College in Tadong is right on the National Highway! Gangtok, in any case, is on either side of the highway, and there aren't many roads in the city.

The peaceful protest turned violent when the police, equipped with state-of-the-art protective gear asked them to disperse. A skirmish followed. And then there was a lathicharge and bursting of tear-gas shells. Though the fee hike was revoked, later in the evening, the blockade continued on day two as well and more students joined the strike from other government colleges in Sikkim. As is the case with unrest of this kind, the demand shifted from withdrawing the fee hike to action against the Superintendent of Police, Manoj Tiwari. 'Action' meant different things to different sections of the students. Some wanted his dismissal while others demanded that he apologise at the same spot where he ordered the lathicharge.

Though it looked to be a spontaneous protest, the fact is that the entire development had to do with the political culture building here over the last few months. The ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), after having held all the assembly seats until May 2014, has now lost as many as eight out of the ten constituencies around Gangtok to the Sikkim Kranthikari Morcha (SKM). This is a new party, founded only a year ago and led by PS Golay, a close aide of SDF supremo, Pawan Chamling, for several years. Golay was leading the SDF's student and youth wing until he fell out.

This explains the involvement of students as well as a section of the youth and taxi drivers in organising the blockade. Many of them had been under arrest leading the union to call for a strike.

People are apprehensive of this unrest and intolerance. However, this could be an indication of a maturing democracy with a strong opposition. This might be the beginning of a transition from a culture of monarchy to that of a democracy. Though these are still early days!

The author is research scholar at the Sikkim Central University