THE image of the young girls, clad in Hijab standing outside the school gate, demanding and at times even begging to enter inside their own school is a metaphor for how the Indian State under Modi is treating people whom they consider as “other”, an absolute denial of fundamental rights.

Impose a 1% surcharge on the richest 10% of Indians to reduce inequalityA 4% wealth tax on 98 richest families can take care of the health ministry for more than two yearsTHE gap between the top 10 per cent asset holders and the bottom 10 per cent is 500 times in rural India but 50,000 times in urban India, reported Oxfam, five years ago.

THE India Gate in Delhi is an imperial monument constructed by the British government to commemorate Indian soldiers of the British Indian army who died in battlefields far from home, in Flanders, Gallipoli, Iran and elsewhere during the First World War (1914-18).  Other Indian soldiers who died during Britain’s Afghan wars also had their names recorded on the monument.  Later, a statue of King George V was installed under a canopy in the centre of the war memorial.Some years after independence, the king’s statue was unceremoniously removed and, since there were many suggestions as to whose

THIS was about five decades back in the mid-seventies. I was then a student at Jadavpur University. It was a time of internal emergency in the country. We on our campus had quite a few students from Palestine. They were not just progressive, but also active participants in the Palestine liberation struggle. One day some of them informed us that an important leader of the PLO was in Kolkata. The PLO operatives urged that progressive student activists meet him to discuss and exchange views and experiences.Naturally, we were excited. On a specific day, some of us went to the meeting.

IT is true that the history of public education has been fraught with neo-liberal, authoritative and regressive attacks on the promises of secular, scientific and accessible education in this country. It has been, however, at its core, also a history of continuous student struggles fought not just against these attacks but for an equal and just society. The debarring and imposition of fine on 11 students of Pondicherry University over protests against fee hikes are a reflection of this same anti-student sentiment.