ON 12 August 2026, India marks 90 years of the organised student movement. This is not merely the 90th anniversary of the formation of a student organisation; it is an occasion to recall the nine-decade-long journey of organised student consciousness and struggle in India. The foundation of the organised student movement was laid on 12 August 1936, when the first two-day All-India Conference of an organised student body began.

The history of student struggles in India, however, goes back to the early decades of the twentieth century. The Partition of Bengal (1905), the Swadeshi Movement, the First World War, the Non-Cooperation Movement, the protests against the Simon Commission, the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement all played an important role in shaping political consciousness among students.

Cities such as Madras, Lahore, Karachi, Banaras, Aligarh, Agra, Calcutta, Kanpur and Lucknow were important centres of education and political activity at the time. Allahabad University was known as the “Oxford of the East”, and its students were deeply involved in the national movement. Banaras Hindu University was established in 1916 and Lucknow University in 1921. The growth of these and other institutions of higher education created greater opportunities for student consciousness to take organised shape.

In 1920, the Non-Cooperation Movement began under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. Thousands of students boycotted government educational institutions, while many enrolled in national educational institutions. It was a period when students began to link the question of education with national politics and the struggle for independence.

In 1928, students across the country demonstrated against the Simon Commission in almost all major educational institutions. They displayed black flags, took out processions and raised slogans against British rule. This gave the student movement an increasingly clear political character.

Students also played an important role in the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930–34. Many were arrested, several were expelled from educational institutions, and many left their studies to participate in the national movement.

THE STUDENT AND YOUTH MOVEMENT BEFORE THE FORMATION OF AISF

Literature on the Russian Revolution, the advance of socialism and the activities of Indian revolutionaries such as Bhagat Singh had a profound impact on the youth. The growing influence of the communists was a reality that the Congress viewed with reluctance, while the British authorities regarded it with serious concern.

Even before the formation of AISF in 1936, communists were actively organising students and young people through organisations at different levels. The Naujawan Bharat Sabha, founded by Bhagat Singh and his comrades, attracted a large section of young people and students in the Punjab region.

In the Madras Presidency, a Radical Youth Conference was held in 1935 with the objective of achieving complete independence. Regional committees were formed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Madras city. The Home Department’s reports took note of these developments, and the authorities were alerted that considerable quantities of communist literature had been seized from different students in the Madras Presidency.

Dada Amir Haider Khan formed the Young Workers’ Union. Comrade P. Sundarayya played an important role in establishing the Sodara Committee (Brotherhood Organisation) to bring students and young people together in Madras. He was elected Joint Secretary of the Andhra State Youth Organisation in 1935.

Leaders such as C. Rajeshwara Rao, along with their comrades, formed the Young Communist League at Banaras University in 1931. They also undertook physical training. On several occasions, they had to confront the RSS, and they regularly organised study circles at the university.

THE NEED FOR AN ORGANISED STUDENT MOVEMENT AND THE FORMATION OF AISF

By the 1930s, it had become clear that an All-India student organisation was needed to organise struggles around students’ problems and wider national issues. There was a growing need to bring students together around questions of education, student rights, democracy, opposition to imperialism and social progress.

It was in response to this historical need that an All-India Conference of students was held on August 12–13, 1936 at Ganga Prasad Memorial Hall in Lucknow, in the Aminabad area. The conference announced the formation of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF). Delegates from different parts of the country participated, and Prem Narayan Bhargava was elected the first General Secretary of AISF.

The historic conference was inaugurated by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and presided over by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This reflected the broad national political background of the conference. Students belonging to different political streams and sections joined AISF.

In its initial years, AISF did not have a permanent post of National President in the form it has today. Conferences were presided over by a presidium or an elected chairperson. The organisational structure changed in later years.

1936: A HISTORIC YEAR FOR THE PEASANT, WRITERS’ AND STUDENT MOVEMENTS

The year 1936 occupies a special place in the history of India’s freedom movement. It was a period when efforts to broaden and organise the national movement through separate organisations representing different sections of society gained momentum.

Significantly, three important all-India conferences associated with the peasant, writers’ and student movements were held in Lucknow in 1936. These conferences had a significant impact on the freedom movement as well as on the development of democratic and progressive movements in India.

First, on 10 April 1936, the first All-India Conference of the Progressive Writers’ Association was held at Rifa-e-Aam Hall in Lucknow. The conference was presided over by the renowned writer Munshi Premchand. In his celebrated presidential address, he emphasised the social role of literature and the responsibility of writers in keeping with the changing times.

Sajjad Zaheer, Ahmed Ali, Mulk Raj Anand, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Saadat Hasan Manto, Ismat Chughtai and many other writers and literary figures were associated with this broad progressive literary movement. The Progressive Writers’ Movement played an important role in connecting literature with social reality, opposition to imperialism, social justice and the concerns of ordinary people.

The first conference of the All India Kisan Sabha was then held in Lucknow on 11 April 1936. Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was elected President and N. G. Ranga General Secretary. The Kisan Sabha subsequently played an important role in organising struggles for the rights of peasants and against the zamindari system.

This was followed by the All-India Students’ Conference in Lucknow on 12–13 August 1936, which led to the formation of the All India Students’ Federation. Thus, in 1936, Lucknow emerged as an important centre in the development of the organised, all-India character of the peasant, writers’ and student movements.

THE IDEOLOGY AND ACTIVITIES OF AISF

The outlook and policies of the AISF reflected anti-imperialist ideas as well as the influence of socialist and communist thought. Along with the demand for complete independence and efforts to address the various problems confronting students, its important activities included sports, study classes, night schools, libraries, commemorating anniversaries, volunteer groups, educational development, pressuring the government to address unemployment, and struggles for the rights of Scheduled Caste students.

Another important step was taken in 1939 with the formation of a separate Girls’ Students’ Convening Committee to organise women students. Kanak Dasgupta (later Mukherjee), along with Kalpana Dutt, was among the first conveners and leading members of the Girls’ Committee.

GIVING A NEW DIRECTION TO THE STUDENT MOVEMENT

The formation of the AISF gave a new direction to the student movement across the country, including Uttar Pradesh. The movement was no longer confined to local or university-level problems. It became part of the wider struggle for national independence, democracy, the right to education, social equality and opposition to imperialism.

Thus, 1936 was not merely the year in which an organisation was established. It was a landmark year in the development of an organised, democratic and progressive student movement in India. Lucknow became an important centre of this historic process.

90 YEARS OF THE JOURNEY AND THE VARIOUS CURRENTS OF THE STUDENT MOVEMENT

The completion of 90 years since the formation of the AISF on 12 August 2026 is an important occasion to recall the proud history of the student movement across the country. However, it would not be appropriate to view this 90-year journey merely as the history of a single organisation. Over these nine decades, different political and ideological currents have developed within the Indian student movement. Different organisations and student currents emerged over time, while new organisations also grew out of older ones.

In this process, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) was formed in 1970. SFI organised students in different parts of the country around issues of education, democracy, social justice and student rights, and established itself as an important current within the Indian student movement.

The organised student movement that began in 1936, therefore, is not confined to a single organisation today. Over the past 90 years, it has expanded into numerous currents, organisations and ideas. There may be political and ideological differences among these organisations, but the broader history of the Indian student movement is made up of the struggles, achievements and contributions of all these currents.

The journey from 12 August 1936 to 12 August 2026 represents an important legacy of the Indian student movement and of the struggles for democratic rights, education and social change. It is not merely an occasion to remember the past, but also an opportunity to understand and carry forward that legacy.

This legacy reminds us that students are not merely learners within educational institutions. They have also been an important social force, capable of understanding and intervening in the social, political and democratic questions of their time.