Farmers join stir over PU shake-up

The row over the Centre’s restructuring of Panjab University’s Senate and Syndicate has spiralled into a full-blown agitation, with politicians, farmers and student groups joining hands in protest even as a growing number of academics hail the decision as a long-overdue reform.

The Tribune, which first broke the story of the Centre’s sweeping overhaul on Saturday, found the campus teetering on edge as the protest has rapidly transformed from a campus issue into a statewide flashpoint, with both political and civil society groups taking sides.

Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sangrur MP Simranjit Singh Mann reached the campus to express solidarity with the students, accusing the BJP-led government of attempting to “finish the university systematically.”

Calling the decision “a murder of democracy,” Channi urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to convene a special session of the Punjab Assembly to deliberate on the issue and vowed to raise it in Parliament.

The protest also drew the support of farmers’ organisations, including the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, Bharatiya Kisan Union and Bharti Kisan Mazdoor Union, whose leaders, led by Balbir Singh Rajewal, declared that the Centre’s notification was “an encroachment on Punjab’s heritage” and pledged to resist it “tooth and nail.”

Meanwhile, Congress MP Manish Tewari renewed his sharp attack on the Union Government, terming the restructuring “a legal travesty and constitutional overreach.” He reiterated that the Panjab University Act, 1947, being a state law, could not be amended by invoking Section 72 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, and warned that the move “will not stand judicial scrutiny.”

Tewari, who earlier revealed that he had cautioned former Vice-President and PU Chancellor Jagdeep Dhankhar against such a step, said the notification “tramples the federal scheme of the Constitution.”

The October 30 notification by the Ministry of Education — which reduces the Senate strength from 90 to 31, abolishes the graduate constituency and converts the Syndicate into a fully nominated body — has polarised the academic and political landscape. The Centre insists the reform will end political interference, curb electioneering, and make the university’s governance more academic-driven.

Several prominent professors have supported that view. A former professor of the Department of English Rana Nayyar said, “The recent decision of the Centre to introduce structural reforms in the governance model of PU has sparked an intense debate dominated by political rhetoric rather than logic. The real question is whether this is in the interest of the University, academics and its future — the answer is unequivocally yes. Politicisation has ruined virtually every aspect of PU, from recruitment to approvals. This reform restores the dignity of teachers and academics.”

He added, “I’ve seen senior teachers bowing, even touching the feet of political senators — it was an assault on academic dignity. Ask any academic and they’ll endorse this change; only politicians will oppose it because their power of manipulation is gone. Finally, this decision has restored to PU the autonomy it never had under the old dispensation.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Prof (Dr) JK Chauhan, retired Professor of Law and former Senate and Syndicate member, said the new structure would make the university’s governance “more effective, transparent and result-oriented.” He said, “This is a positive step toward modern academic administration. The new structure will speed up decision-making, reduce political interference, and allow greater focus on academic excellence — strengthening PU’s competitiveness nationally and globally.”

Defending the Centre’s move, former MP and eleven-time Senator Satya Pal Jain, who was part of the Administrative Reforms Committee that examined the issue, said the amendments were made under Section 72 of the Reorganisation Act, which has governed PU’s structure since 1966 when it was declared an “inter-State body corporate.”

But the opposition remains defiant. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal, and student groups have denounced the move as “dictatorial, anti-Punjab and unconstitutional,” vowing to challenge it in every democratic forum.

As chants, candles and slogans filled the campus and streets through the night, the battle lines stood drawn. What began as an administrative reform has now become a defining test of whether Panjab University’s future will be shaped by politics — or freed from it.

WHAT IT MEANS

The Panjab University row has become a flashpoint between academic reform and political control — testing not only the limits of federal power but also the future of university autonomy in India’s higher education system.