PU regional campus remains calm despite tempest

While the Panjab University campus in Chandigarh is witnessing heated protests and political tension over the Senate elections and the Centre's proposed restructuring of the university's governing bodies, the scene at its regional campus in Hoshiarpur presents a completely different picture. The Swami Sarvanand Giri Regional Campus (PUSSGRC) remains peaceful and unaffected.

At the Hoshiarpur campus, classes are continuing as usual, with no protest, no sloganeering and no disruption to academic activities. Students appear largely uninterested in the controversy that has taken centre-stage at the main campus.

One major reason for this calm is the absence of student politics in Punjab. Student elections were banned in the state during the militancy period decades ago, and since then, political activity among students has remained minimal. As a result, student organisations that are active in Chandigarh have little or no presence at Hoshiarpur.

The Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) does not have a unit here. Similarly, the Students Federation of India (SFI), supported by left-leaning groups, the Student Organisation of India (SOI), backed by the Shiromani Akali Dal, and the communist groups - All India Students Federation (AISF) and All India Students Association (AISA) - also have no presence on this campus.

Even though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in power in Punjab, its student wing, the Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP), is completely unknown among students at PUSSGRC. "We have never even heard of such a group," said a few students when asked.

The only active student organisation on the campus is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, its local leaders too have chosen to remain uninvolved in the current issue. Tarun Bhardwaj, president of the ABVP unit at PUSSGRC, said, "The students here have nothing to do with the Senate or Syndicate elections. Since student elections are banned in Punjab, our focus remains on academics, not politics."

When asked whether the Senate and Syndicate decisions could affect students, teachers and affiliated colleges across the state, Bhardwaj replied, "We are with the government. When the government is funding and managing the university, it naturally has the right to take decisions regarding its affairs." While protests and heated debates continue to grip the Panjab University campus

at Chandigarh, the Hoshiarpur regional campus continues to function in its usual academic rhythm - calm and detached from the political storm raging elsewhere.