Newmai News Network
Shillong | October 25
North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) students held a signature campaign on demanding the restoration of "democracy" in the varsity and asked the administration to hold the postponed student body elections within the current month and stop its :undemocratic: attempts to nominate union leaders.
The heavy rains failed to dampen the fervor of the students as more than 1600 of them turned up to sign the three page open letter to the NEHU administration.
The students demanded the polling day set and carried through without any further excuses from the administration.
The NEHU administration had postponed the North Eastern Hill University Students Union (NEHUSU) elections scheduled to be held on October 3 indefinitely. “It was postponed with the Election Commission taking seriously a ‘flimsy’ complaint about the age bar on the main presidential candidate, Rangdajied Marwein and the administration has failed to substantiate the anonymous complainant till date,” said students.
The students want a positive answer by Monday next. The three page letter warned the NEHU administration not to take the students lightly "underlining the fact that as students they are still idealistic and still believe in justice, fairness and ethics".
“What has happened in the brief span of a few weeks is that of an institutional betrayal, with the administration falling prey to the petty demands of external forces, yet acting ironically self-congratulatory for taking action only after acts of violence had actually occurred, despite there being signs of foul play right from the beginning…” the letter read.
The students called out the administration on its "lack" of action after the attack on the students, particularly a candidate.
The open letter and the massive support it received have sent a strong message to NEHU authorities that they should not take the students’ demands lightly. “If they fail to restore the rights of the students to have their own body to represent their views, the university administration will have to blame itself for any malfunction in the campus” a student asserted.
