The agitating students from National Institute of Technology (NIT),
Srinagar, who were camping in the Capital since April 14, 2016, are back on the
campus to attend classes from today. The classes were suspended following the
students’ unrest in the aftermath of India’s loss to West Indies in semis of
the World T20 cricket match.
The protesting students, mostly from the final year, were excited after
meeting the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) officials on Tuesday,
April 19, 2016. In a letter addressed to the Union HRD Minister, Smriti Z
Irani, they had presented a set of 19 new demands, which included a special
request to the Prime Minister and HRD Minister to hoist the Tricolour in the
Institute’s campus.
PaGaLGuY spoke to a final year student, who was in New
Delhi to meet Union HRD Minister. He said, “Out of our 19, 12 demands have
been accepted. It is a partial victory for us. The remaining seven require some
paperwork and will take time. So, we decided to come and attend our classes.”
The students stood divided on the place of continuing the stir; should
they stay put in the Capital or return to NIT campus. Some junior students, who
were part of the delegation to meet Irani, felt that going back to NIT may look
like they have conceded defeat.
The student added, “We took this decision as we did not want our
academics to suffer. We will continue our protest until all our demands are
met.”