The SFI's JNU unit is disbanded!!!!

I recall an evening at the Sutlej Hostel mess in JNU way back in 1985. At a general body meeting of the SFI, for which the then all India president, Nepal Dev Bhattacharya had come, an innocuous question by one of our comrades led up to a long debate. Nepal Dev had made a point that the SFI is not a wing or an affiliate of the CPI(M). And that it is an autonomous organisation.

I think it was Sanjay Nayak who insisted that this point be debated. He recalled instances where the SFI behaved another way. And Nepal Deo simply pulled out the SFI programme to tell us all that the autonomous nature of the organisation was clearly stated in that. And thus began a debate that went on for more than a couple of hours. It was hilarious sometimes and acrimonious some other time. For me, having been part of the SFI in Tamil Nadu, where there was no such pretension, all that was said by the all India president sounded absurd. In Tamil Nadu, we functioned out of the CPI(M)’s premises and even used to deposit the organisation’s funds with the secretary in the party office. One of the party’s leaders in the district was also a permanent invitee in our meetings; let me add that he steered the meetings.

In any case, I was just past my teens then. And the adolescent in me provoked me to do some mischief. I just pulled out a piece of paper and wrote a resolution that the SFI, JNU unit, resolves that Comrade Nepaldev Bhattacharya, shall henceforth resign from the CPI(M) and that his association with the CPI(M) as a member of the West Bengal State Committee was found as affecting his autonomy and hindered the functioning of the SFI of which he was the all India president. I was too young then to realise that the resolution belonged to the same league as the one raised by Madhu Limaye in the Janata Party.

I do recall now that Nepaldev, a simple man that he was, was taken aback and the SFI JNU unit leaders were angry. The resolution was passed by a majority and in a matter of minutes, the little leaders around found a way out. They said that Nepaldev belonged to the SFI across the country and that one unit cannot dictate his own decision to be part of the CPI(M) and that the resolution, even if passed, was not binding unless it was taken up at the SFI all India conference. I must add here that Nepaldev was expelled from the CPI(M) some year later. And he was also too old by then and had been relieved from the SFI too.

I reiterate now that all that I did that evening was just mischief. I knew even then that the CPI(M) steered the SFI as it did with the CITU, DYFI, AIDWA, AIKS and the various other such outfits. I had no issues with that even then. Used to get irritated at times when some leaders in the party thought they must control the organisation even in its day to day affairs. It was a fact that those from Vithalbhai Patel House, where the SFI headquarters was located used to insist on being present in the various meetings and general bodies of the SFI in JNU. And there was one Comrade Joginder Singh, as secretary of the Delhi State CPI(M)  who thought we were all little kids to be minded and mended.

I recall all these after reading the news that the SFI’s JNU unit has been disbanded. And this was done because the unit resolved to condemn the CPI(M) for supporting Pranab Mukherjee for President. I do see the influence of Prasenjit Bose in the JNU unit so strong. But should the unit have been disbanded for opposing the party? Well. I was asked to show cause once for having made a critical remark against Subhashini Ali’s lecture on Kashmir in a public meeting in JNU. I simply said then that her speech on Kashmir sounded like an address by L.K.Advani. Yes. I thought she went jingoistic and said that. I was taken to task then and the little leaders of the SFI in JNU did that.