Panjab University students vow continued protest as Centre puts senate reforms ‘on hold’
Students plan to enforce a complete shutdown of the university by blocking all gates and staging a sit-in protest
Students at Panjab University (PU) announced they will continue their strike against the proposed Senate reforms, even as the varsity rolled back the controversial admission affidavit. Calling for political and social support from across Punjab, they plan to enforce a complete shutdown of the university by blocking all gates and staging a sit-in protest.
On Tuesday, when the first notification by the Union Ministry of Education was announced, PUCSC president Gaurav Veer Sohal took to Instagram to inform the university community that the Centre had revoked the October 28 notification restructuring the Senate. His announcement briefly sparked relief among protesting students, who had been on strike for several days. However, the sense of celebration was short-lived.
A second notification, issued the same day, reintroduced the very same reforms, this time without an implementation date. This means the changes remain intact and will come into force only on a date to be separately appointed by the Union government. “The Senate reforms are on hold; we’ve requested them to add student representation in the new structure. For now, the October 28 Senate reforms are not the final reforms,” Sohal later clarified.
However, that interpretation was not shared by several former Senate fellows and student leaders, who said the centre’s move does not amount to a rollback. Avtar Singh, a student party leader, said, “The students’ patience and feelings have been mocked. This is just a way to slow down our efforts, but we’ll continue our fight till the very end. We’re calling upon all Punjab’s political parties and associations to support us for a complete university shutdown on 10th November.”
PUCSC joint secretary Mohit Manderawala added, “We’ll go to every extent to fight against this. The university shutdown is our way of protecting the university’s soul.”
The sit-in protest outside the vice-chancellor’s office saw a steady stream of visitors throughout the day, including Tarsem Singh, father of NSA detainee Amritpal Singh, who extended his support to the students. A delegation from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also met the protesters, while MP Malvinder Singh Kang from Anandpur Sahib and singer Jasbir Jassi visited after the notifications were announced, urging students to persist with their movement against the “undemocratic Senate reforms.”
Former Senate fellow Ravinder Singh Dhaliwal termed the Centre’s move “a mockery of our struggle” and “an attempt to stop progress,” vowing to continue opposing the Senate reforms. He also expressed his support for the university shutdown on November 10, calling it “a united stand against the erosion of the university’s democratic spirit”.
DPS Randhawa, another former Senate fellow, said that while time-bound reforms are necessary, “the way these changes have been implemented is unacceptable.” Abolishing the graduate constituency, he added, “has snatched away the only tangible connection we alumni had with our alma mater.”
Former VC Arun Grover, also a former Senate fellow, said that the Centre’s restructuring stemmed from years of inaction by previous Senates and was meant to “fill the governance vacuum” left unresolved since 2018.
With the Centre’s move creating more uncertainty than relief, PU students have said that their indefinite protest and preparations for the November 10 university shutdown will continue.
