TISS lifts ban on PSF, modifies ‘undemocratic’ honour code: Progressive Students Forum claims

NEW DELHI: A month after imposing a ban on Progressive Students Forum (PSF), the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has revoked it, the left-leaning student body claimed. The institute also modified the new “undemocratic” honour code restricting the rights of students to participate in protest and political discussions. The decision comes a week after the students group demanded for a review report on the PSF ban.

With the lifting of the ban, the united struggle of the students ensured that such actions could not survive for even a single month, the TISS-PSF said in a statement on Tuesday.

The administration “arbitrarily” imposed a ban on PSF on August 19 and labelled the students’ group as “illegal” and unauthorised”. It also revised the honour code restricting the “democratic right of students to participate in protests and political discussions”. It also reiterated that the ban on PSF was directly against the UGC guidelines which promotes students to form organisations.

“The ban, however, was placed on a vocal organisation in TISS campus that had been continuously raising its voice against the mismanagement of the Institute by the new TISS administration. It was an attempt to silence dissenting voices, especially those coming from and fighting for the marginalized sections,” the PSF statement said.

“The administration saw the ban as a weapon to curb and restrict the democratic space inside campus. The undemocratic ban has also called for an indirect social boycott and threatened other students and teachers at the university who associate with members of PSF,” it said.

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Celebrating the victory, the students called out “right-wing media houses such as Aaj Tak” for terming PSF as the "Pakistan Students Federation" and “throwing students into the hands of communal cyber bullies”.

“We hold them accountable, and an equal responsibility lies with our own teachers who lead the institute for this irresponsible, communal, and politically polarizing behaviour among students and the public,” it added.

In a rare move, the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the RSS, also came out in support of the PSF, the PTI reported.