The North News
Chandigarh, November 1
Students of Panjab University staged a protest outside the Law Auditorium on Saturday during the ongoing 6th Global Alumni Meet, demanding the immediate withdrawal of an affidavit that restricts students from participating in any form of political activity.
Holding placards reading “End the Undeclared Emergency in PU” and “#SayNoToAffidavit”, the protesters accused the university administration of attempting to silence dissent and curb free expression on campus.
According to the students, the affidavit—now mandatory for all enrollees—requires them to declare that they will not take part in political activities, will accept all administrative rules without question, and will restrict their expression to what is officially approved.
They described it as “a political weapon dressed as paperwork”, claiming it transforms students from active citizens into “silent subjects” by demanding a pre-emptive oath of obedience.
“A university without dissent is not a university—it is a training camp for obedience,” read one of the pamphlets distributed by the protesting students. “When the right to question dies, education becomes indoctrination.”
The students compared the situation to an “undeclared emergency,” saying the administration’s actions are eroding the institution’s legacy as a space for democratic debate. They warned that step by step, control is expanding—from affidavits silencing students to the vetting of speakers and now the proposed control over student council funds.
The protesters also invoked historical parallels, arguing that if leaders like Bhagat Singh or the participants of the JP Movement had been forced to sign such declarations, India’s freedom and democratic movements would have been weaker.
The pamphlet circulated during the protest called the affidavit part of “a larger project to eliminate the idea of the university as a public space of politics, replace democratic energy with bureaucratic control, and convert students into customers, not participants in history.”
