Tuesday, 21st January, 2025 saw Day 2 of the sit-in protests in opposition to new gate-security protocol by the student body of Ashoka University. Students gathered in the atrium at 1:20 PM, united in their demand for engagement and answers. The Vice Chancellor’s continued absence from the gathering fueled growing frustration.
Ahana Walanju (UG’26), Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR), highlighted that the student body is determined to voice their protest until a response is provided. ‘‘We notice and we question,’’ she declared. According to her, the mobilisation “is not an unhinged fanatical act. It is not chaos.” It is, rather, “an organized and principal act” in response to a pattern of dismissing student concerns demonstrated by the administration. She also expressed frustration regarding the administration’s refusal to listen to the student body and their expectation of students to “sit quietly” while their autonomy is being uprooted.
Insha Husain (UG’26), UG Councillor and President of the United Students Front (USF), built onto Walanju’s critique, pointing out that the administration often treats the student government as a bureaucratic tool. “They [the administration] want to send faceless emails and cannot give one singular sentence as an answer to 200 students.”
Frustrated by the university leadership’s silence, the student protestors took towards the office of the Dean of Student Affairs (DSA) Shalini Mehrotra. Positioned outside, students voiced slogans like “DSA jawab do!’’(DSA, answer us!) and ‘‘Ashoka admin Hosh mai aao” (Ashoka admin, come to your senses”). Four Ashoka University faculty members — two Assistant Professors, a Head of Department and a Visiting Professor joined the gathered students and also participated in the sit-in outside the DSA’s office. An Ashoka alum, now serving as a Teaching Fellow addressed the gathered students, expressing his solidarity with the protests, and frustration with the steadily deteriorating respect for student liberty on campus, evidence from his time as a student.
AUSG Vice-President Samarth Jain (ASP’25) said of the administration: “[They] want us to forget what the idea of Ashoka is. They want us to think that this is the norm.” Other student government members echoed this sentiment, expressing concern over the erosion of Ashoka’s liberal ethos and the principles it was founded on.
When the demonstration continued with no response from the administration, students started to enter the DSA’s office. On requests from Aditi Warrier (ASP’25), AUSG President, Dean Mehrotra finally stepped out of her office and addressed the student body. During her brief appearance, she faced impassioned questioning from the AUSG as well as present students. Following a demand that she “stop using the SG as a scapegoat,” Mehrotra abruptly left the gathering.
In conversation with The Edict, Warrier said that she had hoped the DSA would follow through on their earlier commitment— that she would speak to the gathered students and ensure them that their concerns were relayed to the VC.
After the DSA left midway, a student at the gathering declared that a mass walkout would be staged on Thursday, 23rd January if student grievances were not addressed by then. In a symbolic finishing gesture, the student body rearranged flower pots in the Atrium— placed there to discourage student gatherings— and re-planted them towards the entry gates of the administration block elevators.
[Edited by Madhumitha GI and Keerthana Panchanathan]
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