For protests to be meaningful they must be peaceful however sensitive the issues are
Protests by a section of students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University are now getting a bit tedious. Despite support from fanatical former students and some media outlets, the protests have no support from the public at large, unlike the protests after the horrific gang-rape of December 26, 2012. Indeed, when members of the public questioned why they were being inconvenienced, it appears some protestors threatened them with violence defeating the purpose. The riot-like situation witnessed in the capital on Friday as hundreds of misguided students tried to lay siege to the city was rightly stopped by the police. There is, however, little doubt that both sides indulged in violence, the police clearly misbehaved with a photo-journalist and the students, despite trying to whitewash their violent streak, did attack a senior police officer, leaving him with injuries. Student politics remains vibrant in India despite claims by some Communist leaning student bodies. But one reason the protests by the JNU students has whittled away public sympathy is because the public at large feels that it is more of the same old, same old. There is no sympathy among the public for the anti-attendance protests which is where the current protests germinated. In fact, the taxpayer on the whole is disgusted that those who enjoy subsidised education are protesting what some would consider quite normal and attendance norms apply at many other Central and private universities. There is a feeling that the sense of entitlement that students have has gone overboard.
That said, the students were also protesting police inaction against a professor accused of sexual harassment. On that front, the students are justified in raising that issue in the public domain. There is no excuse for sexual harassment in academia and this is a problem that has been going on for far too long. There is a feeling by some that sexual harassment charges tend to be a one-way street with some notable left-leaning academics getting away, but it appears that even that is changing. If students have felt uncomfortable, they must report this to the authorities and action should be taken against offenders. However, accusations are one thing, there must not constitute the judgement and must be substantiated. However, accusers must be made to feel that justice is being done and not resort to senseless protests which if they are politicised tend to alienate support. The reason the protests of after the December 2012 gangrape were popular was because a large section of society supported it. However, JNU students are increasingly being seen as protesting for the sake of protesting. That is bad optics, and matters are made worse by the the seeming violence at the protests.
Students have the right to protest and must protest but they also have to take people along with them if the protests are to lead to meaningful change. Disrupting public life is not the way to go about protests in the current environment.