After an internal debate on the relevance of campus strikes forcing classes to suffer by its campus wing, the CPI(M) in Kerala has reconciled to the position that there is no need for giving up class-boycott altogether as the ultimate weapon to protect the rights of the student community.
The debate was triggered recently by the CPI(M) Central Committee member E P Jayarajan who wanted the leaders of the party's campus wing SFI to introspect on changing the methods of agitation in tune with changed times.
Jayarajan, a firebrand leader who came up through the SFI and the party's youth outfit DYFI, put across his idea while addressing a meeting of the campus outfit.
The party state unit, which considered the issue the other day, is of the view that a student organisation cannot altogether abandon campus strikes.
The SFI leadership is also of the view that it cannot totally give up class-boycotts while agitating on serious issues confronting the education sector in general and the student community in particular.
"It is SFI's fundamental stand that the party will not endorse unwanted strikes. We decide the mode of agitation according to the seriousness of issues," Shiju Khan, SFI state president, told PTI.
"So, we have not taken any decision to give up strikes for forever. Many party veterans may have their own opinion. But, we are yet to be intimated officially of the CPI(M)'s views on the issue," he said.
