The University of Allahabad in India’s state of Uttar Pradesh has written to the federal Education Ministry alleging that a visit to the university by two officials from the British High Commission and their interaction with students has intensified the ongoing protest on the campus.
The university administration has also alleged that the officials visited the students without informing the college authorities, or even trying to seek any permission.
The university said that these officials “made provocative statements among the students on some controversial topics, including the issue of the students’ union”.
According to Indian Express, on 29 August, “Richard Barlow, the head of Political and Bilateral Affairs at the British High Commission in New Delhi, and Bhavana Vij, a senior political, economic adviser,” visited the campus and interacted with students.
During their three-day visit to Prayagraj city [the official name for Allahabad], the British High Commission officials met Uttar Pradesh government officials and others.
A British High Commission spokesman said in a statement that Barlow and Vij interacted with a “wide range of individuals as part of the UK’s work in India”.
The British High Commission spokesman has refused to comment further on the episode.
On 31 August, the university's executive council approved the decision to raise fees for the 2022-23 session. The university's vice-chancellor Prof Sangita Srivastava said that the fees had been raised after several decades, and the new fees are still the lowest compared with other central universities.
The university made the initial announcement in June. Afterward, Allahabad University's student unions submitted a memorandum to the vice chancellor in July demanding that the rise in fees be rolled back. They also began a protest against the decision in July. However, students threatened to take their protest to a new level if the decision was not rolled back.
However, since the official announcement of the fee rise on 31 August, students are protesting against the decision every day.
Speaking with Sputnik about why students are protesting, Harendra Yadav, one of the protestors, said: “In our university, most of the students are from a rural part of the country, whose income has plummeted because of the pandemic. The sudden rise in the fess, in the middle of the course, will affect the future of these students.”