Summary of this article
- The passage opens with Sukanta Bhattacharya’s poem Atharo Bochor Boyosh, celebrating the fearless spirit of youth — a quality symbolizing students’ courage and defiance.
- It recounts the recent detention of 10 students from Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) for holding a peaceful gathering to remember writer and activist G. N. Saibaba, which authorities labelled an “unlawful assembly.”
- The incident is placed within a broader pattern of crackdowns on student activism across universities like JNU, Jamia, and Hyderabad, where students are increasingly targeted for questioning state narratives and expressing political solidarity.
There is something in the age of eighteen. It knows no fear; in the fiery eyes of an 18-year-old, storms rise. It breaks all bounds, laughs in the face of death. There cannot be a better description of a student. These words are an English translation of a passage from a poem, Atharo Bochor Boyosh (The Age of Eighteen) written by Sukanta Bhattacharya, the iconic poet from Bengal. |