A hidden force behind thuggery | Daily News

A hidden force behind thuggery

An incident that took place at one of the leading state universities last week was not given due prominence in the media that reported the news item. But this single incident tells the entire story behind the so-called ‘Aragalaya’ and especially the future of the ‘Aragalaya’. We are talking about a single incident reported from a state university last week because it tells us the future of Aragalaya.

According to all media reports published in almost all print media last week, several students had sustained injuries in a clash that took place last Wednesday (14th) evening between two groups of students for and against ragging in the university with the injured students being admitted to the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital.

Investigations revealed that a group of more than 30 students were involved in the attack on the group of students who were against ragging. The injured students are in the second and third year, and they hold anti-ragging opinions. It is alleged that a group of third and fourth year students had carried out the assault following a dispute over ragging.

Peradeniya Police and the University Administration are conducting separate investigations.

This is not the first and will not be the last time that such an incident takes place inside a state university. We are talking about this specific incident today because it is the first incident of this nature reported after the so-called ‘Aragalaya’ and there is a direct connection between ‘Aragalaya’ and this incident.

Over 99.99 percent of Aragalaya activists consisted of undergraduates of state universities who belong to the one and only students’ union that exist in all state universities. It belongs to two minor political parties and by now the entire world knows about these two small political parties. One of them does not have any representation in the country and the other one has just three percent of representation. They wipe out all the other students’ unions affiliated to all the other political parties using thuggery.

The two political parties which were one political party in the past united once again with the commencement of the Aragalaya. Their one and only tool is the undergraduates and the only way of keeping undergraduates with them is by ragging them, brainwashing them and cultivating ‘fear for life’ in whom they cannot brainwash. In other words, the undergraduates do whatever told by these two political parties just because they either have been brainwashed or they fear for their lives.

Since the early 1980s there were undergraduates in some state universities who opposed them secretly and after the 1990s there were undergraduates in almost all state universities who opposed them openly. No matter whether they expressed their views secretly or openly, the undergraduate thugs of the student union of those small political parties either killed them or attacked them with various weapons making them permanently disabled. All those thugs need to do is protect and continue their one and only tool which is ragging that is used to keep undergraduates with them.

The time is now right for the Government to look into this grave situation which is dragging Sri Lanka towards poverty day-by-day. A large amount of foreign exchange is spent on local students who go abroad for their higher studies because they are scared for their lives and do not wish to obtain higher education free of charge from any of the local state universities.

A large number of innocent poor undergraduates had been killed from 1971 to 2022 due to fatal ragging in state universities. In the past at this same state university, by force, these thugs collected all Mahapola scholarships and bursaries paid to undergraduates in order to pay legal fees for lawyers who appeared for murderers who killed another undergraduate inside the university.

On another occasion, a female undergraduate committed suicide without being able to face the ordeal of ragging after writing a letter with all the full names, addresses, and all the other details of all the raggers who forced her to kill herself. The list of murderers was there in the letter for any full investigation.

Unfortunately, all previous Governments since 1971 were dead scared of those thugs and did not properly investigate any of these incidents properly. No action was taken against the real culprits. Only some Higher Education Ministers who held the position in the past took some steps and that was it. Nothing was done to protect students who are selected to state universities.

Sri Lanka cannot walk forward with this ‘fatal disease’ any more. Sri Lanka cannot afford any more insurgencies. Sri Lanka cannot afford any more destruction of public properties. The solution is very simple. That is implementing the country’s existing relevant laws against all culprits without considering them as ‘special citizens’ just because they are undergraduates. The taxpayers of this country who pay tax for the free education of these thugs need justice. At least now the Government should deliver it.

Two small bankrupt political parties with a very dark history cannot dominate all state universities. The Government should not let them use the innocent poor undergraduates to capture power in this country through violence. Enough is enough and there should not be a fourth time.

 


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