Alcohol and drugs on a college campus

Er. Arnab Jan Deka

(janarnab@gmail.com)

The tragic incident of drunk driving by Assam Engineering College students on the midnight of May 29, 2023, leading to a fatal accident taking away seven precious lives while several more are fighting for survival in hospital, has stirred the public consciousness of our entire civic society in Assam. This is just an attempt as a responsible citizen to find the root causes of such tragedies and also seek a permanent and durable solution to prevent future occurrences of such incidents. It is immediately felt that the teachers concerned with the institution and other similar institutions should start an immediate campaign in their own respective engineering colleges and other institutions to stop drinking and the sale of alcohol and drugs within campus. I did not see that happening at Jorhat Engineering College during my time there more than three decades’ ago. Even many professors supported drinking by students and advocated for keeping a bar in every hostel, particularly during important programmes like Freshers and Parting Socials, etc. I raised a strong voice against that totally unacceptable practise of teachers and students at Jorhat Engineering College and had to pay a heavy price for my protest against drinking on the college campus. Manjuri must be able to recall those JEC days. So, this problem is not new. There is no point in blaming a few students for drinking and driving drunk at midnight. A fish rots from the top. All teachers must take a vow not to drink and not to socialise or keep any kind of family or formal contacts with people both within and outside their respective families who purchase alcohol and drugs and regularly consume them at home, at functions, or other places as elitist leisurely indulgences, thereby establishing such evil practises as fashion statements of modern luxurious life. Those teachers must also regularly visit every hostel and counsel students against drinking and bringing alcohol and drugs to college campuses. Every such incident should be reported immediately to local police, and the college student and teacher communities must not try to shield or protect those criminals bringing alcohol and drugs to college campuses and must ensure that those culprits get adequate punishments through the legal process. If such drastic measures are taken immediately, only then can recurring such unfortunate incidents be stopped for good. If AEC and JEC teachers still have the willpower and genuine interest in the lives and future of their beloved students and children in mind and approach me, I am still ready to counsel all teachers and students against drinking and drug abuse and need to punish the guilty, the way I did as a lonely student in JEC more than three decades ago.

If some students come forward and raise their voices against ragging, drinking, or drug abuse, the teachers do not protect such students. Rather, such students are victimised, harassed, threatened, and even murdered. I faced such situations both at Cotton and JEC. Not a single teacher came to support me. Instead, they threatened to make me fail my exams if I did not withdraw my complaints and verbal protests. I did not find a single teacher with the guts of my late father, who, as Pragjyotish College Principal and Economics Head over three decades, had many incidents of publicly slapping such students, but not a single counteraction took place against my father. Because even the erring students knew that my father’s slaps were for their good, and my father led by his own life’s examples. There was never any complaint of corruption, drinking, gambling, or any other vices against my father during his entire life, and he led a very simple lifestyle with Khaddar Dhoti Punjabi, despite being a top government bureaucrat in Delhi. As he led by example, students were also respectful to him, and they tried to avoid doing anything that would invite my father’s public disapproval. My father even publicly slapped top Assam agitation leaders and my own college students’ union general secretary during their heydays, but no retaliation followed. Now, do we have teachers of such integrity and honesty who would invite similar respect from students and who would accept whatever punishment is administered by teachers?

If the clueless college administrations and teaching community engage me, I can be the bridge between their failed efforts and the students’ non-forthcoming stand. Because I have seen these things from close quarters, I can relate to them and make them confide in me, which I may effectively transmit to the administration and faculty for affirmative action to put a complete halt to the elitist practise of drinking and drug abuse at the highest levels of society and establish this elitist practise as highly evil and to be totally outlawed and banned by the civil society and teaching faculty.

When somebody is drunk, it is not sane to expect him to remain calm and composed with a balanced state of judgement to make a responsible decision. So, teachers and administrators should use their influence to shut down the alcohol and drug shops and take these abusive substances far away from the reach of our younger generation. And all seniors, including parents, teachers, and administrators, must take a collective vow not to drink alcohol or take drugs, not to organise or attend a party where alcohol or drugs are served, and not to entertain or visit any guests or friends who drink or take drugs. That is the first step. When children see that drinkers and drug users are pariahs in their respective families, they will also start to hate these evils. But the question remains: Are our parents, teachers, and administrators ready to set an example with their own personal conduct vis-à-vis drinking and drugs?

As for the government’s policy of encouraging drinking, we ALL responsible citizens must register our protests as individuals. Otherwise, all our efforts to protect our own children will go in vain. Because of our collective support for government policy on drinking, all the people our children will find in this big, bad world will only be habitual drinkers and drug abusers, and eventually they will also start drinking as government policy supporters. So, we must all decide what our conscience says and act accordingly.

Personally, my conscience is clear as a personally met several Chief Ministers and lodged my strong protest when Beer, Wine Bars and Shops were introduced during 1980-90s all over Assam by the government. Not remaining inert afterwards, I also wrote many articles in top newspapers against this government policy. So, if one does not maintain a double standard, one can act. Conscious people of Assam know me for my strong, fearless stand on every important social issue in Assam, and even politicians and top bureaucrats across spectrums admire me for my selfless social stand on such burning issues. So, let us all join hands together to end the evil menace of drinking and drug abuse from our Assamese society for good, so that not a single case of drinking and driving leading to the untimely deaths of youngsters occurs again.