Student Politics in British India and Beyond: The Rise and Fragmentation of the All India Student Federation (AISF), 1936–1950

Abstract

This article will examine the rise and fragmentation of the All India Student Federation (AISF), 1936–1950. The AISF initially represented a successful attempt at consolidating the existing student organizations in colonial India and a dramatic indication of student power at the national level. This student movement became an arena for the negotiation of political and religious youth identities during the final decade of the British Raj. Indian students and their student leaders responded to wider political change, especially the power configuration of political parties, with a search for distinct political spaces for youth. The struggle for control and secessions from the organization, however, brought about its fragmentation. During WWII, student and adult political leaders competed to mobilize the splintered student movements for the purposes of civil defense, social service and for the Quit India movement. I will also argue these AISF groups became the convergence point for the colonial and early-post colonial state’s coercive network.