Chandrashekhar Prasad

Chandrashekar Prasad (20 September 1964 – 31 March 1997), popularly known as Chandu and Comrade Chandrashekhar was a student leader and later an activist affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.

He graduated from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, and served as the president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union for two terms.

Prasad played a key role in the development of All India Students Association.

Chandrashekhar Prasad was born on 20 September 1964 in Siwan, Bihar in a Kushwaha or Koeri family.

His father was a sergeant in the Indian Air Force who died of a heart attack when he was 8 years old.

His mother, Kaushalya Devi states that she only got inr 150 as compensation for her husband's service to the forces but made sure her son was educated well.

Chandrashekhar completed his intermediate education at Sainik School in Jhumri Tilaiya.

Following his schooling, he was selected for National Defence Academy training in Pune.

He joined the program but left it after 2 years stating dissatisfaction.

He subsequently enrolled in Patna University and became involved in the All India Students Federation as an active member but became disillusioned with the federation some time afterwards.

In 1990, he joined Jawaharlal Nehru University for a MPhil degree in English literature.

He later started working on a PhD on Bihar's popular folk theater form Bidesia but was assassinated before he could complete it.

Chandrashekhar Prasad became associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation during the formation of the All India Students Association.

In an Aligarh town hall, he expressed his desire to bring a "revolution" for clean politics in India.

He is credited with almost single-handedly building up the All India Students Association during his stay in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

He was elected to the body of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union as the vice president for one term and president for two terms.

He is described to have played a key role in creating the foundations of labourers, students, women's and dalits rights movements among the students community.

After completing his M.Phil., he decided to move back to his hometown of Siwan to start a movement there.

Prasad was deputed as a youth leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation in Siwan.

He began campaigning against corruption and alleged criminal leaders of the region.

He is described to have made considerable inroads as a mass leader and posed a threat to the Janata Dal (later split into Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal), the ruling party in Bihar.

After his death, Brij Bihari Pandey stated that Mohammad Shahabuddin, the Member of Parliament from the Siwan constituency was threatened by the activism of Chandrashekhar who was considered as a candidate from the constituency in the upcoming elections.

On 31 March 1997, he was assassinated by sharpshooters allegedly in the employ of Mohammad Shahabuddin of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, while addressing street corner meetings in the district town of Siwan, Bihar in support of a strike.

His assassination led to remarkable student protests across India.

Prasad was addressing a nukkad sabha (corner meeting) on J.P Road in Siwan, Bihar on 31 March 1997 for organising a bandh (general strike) called in Bihar to protest against the mass murders and scandals that were rampant in the state.

During the meeting, he was killed in a mass shooting along with another activist, Shyam Narayan Yadav and a hawker Bhutele Miyan.

Mohammad Shahabuddin who was a member of parliament and known as a strongman in the district, was the prime accused for the shooting along with 5 other members of the Janata Dal (later split into Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal).

Following the assassination of Chandrashekhar Prasad, there were "unprecedented protests" by students across India.

In Delhi, students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University marched to the Bihar Niwas demanding a dialogue with the then Chief Minister of Bihar, Lalu Prasad Yadav.

In response, Sadhu Yadav, a leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal had allegedly ordered a mass shooting on the student protesters by the police.

The protests occurred in various university campuses across major institutions such as Banaras Hindu University, Jadavpur University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Lucknow among others; led by Kaushalya Devi, the mother of Chandrashekhar.

Devi had been offered monetary compensation by the Government of Bihar which she had refused.

The All India Students Association also demanded the arrest of Sadhu Yadav and capital punishment for Mohammad Shahabuddin.

The student protests were able to pressurise Lalu Prasad Yadav into allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation to investigate the case.

The term goonda raj to refer to the criminalisation of politics in Bihar was coined during these protests.

In 2012, four people were convicted of his murder and life sentences were awarded to each of them; all the convicted were former members of the Janata Dal (later split into Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal).

On 26 February 2012, following the investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, a special court convicted 3 of the accused, sentenced them to life imprisonment and fined each of them a sum of inr 40000.

The general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya however expressed dissatisfaction with the verdict and stated that the verdict was "disappointing inadequate" and that the courts had skirted the "political charecterisation of the murder" by ignoring the charges on Mohammad Shahabuddin, the prime accused in the case.

On 23 March 2012, a fourth accused was sentenced for life whose trial had run separately and a fifth accused had died during the course of the trials, therefore, no convictions were brought against him.

Following the trials, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation states that the CBI treated the crime like a case of random shooting instead of a political assassination.