 "JNUSU election: ABVP pins hope on development agenda, says split in Left parties gives it advantage")
In the upcoming student body elections in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), all eyes would be on the fate of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidates, and for a special reason. It was in the year 2000 that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated students’ body ABVP had first breached the walls of the Left bastion that JNU politics has largely been, getting Sandeep Mahapatra elected as the JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president. Things had gone in ABVP’s favour partly also because the BJP-led NDA government was ruling the Centre at that time under the popular prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. [caption id=“attachment_3882989” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] However, ABVP could never repeat that feat in JNU again. But with a strong NDA government at the Centre again this time round, will ABVP strike gold in the upcoming elections? Especially, when all the three Left unions — CPM-backed Students’ Federation of India (SFI), CPI (ML)-backed All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) — have formed an alliance called ‘Left Unity’ to take ABVP head on. “There’s every possibility of ABVP repeating the feat of 2000. For the last five years’, ABVP has done considerable work at the ground level on JNU campus, and today, in comparison to the past, it has a larger acceptance among students. Moreover, there has been an increase in ABVP members,” Mahapatra told Firstpost. ABVP’s strengths and strategy to counter the Left:
- ABVP’s increase in membership base
- ABVP’s consistent work at ground-level over the last five years, especially after its member Saurabh Sharma got elected as a JNUSU joint secretary in 2015 Split in the Left may prove to be an advantageous factor
- Giving a new twist to JNU debate. ABVP wants to change the Left narrative by focussing on developmental issues and on those issues close to the heart of students.
- Fielding candidates who are known faces and are prominently associated with students’ issues
- BJP-led NDA government at the Centre
- Inclusion of more women members and candidates
- Bigger and aggressive rallies
“In 2000, for the first time, we (ABVP) came up with a slogan: ‘What kind of JNU I want to see’. It was a shift from Left unions’ traditional focus on Marx, Hegel, etc. I took up several student related issues from setting up of railway reservation counter, SBI ATM, etc, to the shortage of hostels, scholarships and upliftment of students from vernacular medium. Through the Ministry of Tribal affairs, I got a proposal passed for a new hostel, which is today known as Koyna hostel. We exposed the Left’s hypocrisy as these people who raise anti-imperialist, anti-US slogans, have no qualms about accepting scholarships from US-based organisations and even go and settle in the US after passing out from JNU. It was a tough fight in those days. Now, JNU students are aware of the Left agenda,” said Mahapatra, who’s now a Supreme Court counsel. Despite the fact that Left parties have formed an alliance in the upcoming JNUSU election, the split in Left parties has come as a silver lining for ABVP. CPI-backed All India Students’ Federation (AISF) has decided not to be a part of the ‘Left Unity’ and contest separately. CPI leader D Raja’s daughter Aparajita is the nominee from AISF for the president’s post. Earlier too, she wanted to contest for the post, but couldn’t. The Left Unity is campaigning on the anti-ABVP plank, projecting the negative sides of ABVP before the freshers. “If the ABVP comes to power, the liberal, democratic and free-thinking atmosphere of the JNU campus will end. There will be censorship in everything including students’ rights,” an AISA member said. Though the Left has justified its decision on an alliance as ‘Left Unity is the need of the hour’ to counter Right-wing Hindutva forces in the campus, ABVP sees it as a sign of ‘fear amongst the Left unions’. “Right from the beginning, SFI and AISA have been staunch opponents of each other. Now they are together, which says a lot about their fear and apprehension to counter us. They have formed the coalition to combat ABVP,” Saket Bahuguna, national media convener of ABVP told Firstpost. Optimistic about ABVP’s victory, he said, “We’re optimistic about our performance and expect to sweep JNUSU election this time. Our ‘mashal rally’ on Tuesday, in which more than 500 students participated, was a big hit. Besides, during debates, our focus is on pro-development agendas like up gradation of facilities on the campus and addressing students’ issues. Through Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region and Prime Minister’s Office, Jitendra Singh, we’ve got a proposal passed for the North East on the campus.” The ‘presidential debate’ at Jhelum Lawn inside the JNU campus on Wednesday, which is similar to the US Presidential Debate, will be the last attempt for the contesting candidates to woo the voters. “The catchment area for all the Left unions is same, so votes will get divided between Left Unity and AISF candidates. This can be advantageous for ABVP. However, today’s presidential debate will give candidates the last chance to pitch for themselves. This matters a lot as floating voters get swayed by it,” added Mahapatra.
