 "JNUSU elections 2017: Dissecting 'Left unity' and the politics of minority exclusion on campus")
At the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), September, particularly its first week, is an important period. Not because the campus is at the peak of its beauty, with drizzling rains and dancing peacocks, but because of the JNU Students’ Union elections. In the lead up to the 2017 JNUSU elections, the campus is roaring with vibrant slogans, new ideas and has become a hub for people practising merciless criticism and levelling allegations against each other. Generally, JNU is always politically and critically active but during elections, both politicians and their politics start to operate at an altogether different level – often the hyper active stage of chaos and propaganda. If we dissect the anatomy of the upcoming elections, a number of things demand our attention. The Left parties have yet again ganged up against Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of RSS. However, a new player in the picture is the DSF. Unlike last year, the organisation this time is part of the grand alliance of the Left organisations. [caption id=“attachment_2839078” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]
File image of JNU students during a protest. AFP[/caption] This Left unity, however, excludes former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar’s All India Student Federation (AISF), and CPI’s students’ wing, which is fielding a presidential candidate after a break of a year. The terms and conditions of the alliance comprising AISA-SFI-DSF (All India Students’ Association, Student Federation of India, Democratic Students’ Federation) are not clear but a clear common consensus has been formed on the agenda of fighting ‘fascist forces’ within the campus. This mainly includes fighting the BJP-backed university administration, which is accused of being ‘Sanghi’ in terms of its nature and functioning. An important aspect of this unity rests in identifying a larger-than-life kind of enemy and then directly channelising all the anger of students towards them. This method is a tried and tested one. Last year, it did help the
Left in scoring a victory
. However, given the present scenario, it can be argued that the Left is misreading the situation and is not ready to update its election strategy. JNU had been under assault since 9 February, 2016. The heat of the fascist onslaught was hot enough last year for students to feel the Right-wing danger. Hence, #FightBackJNU emerged as a larger-than-life slogan to fight a larger-than-life kind of enemy. It appealed tremendously to the sense of every single student on campus in every possible way. The mandate was given to fight back these frontal attacks and for keeping up the struggling spirit of JNU. Whether this mandate was upheld in the course of this year is an entirely different story and will be taken up later in the essay. This year, Left organisations do not have the plus point of harping back to 9 February; rather what they have is a gloomy picture of compromises and failures. There is nothing to which they can go back and say because we did this, so vote for us. And hence the movement that witnessed participation of people from all walks of life is being used as a scapegoat. On what ground is the Left monopolising its rights on the #StandWithJNU movement? The movement, fought and won by the common students, is becoming the last refuge of the Left in JNU.
The Left is campaigning purely on the anti-ABVP plank. This to say that freshers in the campus are being asked to vote for “Left unity”, otherwise ABVP will come to power and then there will be no 24X7 library, no night life for women in campus, censorship will be imposed on everything, so on and so forth.
A puritan request is being made for “identifying the real enemy”. Now going by the fact of the matter, it becomes clear that every year ABVP bags a thousand odd votes and that’s it. This is a consistent pattern with minor fluctuations. Given their cadre base, it is quite clear that Left giants like AISA or SFI can single-handedly defeat ABVP without entering into any kind of alliance with any party. Then why is there a need for an alliance? A valid counter argument to my point can be that since the 9 February incident, the fascist attacks have grown in intensity and frequency and so for a strong resistance we need to ally. This is perfectly acceptable. But then if the attack is huge and “unity is the need of the hour”, why are other organisations out of it? Differences in the terms can be a reason. But then so can be the nature of the alliance as well. So, we can ask whether “unity is the need of the hour” or is “unity is need of the elections”. How are we supposed to believe in the revolutionary zeal of the organisations if unity is reduced to the electoral arrangement and does not translate into unity of struggle? Is unity then means of monopolising power or a measure to fight? My reading of the situation suggests that by any logical means ABVP cannot win the elections. So, the unity is then against all other organisations, particularly Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), the champions of the marginalised, whose rising potential was seen by all in last year’s elections. The assertions by the marginalised sections of the society in the campus is taking the form of a suppressed angry river which will very soon flood the Red fort inside out. The reflections of the threatening position of the Left can be seen from the fact that instead of countering BAPSA through ideological means, it has resorted to dirty politics of slandering and shaming BAPSA activists. Online and offline poll_-khols_ are being carried out to spread rumours and lies without any source validity.
As if chanting “Jai Bheem, Laal Salam” is the only way of making the campus socially inclusive.
Or is it important to concede political representation to these forces too? Recently, the position of the BAPSA was reduced by “default” to one which is pro-admin and anti-JNUSU. They have been accused of running a parallel union and also delegitimising it and hence questioning their moral grounds of contesting for JNUSU elections. BAPSA, in return, has accused the Left of being Brahmanical. Dipped in identity politics of one or the other kind, what credibility does BAPSA have to say that it will represent the interests of all and not just the downtrodden? In most of the issues for which the common students criticise the outgoing JNUSU, most of the other organisations along with BAPSA also created hurdles in creating a smooth sustained movement and charting the course for the same. To have disagreements with the Union is one thing but to out rightly reject their leadership on crucial junctures is a different thing. Other than these Left organisations, AISF is vouching for a “principled” Left position which will not succumb to compromises and opportunism. A similar promise as done by the “United Left” is being propagated by AISF. But the problem is how do we support a candidate and her party which has not been active in taking up the major issues of the campus for the last one year? What if the mandate to fight “tooth and nail” is betrayed again? Further, the fact that influential leaders like Kanhaiya are campaigning for her also speaks volumes about the kind of method which they are resorting to. But whether we vote for candidates on the basis of their branding and advertising capacities is something which does not require much explanation. Similarly, other organisations like United OBC Forum have taken up the struggle of students only in bits and pieces and as per the convenience of time and issue. No attempt to build a sustained movement was taken by any of these organisations either. NSUI is nowhere in the picture. With a pro-state ideology, ABVP has resorted back to the policy of pleasing students. Escaping any clear stand on the roadmap to fight the seat cuts and specifically on Najeeb Ahmed – a missing first-year MSc Biotechnology student – enforce that they are falling back on infrastructural issues by large. These mainly include installing washing machines at each hostel floor, bringing e-rickshaws in the campus for internal transportation, expanding library seating space etc. Not surprisingly, the last point includes “checking all anti-national activities”. Further, all the presidential candidates are women this time, which is a wonderful thing in itself. But Left has still restored its decade old strategy of keeping one Muslim and Dalit candidate in the panel. In a counter-offensive, BAPSA also followed a similar strategy by fielding a Muslim women candidate for the presidential post. The extent is unsure, but this will definitely divide the Left base of the Dalit-Muslim votes.
Thus, it can be concluded that this particular election is unique in the sense that arch-rival Left parties are joining hands to keep their Red Fort intact. Sweeping their differences and staying in the Union by whatever means or cost is being given supreme importance. The contesting ground is thus unequal, Left parties coming up together to keep everyone else out of the power.
The rhetoric of the Left and revolution will surely help in registering an electoral victory but before this materialises and they come to one’s door shouting “pura JNU laal hai laal rahega”, they have already lost the moral ground to uphold such a position. The author is pursuing her Masters in Ancient History from Centre For Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.