AISA wins against all odds

September 15, 2014 08:01 am | Updated November 16, 2021 05:49 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

This election season has been tougher than usual on the All India Students’ Association (AISA) which bagged its second innings in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union on Sunday.

In a campaign fraught with uncertainties, the AISA had to combat snide references regarding the former JNUSU president and joint secretary facing sexual harassment enquiries against them, just a few months before elections were to begin. And additionally, everything that did not work in the university was blamed on the previous union.

“The students saw through it all. They realised that we have been working consistently, struggling and trying to get many issues resolved. They also realised we were sincere and acknowledged the stability of the positions we took on many issues,” said Ashutosh Kumar, the newly-elected JNUSU president.

“JNU will soon have its own printing press because of the struggles of the previous union. Books that were once too expensive for ordinary students to access will now be available to them and operated through an autonomous, open access mode. The library is open and accessible for 24 hours. It was not easy to get these things done, we had to appeal and take on the administration to prevent this commercialisation of knowledge,” he added.

“There were many who were talking about a new wave of politics in JNU but we proved these forces wrong. Those who said they did not see the union doing anything overlooked the fact that the students have been benefitting from the successful struggles of the union,” said Anant Prakash Narayan, the new vice-president.

The personal relations that the candidates had with the students, and their visibility throughout the year also influenced votes, said Radhika Krishnan – an older activist on campus who helped with their campaign.

“I remember the first year when the two of them came on campus many years ago, they asked so many questions. It indicated that they could become AISA leaders who are confident to respond to anything,” she said, adding that it was also the ability to take the struggles outside the university that was appreciated by the students.

“We did not just issue some pamphlets saying we condemn fascist forces, we took our anti-communal struggles to the streets. We went to Banaras and campaigned there door to door during the general election, that too in the middle of our M.Phil dissertations,” she added.

General Secretary Chintu Kumari and Joint Secretary Shafqat Hussain Butt spoke about how they had to combat the politics of slander and rumour.

Reducing the viva-voice weightage given for the exams, democratising teacher-student relationships by setting up a Grievance Redressal Cell in each school to combat the hurdles faced by research scholars, setting up of a Translation Cell to help remove language barriers for students from non-English backgrounds as well as speedy redress of the hostel crises are some of the agendas that are on the top of their list.

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