At one end of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Jhelum lawns, the daflis of the united Left, with the initials AISA and SFI, beat in newfound unison. At the other end of the lawns was a dafli played by supporters of the Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF). In the centre, adding to the beat, was a dafli played by supporters of Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) members. A small dafli carried by supporters of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) lay in a corner, while the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) did not bring any dafli at all.
Mashaal juloos
The beating of drums and their positioning summed up the mood on campus on Tuesday at the united general body meeting (UGBM), in which students standing for the post of vice-president, general secretary and joint secretary were given seven minutes each to make their campaign speech and reply to questions later. The UGBM was organised the day after a mashaal juloos , a show of strength organised by various parties in the fray, from Ganga dhaba to Chandrabhaga hostel.
‘Fascist ABVP’
A cross-section of students believe that although the Left has united to defeat what they refer to as a “fascist ABVP,” the BAPSA candidates are posing a threat to the Left unity by wooing minority voters and eating into their votes.
At the UGBM, Aarti Rani Prajapati, the candidate for the post of joint secretary, said both the Left and the Right have, for a number of years, had the same manifesto and been promising minority students that they will fight for them.
‘Marriage of convenience’
However, she added, BAPSA does not need anybody’s help to fight for students’ rights as they can fight for themselves, bringing to light the struggles this year during the Justice for Rohith campaign.
Pratim Ghoshal, the lone candidate on the central panel put up by the DSF, called Left unity a “marriage of convenience”. Defending the February 9 incident, he said even the Supreme Court, in its judgment, had said that making a strong criticism of the government was not even defamatory let alone seditious.
‘#SaveMe’
Addressing supporters, Janhawi Ojha, the ABVP’s presidential candidate, attacked the #SaveJnu campaign carried out by the Left parties saying that the cry was not for #SaveJNU but #SaveMe.
“There was no charge of sedition on JNU. JNU did not get arrested and receive bail. It is was a section of students who were charged of sedition. The campaign was started not to save JNU, but to save those individual students.”
The united Left, in its campaign, attacked the ABVP for being hand-in-glove with the administration in an attempt to shrink democratic space on campus, end the culture of JNU and malign its name.
The JNUSU elections are scheduled for September 9. The much-anticipated night-long presidential debate will begin from Tuesday night onwards.
