If the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) presidential debate was judged on audience reaction alone, independent candidate Farooque Alam would have won hands down as he received the loudest cheers for his rhetoric, scathing criticism of campus politics and jibes at every political organisation on campus.
Mr. Alam accused the “progressive” Left organisations as well as those who claim to represent the oppressed class on the campus of being on sleeping pills for the past year and failing to address students’ issues. “When I joined JNU in 2013, I was shown a dream… a dream of having the freedom to walk, talk, study and think the way I wanted to. But when I started to think, I was told that I am wrong. Therefore, I am here today as an independent candidate,” said Mr. Alam expressing his disillusionment with student politics.
Campus-related issues
However, the dynamics of a JNUSU election is more complex and it was left to the candidates belonging to Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), the united left-panel comprising All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), and the National Students Union of India (NSUI) to discuss everything from campus-related issues to the various problems being faced by India and the world.
The debate that continued till early Thursday morning saw a blame game over issues bothering the students, such as the disappearance of M.Sc. student Najeeb Ahmed, the crackdown on dissent by the university administration and the change in the admission policy due to the implementation of the UGC Gazette notification of 2016 that led to seat cuts and a change in admission policy.
‘Failed movements’
BAPSA candidate Shabana Ali started the proceedings by attacking the outgoing union (AISA-SFI) for not being able to sustain any student movement on campus. She alleged that in the ‘Justice for Najeeb’ movement as well as the opposition to the UGC seat-cut issue, the JNUSU failed show any results. Ms. Ali accused the united left panel of having sold their ideology to secure votes. “The panel talks about coming together to remove the ABVP from campus. Forget about removing the ABVP, the union could not even remove the flower pots that have been placed at the freedom square to prevent us from using the space for protests,” said Ms. Ali who represents the Ambedkarites on campus.
‘Noisy union’
ABVP candidate Nidhi Tripathi mostly concentrated on campus-related infrastructural issues and said that if they are voted to form the students’ union they would work towards finding solutions to problems and not just create noise like the previous union did. She said the union would ensure that JNU has a proper placement cell so that students can get jobs and change the “Leftist attitude” that drives away multinational companies from the campus.
She accused the union of dragging the matter of seat cuts, weightage of viva voce marks and deprivation points issue to court even when the ABVP, after a nine-day hunger strike, had received assurances from the administration that student-professor ratio would be implemented in a phased manner and that 100% weightage to viva voce would not be implemented. Ms. Tripathi came under attack from all the other candidates over the disappearance of Najeeb Ahmed in October 2016 after he had an altercation with some ABVP members the previous night.
Fight against ‘fascism’
Aparajitha Raja, the candidate from the AISF, said that there was a global Right-wing shift and that at these times it was important for principled politics and student movement to fight against fascism. “These are dark times, we understand. I would like to quote a poem that asks... will there be singing in these dark times? Yes I agree with the poet, there will be singing of these dark times,” said Ms. Raja, saluting several movements opposing fascist forces.
She said that the idea of a public university was under attack from Right-wing elements who want to privatise education and that universities have been turned into slaughter houses where students like Rohit Vemula have been killed and others are being attacked on the basis of caste, language and gender.
Vrishnika Singh of the NSUI called for improvement of health facilities on the campus. She said if voted to power, the NSUI will work to see that there is no seat cut and the deprivation point system is brought back. Ms. Singh attacked the BJP government for “giving patronage to Baba Ram Rahim just days before his conviction in two rape cases”.
The candidate from the united-left panel, Gita Kumari, said that while the ABVP was hand-in-glove with the anti-student administration of the university, the BAPSA had spent more time over the past year fighting the JNUSU rather than fighting against the anti-student policies of the Vice-Chancellor.
Justice for Najeeb
She said that while the outgoing president lost his studentship for seeking justice for Najeeb, his assaulters have not yet been punished. She paid tributes to journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead on Tuesday outside her home in Bengaluru, and said that the students of JNU would continue her struggle to expose the Right-wing forces and that her efforts would not go in vain.
Over 8,000 students will vote in the JNUSU elections on September 8.
