Shehla Rashid Shora is the first woman from Kashmir to win a post in Jawaharlal Nehru University’s central panel this year. The engineer-turned-activist, who joined JNU two years back as a Sociology student, believes that the university is the best place for student activism.
“There is a great deal of difference between students’ politics in Delhi and Kashmir. In Kashmir, student activism has been completely crushed. Here [in Delhi] students get a chance to raise their voice, especially in JNU, where you do not need to be a ‘wealth-owning male’ to win and contest elections. Both genders are treated equally and people from all sections of society are treated as equals,” said Ms. Shora, who has been elected vice-president of the JNU’s central panel.
“There is enough space to articulate one’s political spirit here. For me, however, the challenge was to convince voters in favour of a Kashmir woman from a non-political background,” she added.
“It was because of the Left progressive conscience, which is still intact at JNU, that people respect a woman. I did not have trouble in campaigning. Even if I finished at 2 a.m., no one would bully me. People would listen to me, listen to my ideas with a great deal of interest,” Ms. Shora added.
She feels that preserving this atmosphere at JNU will be one of her main challenges, considering the insurgence of the BJP-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
“One of the main issues for us will be to preserve the atmosphere where a woman candidate can fight and win elections. For that we have to challenge the ‘right-wing ideology’, which is trying to make inroads,” she said.
“Another issue that we have been talking about is the WTO agreement that the Central government is going to sign in December. We are going to challenge the agreement and, if necessary, build a national momentum against it to get withdrawn,” she added.
Shehla, who is also the highest-polled candidate (1,387) in JNU this year, has been associated with the All India Students’ Union (AISA) since the last two years. In fact, she was with the AISA during the December 16 movement in 2012. Before this, she had raised the issue of free speech in Kashmir through her blog.
“After studying engineering and management, I entered the corporate world only to be disillusioned by it. Turning into an activist, I raised issues of juvenile justice and acid attacks in Kashmir,” she said.
This year, the CPI’s student wing — All India Students Federation — has clinched the post of president after the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU), while the ABVP bagged a position after 14 years.
