New Delhi: The NSUI’s win in the student council elections of Varanasi’s Sanskrit University over the ABVP points to a “larger change in the national politics”, an NSUI leader said Friday.
The ABVP has been in controversy over the last week after the Jawaharlal Nehru University in the national capital saw violence on 5 January. The Left students alleged that masked assailants who attacked the campus were from the ABVP. The RSS-affiliate levelled counter-charges.
“Last year, there was a lot of hope in the student community which hoped that since the BJP is in power in the state, the university will benefit in terms of improvement of infrastructure and greater fund allocation among other things,” said Shivam Shukla, who beat ABVP’s Harshit Pandey to become the council president.
“But since none of those promises were met, the students voted for the NSUI in large numbers this time.”
On Wednesday, the Congress party’s students’ wing swept the student council elections, defeating the RSS-affiliate on all four seats. The ABVP had won all the posts in last year’s polls.
Congress general secretary and senior leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted Thursday in appreciation of the win.
So proud of @nsui for the fantastic results at Sampoornanad Sanskrit University: 4 out of 4!! Well done!!
— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) January 9, 2020
The Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, also referred to as the Sanskrit University, has a strength of 1,950 students — 933 voted in this year’s elections. While Shukla secured 709 votes, his rival Pandey got 224 votes.
The other NSUI candidates who won are Chandan Kumar Mishra as vice-president, Avnish Pandey as general secretary and Rajnikant Dubey as the librarian.
In their defence, Harshit Pandey said the ABVP candidates said they weren’t well-prepared. “Our presidential face, Rohit Kumar, had to be changed last minute because his election affidavit was rejected. This is what led to our loss.”
Row over procession
While the NSUI did manage a clear victory, it alleged that the university administration asked the winning candidates to not take out any procession in the campus and to “refrain from dispute”.
“The vice-chancellor (V-C) issued notices asking for there to be no sloganeering, and that no processions should be taken out. This is why there was an atmosphere of fear among the students and only 50 per cent students came out to vote,” Shukla said.
However, Sanskrit University V-C Rajaram Shukla denied the charges.
“All such notices were released before the announcement of the winners. The university was just following the rules laid down in the guidelines to ensure peace and harmony,” Shukla told ThePrint.
NSUI’s candidates also said they were sent home under police cover. V-C Shukla said he doesn’t have the details of this, but the move could be a measure by the district administration to ensure safety of the winning candidates.
Also read: Congress, UPA parties plan front to take on Modi govt over campus violence, CAA-NRC, economy
This is happening in Modi’s parliamentary constituency. He needs to look over his shoulder. The others are slowly closing the gap on him.
The young have a stake in quality of education, followed by good job / economic opportunities. More than anyone else, they understand how destructive of their future a philosophy based on hatred and violence can prove to be.