Union Minister Oscar Fernandes inaugurated the National Student Union of India help desk at Panjab University amidst protest from other student wing organisation, which were against the presence of outsiders at the varsity campus.
However in this hullabaloo the Congress backed student wing made it clear that they are going to stay here. On the other hand the protest of the various student organization fell on deaf ears as the PU authorities were nowhere to be seen because they were busy with the Congress leader at their guest house. With the visit of Rahul Gandhi last year and now Fernandes at the Panjab University campus, it is clear that NSUI is not going to leave any stone unturned, preparing for the upcoming university elections here.
Rohit Chaudhury, National President NSUI told the Pioneer, “This is for the first time we are making our presence felt here at the university as Rahul Gandhi has paved the way for the same. Earlier NSUI has fought elections at the campus but just before the elections our prominent faces changed sides. This time we will strictly monitor such incident and will suspend such candidates from participation in future.”
“This year we are serious and will make it a point that one who starts with the NSUI stays till the last moment. We will raise the issues of the students and will try and tap in as many students as possible in the coming days to mark our presence in the campus,” added the National President.
Earlier there has been a mass shift of members from Punjab University Student Union and Students of Punjab University into NSUI for a better future beyond students’ politics. This in turn indicates that the decade old fight between two students’ party in the varsity, PUSU and SOPU will see a new contender in form of NSUI.
After Rahul’s visit on October 2011, many prominent faces of both the student parties went on to join NSUI for a better political future beyond the boundaries of the university campus. Taking this into account NSUI is optimistic about its performance in the upcoming election. Oscar Fernandes said, “Issues in the mainstream politics and students politics are different but we will try and intertwine both of these to come up with our election agenda. Punjab University has played a pivotal role in the education sector of the country and hence we are trying our best to make our presence felt here.”
He further added, “The main thing about Congress is its organizational policy and to win an election being organized is a must. As we are in our initial phases our first priority will be to gather a strong backing here in PU and then go into election mode in full fledged manner.”
However NSUI, the student wing political party, backed by the congress at the centre has never registered a win in the history of Panjab University. It is with time that one will see if the jinx is broken or not. Rohit Chaudhury said, “It is true that we have never been victorious but last year itself we made our presence felt in the campus. It is also evident that NSUI candidates have a better political future which will give us an upper hand over other parties. To make it evident that opportunities will be given to successful candidates in future we have already appointed few candidates in prominent positions, both in Punjab and Haryana who joined the congress and were earlier member of various students’ party in the university. NSUI presence however has irked many student leaders in the campus who thinks that this will mark a dark day at the Panjab University as most of the leaders who will join NSUI will have selfish motive which in turn will silence the voice of the students.