Powered by “Jai Bhim” and “anti-rape” theme, the presidential candidates of all the student organisations contesting for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) polls fiercely debate on Wednesday night. While Babasaheb echoed on the JNU campus, ‘Rohith Vemula’s suicide’, ‘February 9 event’, ‘rape reported on campus’ were some of the topics that were part of the debate.
Also, candidates talked about as to who follows Ambedkarite politics for installing the visionary’s statues on campus. The united left — All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Student’s Federation of India (SFI) — faces a tough competition from the Birsa-Ambedkar-Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) while the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has left no stone unturned to make its presence felt.
left Unity’s Mohit Kumar Pandey is the presidential candidate who was flanked by the two left parties during the surcharged evening. Pandey — a known face at Delhi University — was in the forefront of “Save JNU” campaign initiated by then JNUSU Vice President Shehla Rashid Shora during “JNU crisis”.
Pandey’s speech was laced with aggression and a pinch of humour, also had a mention of BJP MlA Gyandev Ahuja’s “condom-counting” and Prime Minister Narendra Modi featuring in a Reliance advertisement. “He (Modi) has moved from being Pradhan Sevak to Pradhan model,” the president-aspirant said during the speech.
The other contestants are Sonpimple Rahul Punaram of BAPSA, National Students’ Union of India’s Sunny Dhiman, ABVP’s Janhawi Ojha and Deelip Kumar, from Students’ Front for Swaraj which is in the race for the first time this year.
Punaram began by saluting the “oppressed”, including Dalits, Muslims, women and lGBT for rising against the oppressors. Blaming AISA and SFI for failing in stopping the “Saffron forces” from making inroads in the JNU campus, BAPSA looks significantly more confident this year as the loud cheering flaunts more number of supporters. Punaram’s speech is charged with attacking AISA by accusing it of “defending a rapist” while he raised the issue of killing of Tapasi Malik in Nandigram.
“Ye kehte hai BAPSA ko vote mat dena, ABVP aa jayega. Sathiyo Gabbar aa jayega Gabbar aa jayega kab tak chalega (They say that don’t vote for BAPSA because it will bring in ABVP. Friends, how long will they keep saying Gabbar will come, Gabbar will come)IJ... My promise to you is that there is a huge dropout rate of Dalit students and I would work towards reducing it and introduce minority deprivation points,” he added.
The ABVP has placed a female candidate, the only one among all organisations for this post very cleverly. Jahanvi Ojha speaks confidently and while addressing a section of supporters and a huge gathering of hostile audience who boo at her, she said, “The ABVP has won student elections from Kashmir to Kanyakumari…The ABVP has fought for Indian languages in UPSC exams, for higher education, against floods and tsunamis. We are the voice of people troubled by Naxalites and leftists in places like Jharkhand and West Bengal.”
The NSUI candidate, Dhiman said, “The radical people are responsible for the rise of ABVP on the campus. Bharat Mata gave birth to people who beat Dalits and Muslims.”