Alliance for Social Justice comprising the left, Dalit, tribal and Muslim groups, has defeated the Akhila Bharathiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the University of Hyderabad students union election.
While all the posts were bagged by the Alliance, ABVP, the students wing of the BJP drew a blank and National Students Union of India of Congress came third.
The winning alliance included the Students Federation of India, Ambedkar Students Association, Democratic Students Union and Tribal students union.
P Sreerag of ASJ is elected president defeating Karan Palaaniya of the ABVP. Arif Ahmad is elected general secretary and Mohammed Ashuiq is the new joint secretary. The result of the vice president’s election was held due to some dispute and it will be announced on Monday. The posts of cultural secretary and sports secretary and the Gender Sensitisation Committee members were also swept by the ASJ.
ABVP’s debacle follow turbulence in the campus for the last two years over the suicide by a Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula.
The ABVP is in the eye of the storm as the Alliance for Social Justice had held it and some BJP leaders responsible for Rohith’s death. They also blamed the University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile as he had put a group of Dalit students including Rohith Vemula under suspension and in protest he had hanged himself in a hostel room.
The setback for the ABVP in Hyderabad Central University has come close on the heel of its defeat in Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University as well as universities in Rajasthan, Assam and Tripura.