The Congress government's recent decision to not hold the student union elections throughout the state in higher educational institutions during the 2023-24 academic session has ignited a heated controversy. Both the BJP and the ruling party's student wing, NSUI (National Students' Union of India), have raised objections to this move.
Both the NSUI and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which maintain an affiliation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were putting in their efforts to secure a dominant position in the student polls across the state. However, with the unexpected order on August 12, announcing the postponement of student union elections for the current academic year, both student bodies were caught off guard.
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Days before the announcement of the postponement of the polls, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had expressed concerns about the excessive spending by student candidates. He also pointed out that the student leaders were disregarding the recommendations put forth by the Lyngdoh Committee. Gehlot also cited the recent gangrape incident which took place in Jodhpur University's hockey ground in which the accused were associated with ABVP and were closely involved in the campaign for the student union elections in Jodhpur.
Gehlot had said in his address in Jodhpur, "The way students are spending money in the university polls, it seems as if they are contesting for MP-MLA elections. The question remains which are the funding sources for these campaigns and the reasons behind this exorbitant spending of money."
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However, the Higher Education Department has justified the decision to forego the elections by referring to concerns raised by university vice-chancellors. The order cited misuse of financial resources, intimidation tactics in student union elections, and disruptions in the academic calendar under the New Education Policy, as reasons for the cancellation of student polls.
NSUI and ABVP protests against the move
The announcement led to dharnas by student leaders from different outfits. ABVP activists held a sit-in protest at the Vice-Chancellor's secretariat of Rajasthan University against the state government's decision, and the members of NSUI too became vocal on social media.
ABVP national secretary Hushyar Singh Meena told Outlook, "Gehlot government will see the repercussions in coming days. We are requesting them for the last time to revise the date of student polls otherwise we would organise massive demonstrations across Rajasthan." On Wednesday night, a group of students affiliated with the ABVP, also tried to climb a water tank in the university premises, as a mark of protest against the government's decision.
The student body of the Congress party, the NSUI, also demanded that the decision be reversed. “We have requested our government to hold student union polls as per schedule," NSUI state president Abhishek Choudhary said.
Move to help Congress in the state polls?
As per political analysts, Gehlot's move of putting student polls on hold will help the party in the coming elections, in the larger picture. "The results of the student union elections in state-run universities and their constituent colleges, of 2022 was an eye opener for the ruling Congress. The student body of the ruling government failed to win any student union president’s post. The government did not want this to repeat again especially when the state polls are three months to go. They were fearing that if independents or ABVP wins in big numbers, it could set the wave against the party," a source close to Gehlot told Outlook.
In 2022, BJP’s ABVP won five presidential posts. Independents and candidates of the Left-affiliated Students’ Federation of India (SFI), which included Congress and BJP rebels, won seven posts of student union president.
In the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Narendra Chaudhary, an NSUI rebel allegedly backed by the Sachin Pilot camp, defeated another NSUI rebel Niharika Jorwal, who is the daughter of cabinet minister and Congress leader Murari Lal Meena. Similarly at Jodhpur’s Jai Narain Vyas University, Congress rebel Arvind Singh Bhati was elected as student union president on an SFI ticket.
