The fightback against Right wing politics may have
started on campuses. The results of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections coming close on the heels of the defeat of the
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) indicate to the receding appeal of the Right
ideology among the student community.
The results of the DU students' body elections
is particularly significant since it has been a stronghold of the
RSS-affiliated ABVP for a long time. In recent times, the latter has been
active in many pet projects linked to the Sangh ideology, including
its nationalist agenda. Given the intensity of its campaign, it was
expected that it would leave rivals such as the National Students’ Union of
India (NSUI) far behind in the race.
File image of NSUI members. Facebook
However, Wednesday's results sprang quite a
surprise. The Congress-backed NSUI won the crucial posts of president and
vice-president. The ABVP had to settle for the posts of secretary and joint
secretary.
The NSUI has managed to win the important post of
president after four years. The ABVP, on the other hand, has been a
dominant force in the University for the past four years at a stretch. Its growing
prominence in the campus politics roughly coincides with the BJP’s resounding
victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections under Narendra Modi. ABVP made a clean
sweep in the 2014 DUSU elections by bagging all the four central panel posts.
The credit for that victory was given to the 'Modi wave' and the 'good work' of
the then three-month old government.
In 2015, ABVP continued its strong show by again
winning all the four posts. It maintained its dominance in the DUSU till 2016,
bagging three seats including that of the president. Meanwhile, the NSUI
managed a toehold by winning the joint secretary's post last year.
Only a week ago, barring the CPI-backed AISF, the
Left unions – SFI, AISA and DSA – formed a coalition. The alliance, dubbed
'Left Unity' was aimed at defeating the ABVP in JNU.
Although the University is known to be a Left bastion, a spate of
incidents, relating to ideology, over the last one year had created the
impression that the RSS-backed body was in the ascendancy and that it would win
over fresh converts in herds.The results prove otherwise.
Worse, it conveyed that the student community was
getting disenchanted with its brand of combative politics. All the top four
posts were bagged by the Left Unity – president and vice-president by AISA,
general secretary by SFI and joint secretary by DSF. ABVP ended up second in
the race. Last year, ABVP candidate Saurabh Sharma had managed to bag the joint
secretary post in JNUSU.
The ABVP had claimed that on the basis of its
'pro-student issues' and consistent
