Image Courtesy: The Tribune
 

The Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ Union elections held on September 6, 2019 saw an overwhelming presence of students. A total number of 5762 votes were cast, which comprises a whopping 67.9 percent of the students’ body. After several disruptions in the counting process, it was completed merely a few hours back but the Delhi High Court has ordered a stay on the announcement of results. The petitions were filed by JNU students Anshuman Dubey and Amit Kumar Dwivedi and one of their grievances raised by a petitioner is that the election commission of the university has reduced the number of councillor seats from 55 to 46.

However, the students alleged that there were efforts to “subvert the mandate of students.” Reportedly the election process was stalled “keeping in mind the safety of the ballot boxes that carry the mandate of students.” Students say that the administration tried to interfere in the counting process by trying to intervene through GRC. They have also alleged that there has been a considerable time lapse of more than nine hours in the commencement of the counting process.

The JNUSU election committee accused the Dean of Students for interfering in the election procedure by entering the election venue when the first phase of the election was underway. Of a total of 8,488 students who registered for voting, 5,762 students cast their votes yesterday.

In 2017 and 2016 the voter turnout was 59 percent, while in 2015 the polling percentage was 55 percent. In 2013 and 2014 the turn out for the union election voting was 55 percent and in 2012 the turnout was 60 percent.

Regarding the release of the election results, the High Court of Delhi has ordered a stay until September 17, until the court will pursue the matter again. The High Court stated that it is directed that the declaration of the election results will be subjected to further orders which will be passed by the court. The university is also directed not to notify the results until the next date of the hearing.

Fourteen candidates contested in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union Elections. JNU election Committee chairperson Shashank Patel said that the chairman of the university’s grievance redressal cell who is also the Dean of Students Affairs interfered in the election procedures by coming inside the polling venue, adding that it is a clear violation of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations and also the high court order. A statement has however not been made on the action to be taken by the election panel on the violation.

The JNUSU had made an appeal to the students, “We request the student community of JNU to ensure the smooth conduct of JNUSU elections. We appeal to students to assemble at SL-SIS lawns at 10 AM to support the Election Committee and secure the safety of our ballot boxes. We must not forget last year where with the support of the JNU admin, ABVP booth captured the counting hall for 17 hours by assaulting JNU EC and JNU Security. Lets once again stand united like last time to secure our JNUSU and our mandate!”

The elections are being watched for the tough fight between candidates from different students groups. In a key development for this year’s alliance, all the four left leaning students’ groups active on the campus, have formed a pre-poll alliance. . Left Leaning Students Groups i.e. Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF), All India Students Association (AISA) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) have joined hands to contest the elections. Their key opponent in elections is RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

This year’s presidential debates saw some key issues being raised by the candidates. Some of these are abrogation of Article 370, the constitutional provision granting the state of Jammu and Kashmir a special status, the Amazon fires, NRC high fees charged for professional courses like MBA and engineering programmes, freedom of speech on campus and attacks on minorities. The names of the students’ candidates were announced on August 28, 2019 by the JNU Students’ Union Election Committee. The SFI unit president was also allegedly attacked by ABVP members.

ABVP also has fielded candidates for all posts. Reportedly, the group claims that it has ensured that Rs. 91 crore from the DONER Ministry was allocated for the Placement Cell. Apparently, the group is demanding for sports quota in admission, access to libraries and new hostel for students. The groups is also focussing on a new campus for engineering and management students on campus.

On the other hand, the Congress affiliated NSUI (National Students Union of India), which saw its vote share dwindle in the recent union polls, has fielded a single candidate for the Presidential post. NSUI’s Presidential candidate Prashant Kumar said that NSUI is aligned with the larger issues faced by the students on campus and therefore it has decided to only field candidate for President’s post while backing candidates from other like-minded groups (BAPSA and the CRJD) for other posts. Among the key issues highlighted by him, he cited academic autonomy and freedom of speech as the primary issues for NSUI in this year’s election.

Priyanka Bharti of the Chhatra RJD contested for President’s post while Rishipal Yadav, who is visually challenged, will contested for the post of Vice President for the students group. Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) —has fielded two candidates for the posts of the president and the general secretary.
 

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The coming together of two prominent organisations in the JNU campus; i.e BAPSA and Fraternity Movement to contest the JNUSU Elections represents solidarity among oppressed identities and a call for a united struggle. Both the organisations have had a strong commitment towards fighting for the rights of oppressed identities in the University campuses and outside.
 

In times of Hindutva Fascism, the oppressed are being routinely lynched and their voices are being muffled. The current regime is that of hate, contempt and oppression. In the name of caste, religion, communalism, cultural practices, food habits and so on, marginalised groups are being targeted. There are systematic attacks on the rights of the marginalised people — the Constitution which safeguards their rights is being subverted, the Parliamentary procedures and the spirit of the Constitution have been reduced to a joke. 

This can be witnessed through the way EWS reservations, abrogation of Article 370, Trans Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, amendments to the UAPA, NIA, etc. have been passed. A fear psychosis has been created through mob lynchings with impunity accorded to killers and lynchers as well as patronage from the current regime. Tabrez Ansari was brutally lynched. Pehlu Khan’s killers have been allowed to go scot-free. We have witnessed how 10 Adivasi farmers in Sonbhadra, UP were gunned down while they were fighting for their land.

 BJP/RSS combine has enabled, protected and supported rapists in the Kathua and Unnao cases. In such dark times where we are witnessing mass silencing of Kashmiris and their aspirations, lynchings that do not ever find justice, introduction of NRC, amendments to UAPA and the NIA act which will further place Muslims and other marginalised under the shadow of “terror”, Trans bill which violates human dignity and rights to trans persons, the oppressed need to unite and reclaim their rights and dignity themselves. 

Similar issues happening in the University campuses have also become battlegrounds for marginalised students to assert their rights. The Dalit and Muslims students on university campuses are facing perpetual threat and harassment when they ask academic questions on issues of social justice, or when they demand their fellowship. 

In a nutshell, the university space is hostile to those who are victims of face hate crimes and oppression by the state. The so-called progressive groups on university campuses have either remained mute spectators or have appropriated and patronized marginalised voices. In stark opposition to the politics of hate and mob lynching of the right-wing as well as the politics of appropriation and patronisation of the Left-wing, organisations like BAPSA and Fraternity Movement stand firm in their commitment to the politics of oppressed by the oppressed.  

We have seen in the recent past, how the unprecedented attack on the admission policy of JNU caused large sections of students to be deprived of admission on the pretext of the UGC Gazette. 

The UGC Gazette was defeated by the united struggles of students, wherein BAPSA took the lead in resisting the draconian Gazette both on campus as well as outside through recourse to legal action. 

This year, the University administration resorted to another tactic during admission, where they arbitrarily increased the intake of students to an extent that infrastructural lack and hostel availability are again threatening students, especially from marginalised communities. The lack of infrastructural and hostel facilities means that students coming from socio-economic margins will be forced to drop out of higher education. 
This year again there has been rampant discrimination in viva voce during M.Phil. and PhD admission procedures where students from marginalised communities have been given 3, 2, 1 and even 0.25 marks out of 30. These measures are nothing but different ways of targeting these students. OBC communities, while being in largest numbers, have the least representation in universities like JNU and other educational and public-private institutions. There has been gross negligence in implementing the OBC reservation in JNU faculty recruitments where the Left has been in power for over 40 years. 

The same Left parties could not play an active role, neither in finding Najeeb nor in punishing the ABVP cadres, the RSS-affiliated Students’ body, but moreover their complicity in accusing Najeeb as the ‘criminal’ made things more favourable for the culprits.

The BAPSA – Fraternity Movement Alliance is contesting in the posts of President and General Secretary as well as in School Counsellor positions. Jitendra Suna -the Presidential Candidate- is a Research Scholar at Centre for the Study of Discrimination and Exclusion (CSDE). In 2009, he worked as a helper with Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) in the capital, fitting gas pipelines, fixing stoves and digging roads in case of pipe bursts. He belongs to Ganda (Dom) Caste of Dalits from Pourkela village in the backward Kalahandi district of Odisha. 

Waseem RS – Candidate for General Secretary Post – is a PhD Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance. He completed M.Phil on UAPA cases in Kerala and currently working in the topic ‘Law and Literature in Novels”. He belongs to OBC Mappila Muslim community of Kozhikode, Northern Kerala. He is the first generation researcher from his community, thanks to the implementation of the Mandal Committee Report in 2006. He is a leading figure in the protests for justice for Rohit Vemula and Najeeb Ahmad. He is former National Secretary of Fraternity Movement.  BAPSA-Fraternity Alliance candidates are also contesting for councillor posts in SIS (Hirok Jyoti Ray, Praveen Bharti, Umar Faruk M), SSS (Amisha Singh, Mungamuri Kranthi Kumar, Sonali Kale), SLL & CS (Afreen Fatima) and SAA (Aakanksha Aditi) Schools.

BAPSA and Fraternity are striving to create an alternative discourse which goes beyond rhetoric and to wage struggle on the ground. Their coming together represents a step in forging a unity of the oppressed. This solidarity is based on the need to forge a larger unity of oppressed communities who are facing discriminations and oppression on grounds of gender, language, caste, race, religion, region, colour, and class. 
While analyzing the dubious Left Unity during JNUSU elections, Jadumanilion Mahanand opines that “the Left has created the binary of class and caste, and that caste is under the carpet of class. Caste is a social-political capital to perpetuate Brahminism, which in other words can be termed as “Caste Capitalism”. Jitendra Suna (the Presidential Candidate) is the real proletariat fighting against Brahmanism, class inequality, and gender justice. Only a person who has experienced humiliation and exploitation of caste and class can be a genuine and authentic representative of a movement against a hegemonic State.” 

This alliance has a historical precedence as Waseem RS, the General Secretary Candidate observed in his Debate, that “it has been developed through the ages from the mutual support of Savitri Bhai Phule and Fatima Shaikh, Ambedkar and the Muslim League, the Mandal Commission Movements, Abdul Nasar Madani’s activities, the united solidarity of Prakash Ambedkar and Asadullah Owaisi etc,.” In the backdrop of overwhelming victory of NDA for the second term during the Parliament elections, this student-level alliance will provide much more open and flexible political formulas for the marginalized communities across the Indian political sphere.
 
Author Info: Hisham ul wahab P is a Research Fellow, Centre for West Asian Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He can be reached at: hishamulwahab@gmail.com

Courtesy: Two Circle

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After being comprehensively rejected by the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in the union elections held on September 14, and despite its attempt to hijack and sabotage the counting process, a group of ABVP activists and their non-student cronies continued their violence on the campus on September 16, hour after the results were declared. The latest reports indicate that they even threatened to kill the newly elected union president when he went to file a complaint at the local police station on September 17.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It thus represents and pursues the Sangh Parivar ideology openly, the target of its activities being students, especially in universities and colleges. They also act like storm-troopers of the Sangh, with a long history of active participation in Sangh- organised or inspired interventions. In this context, the violence unleashed by ABVP in JNU is not surprising, though it is unprecedented as far as JNU is concerned.

What lies behind the ABVP‘s violent tactics in JNU? There are two reasons contributing to their stance. One is frustration at being unable to gather sufficient support in the university to win the students’ union elections and the second is that they are functioning under a larger plan of the Sangh Parivar to destroy JNU’s democratic culture. The first is a current reaction, the second is an ongoing process unveiled after the Modi government came to power in 2014 and which has developed into a multi-pronged effort to take over the administration, divide and cow down the academic community of teachers, students and staff. This second dimension is what distinguishes the current events from being the usual student politics where losers create a ruckus.

ABVP Losing Ground Everywhere
The ABVP has suffered a string of defeats in students’ unions across the country this year. It lost elections in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, JNU, Maharashtra, and Kerala, to name a few. Not that they lost all the elections – they won in Delhi University, for instance – but the reverses were notable and definitive. The trend is so widespread that it has to be linked to the rising disillusionment with the Modi government caused by its policies. Rising joblessness, failure of programmes like Digital India or Make in India, attempts to foist obscurantism in the name of ‘nationalism’, interference in university affairs, and spreading corruption are some of the issues that have affected even the middle class from which a large number of students in higher education are drawn. Besides these, the Modi government’s anti-Dalit and anti-Adivasi policies, its failure to curb violence against women and its pandering of violent lynch mobs too have damaged its image in the eyes of the students. Importantly, there has been a rise in the cost of education flowing from the Modi government’s insistence on cutting allocations for education while pushing privatisation as the substitute. All this has angered the student community.

Contributing to this discontent is the Modi government’s clear approach of intolerance towards democratic institutions and processes. Its appointment of various Sangh Parivar loyalists to academic posts (including the current JNU Vice Chancellor), its disregard of protests and differing voices, its tendency to use the police and other coercive instruments to suppress protests, especially of students, have shaken the students community.

Put all this together and you will find it not at all surprising that the ABVP – openly tom-tomming the virtues of Modi and his government – has ended up in a dead end. Students are more enlightened than many, unlike what the Sangh Parivar would like to think or admit.

JNU – An Experiment That Failed
JNU has been a special case as far as the ABVP/RSS/BJP is concerned. Situated in Delhi, right under the nose of the Modi government, its progressive values and output were a prime target for the reactionary Hindutva forces. The strategy of uprooting them could be described as a twin approach of a takeover of the administration going hand in hand with a takeover of the student community. The first has been largely accomplished by installing a pliant VC through whom a slew of appointments, changes in functioning, subversion of established democratic norms, shackling and regimenting of teachers etc. has been done over the past few years. This has not been easy because there is relentless resistance from both teachers and students. But if you have a shameless and committed agent, with full backing from the top, to carry out the plan, then widespread damage also counts as success.

It must be mentioned here that what has been experimented with in JNU in terms of administrative changes is also a model that the BJP government wants to foist on the rest of the country’s universities. It is facilitating the road to greater private/corporate intervention in financing and managing higher education. This in turn is part of what the advanced countries of the West are demanding through World Trade Organisation, etc.

The other prong of the strategy – takeover of the student community – has backfired horribly for the Sangh Parivar. It was perhaps hubris that led the strategists of the BJP/RSS to think that merely injecting some pseudo-nationalism into the mix and backing it up with force (whether police or rowdies) would do the trick. It didn’t.

In 2016, the manufactured incidents of ‘anti-national slogans’ led to widespread violence and chaos with false charges against many students. ABVP was at the forefront of the whole conspiracy. Yet, the very next year, the ABVP failed in the union elections. The failure has been confirmed with their humiliating defeat again this year.   

Meanwhile, not only have Left and progressive forces consolidated in JNU but an even wider unity has emerged as the anchor to the resistance against creeping Hindutva. Teachers and students and university staff have joined together in this fight.

The Fight Is Not Over
Student unions are instruments of struggle. A Left victory in JNUSU means that the fight against the RSS/ABVP and against the policies of the Modi government will continue with vigour. With general elections ahead in 2019, the Modi Sarkar and, of course, the RSS and ABVP were hoping that student union victories will help boost their image. Defeat does not mean that they have folded up, as shown by the post-result violence in the campus. And, neither does it mean that new shenanigans will not be trotted out by the Sangh Parivar to continue the subversion of JNU. But, the renewed mandate in JNU, as also in dozens of universities and colleges of the country, shows that Modi and his Sangh Parivar face a formidable challenge in the coming days. 

The post JNUSU Polls: The Crashing of Sangh Parivar’s Cherished Dream appeared first on SabrangIndia.

 
JNUSU ex-president Geeta Kumari who witnessed the attacks said, “Today our comrades Pawan Kaushik and Ashutosh Abhinay were brutally beaten up by ABVP members,” adding that the attack looked like a “mob lynching”. She said she was also attacked by an ABVP member when she tried to help her friends. “While I was trying to save Abhinay I was also attacked by Saurabh Sharma”, she said adding that Sharma pulled her hand and pushed her, causing her to fall on the road near the Jhelum Hostel gate.
 
According to Geeta Kumari, when another student Jyoti tried to record the incident on video, she too was allegedly manhandled. But this did not stop Geeta and she tried to help the  newly elected JNUSU President, N Sai Balaji, as he was being mercilessly beaten. She said, “When they attacked N Sai Balaji, I tried to stop them, but he (Sharma) threatened me saying that he would cut my neck off!”

Video : https://www.facebook.com/nsai.balaji/videos/pcb.10211072779529598/10211072673926958/?type=3

Earlier, ABVP had also allegedly disrupted the counting process after the elections took place. However, once counting resumed, the Left Unity, a coalition of All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF), swept all 4 key seats in JNUSU. N Sai Balaji was elected as the President, Sarika Chaudhary as the Vice President, Aejaz Ahmed Rather as the General Secretary and Amutha Jayadeep as the Joint Secretary.
 
After the JNUSU election results came out, the frustration of the ABVP became visible. The voter turn-out in the current election was 67.8%, which is being seen as the highest in the recent years with over 5000 students casting their vote. Students were rejoicing the victory of Left and defeat of ABVP in the elections.

https://www.facebook.com/nsai.balaji/videos/pcb.10211072779529598/10211072745648751/?type=3

Commenting on the fresh bout of violence that reportedly began after midnight, N. Sai Balaji said, “Today ABVP students randomly attacked students. I was called to the scene at Sutjel (hostel). As elected JNUSU President I went to ensure Pawan Meena’s safety who was attacked by ABVP students with sticks. Upon reaching what I saw was mayhem. The mob led by Saurabh Sharma was baying for blood of any student they thought a friend of Pawan Meena and were attacking students with sticks.”
 
He confirmed being thretened by the ABVP members saying, “They openly threatened me, Geeta and other students present there with dire consequences if we intervened to stop the violence.”  In his words, Abhinay was “almost lynched”. Sai Balaji ran with other students to save him. But Abhinay lost consciousness after the brutal attack. Sai Balaji then took him to the ambulance so he could get medical aid.

However, it did not stop there. He added, “What happened next was terrifying. I was again threatened by the mob and fearing my safety some students asked me to sit inside the PCR (police) vehicle. However the mob led by Ashutosh Mishra and Saurabh Sharma stopped the PCR vehicle and got an ABVP student to sit beside me. These two students were repeatedly stopping the PCR and threatening me. To my surprise Saurabh Sharma stopped the PCR between Jhelum and Sutlej and the ABVP student sitting inside the PCR van opened the door. Upon opening more threats were given to me and I was physically assaulted inside the PCR van by ABVP students.”
 
In a state of shock and fearing his own safety, Sai Balaji asked the PCR to take him to Vasant Kunj Police station. However, there his health deteriorated and he had to come back to hostel to take medication. But he plans to lodge the FIR soon.
 
After this incident, reportedly, the ABVP members led mobs to different parts of the JNU campus, including Sutlej, Mahi Mandavi and Damodar to “create a fear psychosis in the atmosphere”. Over a dozen faculty members who had gone to the police station to ensure that no harm came to the students who had gone there to report the incident, now found themselves in the ABVP’s crosshairs. Over 50 people allegedly blocked both gates to the police station and are allegedly pointing out various faculty members to others in the mob. This may lead to targeted violence when they eventually leave the police station. Meanwhile, the police have allegedly taken no action to disperse the mob that is openly threatening the JNUSU office bearers.
 
The attacks on student activists and even ordinary students began last night and have continued during the day.

The post After humiliating defeat in JNUSU elections, ABVP attacks student leaders appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: PTI

The JNU Election Committee said in a statement that it suspended the Counting temporarily, “JNUSU EC 2018-19 hereby brings to the immediate notice of media friends that during the counting process, which had begun yesterday (14th September 2018) at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcibly entering into the counting venue and attempt to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres. This was in addition to intimidation and violence on our Election Committee, including on our female members led by a Presidential and a Joint Secretary candidate”

Students from Left student unions alleged that the ABVP created a ruckus and indulged in vandalising stuff. They said, “The counting process, which began on September 14 at 10 pm has been suspended due to forcible entry into the counting venue and attempts to snatch away the sealed ballot boxes as well as ballot papers from our counting centres.”

A student updated, “ABVP breaks into the counting process, heckles the Election Committee, attacks the members, damages property and harasses students. Election Committee is deeply shocked and has demanded unconditional apology from ABVP so this act is not repeated, but they have refused to issue anything.

The student community stands with Election Committee and unequivocally condemns the violence and urges them to take appropriate action on these goons and their candidates”

As per the students’ testimonies, students including women faced intimidation. The Left Unity claimed that, “Around 4:00 am, ABVP broke the glasses of the School of International Studies building. EC stopped the counting indefinitely.”

Reportedly ABVP counting agent didn’t make it on time. And the ABVP president alleged later that their counting agent wasn’t called.

In a collective statement, representatives from a number of other parties including the Left bloc, NSUI, BAPSA and others have demanded that “the ABVP members- Saurabh Sharma, Raghavendra Mishra, Akhilesh Pathak and others vacate the counting venue immediately to allow the election process to continue”.

“The ABVP’s acts constitute a serious violation of the election process. The ABVP by indulging in violence has not only disrupted the counting process but also sought to undermine the sanctity of the student EC whose decision is abided by all organisations,” the joint statement says.

The voter turn-out in the current election was 67.8%, which is being seen as the highest in the recent years with over 5000 students casting their votes.

All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) have come together to form the United-Left alliance.

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