JNUSU elections: Everybody wants a bit of Babasaheb Ambedkar

NEW DELHI: If the number of “Jai Bhims” featuring in Wednesday night’s presidential debate at Jawaharlal Nehru University is anything to go by, Babasaheb is big in JNU this time. Or, at the very least, everyone wants to stake a claim to the movement following

Rohith Vemula

’s suicide and anti-Dalit violence elsewhere. Every speaker found something to say on the subject.

All India Students’ Association’s – and for this election, Left Unity’s -

Mohit Kumar Pandey

is the presidential candidate. AISA considers Pandey a shoo-in for president although he’s somewhat more familiar in Delhi University than in JNU. Their confidence is inspired, at least in part by the fact that there is no other contender from the Left for the post, making him practically the default choice for students inclined that way.

Pandey speaks of the “Stand with JNU” movement after the furore over the February 9 Afzal Guru event; of BJP-MLA

Gyandev Ahuja

’s condom-counting and a RSS mouthpiece arguing that JNU “divides” people. The PM isn’t spared. Referring to an advertising campaign prominently featuring Narendra Modi’s face, says, “He’s moved from being Pradhan Sevak to Pradhan model.” He reminds students also of the Occupy UGC protests against the scrapping of non-NET fellowships and the struggle against four-year undergraduate programme of which, Pandey, as a DU-AISA activist, was a part. The composition of Left Unity – an alliance of AISA and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) – however, came in for criticism, as did his training guns on Birsa-Ambedkar-Phule Students’ Association (BAPSA) before Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, whose rise in JNU is Left Unity’s reason for being. Some students think it a tactical error for a primarily Left-leaning campus.

The other contestants are National Students Union of India’s Sunny Dhiman and ABVP’s

Janhawi Ojha

– both Jai-Bhiming with the best of them – Deelip Kumar from Students Front for Swaraj, in the race for the first time this year, and Sonpimple Rahul Punaram of BAPSA.

In 2015, when the three Left-party JNUSU winners and the ABVP headed in different directions for their post-election victory marches, BAPSA opted out of both. They made a small throng, shouting slogans and banging daflis, and treated somewhat like an oddity in the midst of Left groups shocked into temporary unity by ABVP’s scoring a seat. Sonpimple, asking the “oppressed” including Dalits, Muslims, women and LGBT to rise, may change that. He begins by recounting how he received Rs. 50 as contribution from a student because his “sangathan is small.” But BAPSA looks significantly more confident this year, with more supporters, drums, cheering. They are propelled also by anger generated by Rohith Vemula’s suicide, violence against Dalits and crackdown on Ambedkarite groups.

“This wave is of an Ambedkarite movement,” he declares. AISA is accused of “defending a rapist” – he’s not the only one to level that charge – and SFI is taunted with the Supreme Court verdict on Singur and killing of

Tapasi Malik

. Again, he won’t be the first speaker to use these. He promises to work on reducing drop-out rates at JNU and introduce minority deprivation points. “He is a strong contender this year as there is no other Left candidate. Usually, students who were opposed to AISA would vote for other groups. This time, there’s no option,” says a senior student. He shone better while answering questions, encouraging Ojha “to read Ambedkar” and stating that he won’t “go begging to the VC” for anything but “topple him” instead.

Ojha is the only woman in the line-up, representing a party which, she says, “has won student elections from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.” “ABVP has fought for Indian languages in UPSC exams, for higher education, against floods in Bihar (sic). We are the voice of people troubled by Naxalites and Leftists in places like Jharkhan and West Bengal,” she says. The Left Unity exists to keep her and ABVP out of the central panel. She credits the previous joint secretary,

Saurabh Kumar Sharma

for her standing a chance – “He managed the JNUSU,” she says – and calls herself Babbar Sherni. “You are not JNU,” she tells the Left and, once again, bashes AISA over the rape case. “When rapes happen outside campus, it’s Nirbhaya. When it’s on campus, it’s kuchh na hua.”

Dhiman once again alleges that the Left groups “hid in their rooms” after the last JNUSU president was picked up by the police following the February 9 incident. “The radical people are responsible for the rise of ABVP on campus,” he says. He also speaks at length about meeting Rohith Vemula’s mother and asks if “Bharat Mata gave birth to people who beat Dalits and Muslims.” Speaking last, Kumar spoke of ministers wading into campus issues, gender justice,

Members of All India Student’s Federation and Democratic Student’s Federation were present in the crowd gathered, albeit without their party daflis and were some of the quietest participants in Wednesday night’s do. Since an alliance of all the Left groups couldn’t be forged, AISF isn’t contesting at all and DSF, only for the post of joint secretary.

Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.