Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad. (Representational)
Haryana student unions have joined hands to fight for direct polls in colleges and universities in the state. However, ABVP, BJP’s student wing, has decided not to join the proposed front, though it will continue their fight for direct polls. The government, however, plans to hold indirect polls for the student unions scheduled to be held this year, after a gap of 22 years.
NSUI state president Divyanshu Budhhiraja Saturday proposed formation of a Joint Students Action Committee while INSO president Digvijay Singh Chautala claimed that he was the first to initiate this proposal. “We are ready for it,” Chautala said.
INSO is also holding “Yuva Adhikar Rally” at Kaithal on Sunday where the organisation is likely to announce an agitation over the issue. INLD Haryana spokesperson Ravinder Dhull told The Indian Express that Hisar MP Dushyanat Chautala, former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and Samajwadi Party MP from Uttar Pradesh, Dharmendra Yadav have also been invited for the rally.
SFI’s Haryana unit president Shahnawaj said they would soon call a meeting of students leaders to launch a joint agitation. However, ABVP leader Kuldeep Punia seems he is not too impressed with the call of for a joint front. “Where had the leaders of NSUI and INSO go when the Congress and INLD were in power in the state, which did not start the polls of students unions. We won’t join their front, but our struggle for direct polls would continue till the government accepts our demands,” said Punia. INSO is INLD’s students wing while NSUI is affiliated to the Congress.
The then Bansi Lal government had discontinued the students union polls in 1996. Bansi Lal government was toppled in three years after its formation, clearing the way for INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala to become the chief minister in 1999. BJP was joint partner in Bansi Lal as well Chautala government. Bhupinder Singh Hood led Congress ruled the state from 2005 to 2014 before BJP won the Assembly polls in October 2014.
The student leaders other than ABVP sees as agenda behind indirect polls. “The BJP government wants to impose their own agenda under the guise of restoring student politics. The proposed model in which the Class Representatives (CRs) will elect their president and other office-bearers is not going to resolve the problems of students. With indirect polls, there will be just few “parrots” in colleges and universities not the students leaders. NSUI will boycott the elections if direct polls are not conducted in colleges and universities,” said Budhhiraja.