Will ask state to reintroduce polls in colleges: Pawar
MUMBAI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he would request the Maharashtra government to reintroduce elections in colleges.
The former chief minister made the statement at an event organised by the party’s Mumbai youth wing at Wadala on Sunday.
Pawar said college elections help in grooming youngsters for politics as well as enable them to take decisions about electing the right public representatives.
“In a democracy, students too should get the right to choose the right representatives at the college level. I would request the state government to introduce the elections at the college level at the earliest,” he said, while interacting with youth from different educational institutes who had attended the event at Bhartiya Krida Mandir Sports Complex.
College elections were discontinued in Maharashtra around two decades ago, after incidents of spiralling violence in the 1990s.
Pawar also took potshots at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Chandrakant Patil during the event. Earlier this month, Patil had said he wished to pursue a PHD on Pawar.
At Sunday’s event, a girl asked Pawar for his response on Patil’s comment, to which the NCP chief said, “Generally PHD takes at least three years after post-graduation. But Patil will need at least 12 years to do a PHD on the subject of his choice.”
During the interaction with the NCP chief, students raised several issues and asked questions related to politics and the role of the younger generations.
Pawar said there was no need of a specific course or syllabus to enter politics.
“A proper connect with the people, awareness about the issues and the vigour to rise from defeat are the qualities needed to succeed in the politics,” he said while replying to a question asked by a student.
When asked about ill-minded leaders, Pawar said “few black sheep” do exist in politics, adding, “States such as Uttar Pradesh have reiterated this.”
He said that voters, especially the youth, should keep a vigil to ensure that such politicians are kept out of the fray.