Left struggling to win polls independently in JNU: V-C
New Delhi, April 20: With the appearance of rival political outfits, the Left in the Jawaharlal Nehru University has weakened and is forced to join hands since it struggles to win elections independently, varsity vice-chancellor Santishree D. Pandit said. Ms Pandit, a former JNU student, said she used to contest against the Left as part of the Free Thinkers group - a “neutral” students’ body not affiliated to any political party.
Ms Pandit said nearly 1,500 NOTA votes were cast in the recently held JNUSU elections, an act that shows students are interested in neither the Left nor the Right.
The United Left panel comprising All India Students Association (AISA), Democratic Students' Federation (DSF), Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students' Federation (AISF) in March swept in the JNUSU election jointly with BAPSA for the first time in history, defeating its nearest rival the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
The Left had fought the elections together and had to support the BAPSA candidate at the last moment to prevent the ABVP from coming to power.
Ms Pandit said with time more political outfits like the RSS-affiliated ABVP and Congress-backed NSUI, as well as RJD, have made their presence on campus.
“There is a weakening of the Left on campus. Earlier SFI, AISF stood independently. They didn’t need any alliance to win elections. They could defeat any grouping. I was a Free Thinker at that time. We didn’t have both ABVP and NSUI on campus.
“Now their presence, including RJD’s, has come up and the Left needs to have unity of 10-12 groups to win,” the JNU V-C said.
“The general secretary in the JNUSU was not a Left candidate. She was from BAPSA. The left supported her to stop ABVP from coming in power. She doesn’t listen to them, she says they supported me out of their own interest. This shows there is weakening of the Left on campus,” she said.