HYDERABAD: The Alliance for Social Justice (ASJ), which emerged victorious in University of Hyderabad (UoH) Students Union (SU) elections on Friday, has already started developing cracks. ASJ is a coalition of two panels of student organisations formed to defeat Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) backed students organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
A panel led by CPM backed Students Federation of India (SFI) and the other is headed by Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). A rift has become public between the two panels. The reason behind the rift is Jamaat-e-Islami Hind backed Students Islamic Organization (SIO) claim of being part of the ruling coalition of ASJ, which SFI has outrightly rejected.
All India joint secretary of SFI B Sambashiva said, “We cannot accept being allied with SIO which UoH unit of SFI had made clear before students union election. SIO is claiming to be part of ruling coalition in UoH to show off in other university campuses.” Laeeq Ahmed Khan, president of SIO Telangana said, “We were part of ASA led panel last year along with MSF during students union election and continue to be a member of the panel this year as well.”
Another reason behind difference between ASA and SFI led panels is a public spat between SFI and Indian Union Muslim League backed Muslim Students Front. MSF has alleged SFI of being islamophobic saying that after election results, SFI members raised hateful slogans against MSF and SIO. To this, SFI released statement on Sunday condemning derogatory remarks made by certain individuals. Surprisingly, ASA has been quite on the entire episode. ASA could not be contacted for its comment.