NEW DELHI: With around 48 hours left for the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) election, the walls of the Jawaharlal Nehru University were seen plastered with colourful posters and beats of traditional ‘daflis’ and catchy slogans rented the air as campaigning for the students’ body polls has almost reached crescendo.
Hostel mess, discrimination, better infrastructure, anti-national tagging and reinstatement of the Gender Sensitisation Committee against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) are some of the key promises made by the candidates this year.
The last JNUSU elections were held in 2019-20. They will now be held on March 22. According to the political leaders, many of the varsity’s hostels, academic buildings and dormitories are in need of urgent repair. Students have complained that their academic activities suffer due to lack of basics such as water supply, sanitation and functioning electrical equipment.
Umesh Chandra Ajmeera is the presidential candidate of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). He comes from a remote village near Warangal in Telangana. “I have grown up without proper infrastructure and roads. We would cross rivers to get to school. Even in JNU, there are numerous infrastructural issues. The roof can fall on one’s head any time,” he said. Ajmeera also wants to counter the “anti-national” rhetoric on the campus.
Meanwhile, Massud Raza Khan, vice president JNU’s National Students Union of India (NSUI) said that the biggest demand of the students is the renovation of hostels.
Dhananjay, a Dalit PhD scholar from Bihar’s Gaya district, who is the presidential candidate of the United Left Alliance said that the fee hikes in the central University where students come from marginalized backgrounds and the issue of four-year undergraduate programme pulled him towards students politics. He says, “I genuinely wanted to fight against all such illogical issues.”
Biswajit Minji, who also belongs to the ST community, is the presidential candidate of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students’ Association. He hails from a family of farm labourers in West Bengal. Reservation in hostels, better infrastructure and even ‘discrimination in practical exams’ is the issues he has been raising.
There is another student leader, Swati Singh contesting for the post of joint secretary from United Left Alliance. Swati Singh was rusticated by the University in 2023 for her protest but the High Court later quashed her rustication. Women safety on the campus is the most important issue according to her.
Students suffer due to lack of amenities
According to the political leaders, many of the varsity’s hostels, academic buildings and dormitories are in need of urgent repair. Students have complained that their academic activities suffer due to lack of basics such as water supply, sanitation and functioning electrical equipment.
