Rajasthan University student union elections has taken an ugly turn as the NSUI state president, Abhimanyu Poonia and Rajasthan University's presidential candidate from NSUI, Ranveer Singhania, were attacked on Wednesday night. They were on their to the Aravali hostel in University campus when the attack took place.
The NSUI candidates were taken to the hospital for treatment and in their statement, they blamed the BJP government for the violence.
Rajasthan University is heading towards student union polls and the voting will take place on Friday. The student wings of both BJP and the Congress, ABVP and NSUI respectively, are competing for key posts.
According to the police, the attack happened late on Wednesday night while the students were returning to their hostel. Ranveer Singhania and Abhimanyu Poonia were beaten by almost half a dozen people, who were hiding near the Vivekanand statue close to the University. "They were both badly injured and were taken to Sawai Maansingh Hospital. Luckily, they are out of danger at the moment", Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Hanuman Prasad said.
Police has filed a case against unknown assailants who are yet to be caught. The situation took a decisive political turn when both the student victims sat on a protest against BJP as soon as they got out of hospital. They say that this is engineered by the government. "University administration, despite all the security arrangements, wasn't able to protect us, which proves that the government is behind this attack", alleged Abhimanyu Poonia.
Refuting the allegations ABVP has put the blame back on NSUI itself. He said that infighting within NSUI is responsible for the attack and the candidates are using it to gather sympathy votes. "Three rebels from NSUI are fighting for the post of the president which has led to the resentment within NSUI over ticket distribution. Their own people are behind the attack and not us, "said ABVP leader Bulbul Pathak.
Another ABVP leader, Arjun Tiwari, has been released a video talking about the incident on social media. He says," the incident is fabricated and they have used color to replicate blood. There is no witness to the event and they are using these stories as they are aware that they are losing the elections."
The RUSU polls this year have become important as the state assembly elections are planned just after three months. As the student union elections are scheduled for Friday, police has said the attack might have been politically motivated. The state politics has also intensified after the violence in student elections.
Former CM Ashok Gehlot and state PCC chief Sachin Pilot have condemned the attack. They have demanded that the matter should be thoroughly investigated and attackers should be arrested at the earliest. After the incident, security has been heavily beefed up in the campus. Student union elections are seen as an entry point for stepping in state active politics and many students from student politics go on to play a key role in state politics. Although the Lingdoh committee has laid certain rules for free and fair elections, setting guidelines for the money to be spent by candidates over campaigning, these rules are seldom followed. In the last few years, it is seen that the candidates spend money to win and influence the students. But this is the first time that aggression has broken into violence just a day before the elections.