Fierce presidential debate ahead of JNUSU polls

New Delhi : Amid slogans of Lal Salaam, Vande Mataram, some booing and a minor clash, the presidential debate was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus late on Wednesday, ahead of the students' union polls on September 6.

At the much sought-after event, the candidates raked up national issues like abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and mob lynching. RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's candidate Manish Jangid started the proceedings with slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Vande Mataram'.

"The tukde-tukde gang were responsible for putting the blot of February 9 on the varsity (referring to the sedition row). When Article 370 was abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir, we were celebrating the move but the Left was abusing the Army," he said. If elected, he said, the ABVP will offer a "campus-centric" model of politics and ensure deprivation points for women.

Jangid was constantly booed by the Left supporters and the NSUI members. Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India candidate Prashant Kumar condemned Jangid for referring to the sedition row and said the matter is "sub-judice".

He received the cheers from several Left supporters and BAPSA supporters. "We were promised two crore jobs but where are those jobs? I condemn what happened with Najeeb (a JNU student who went missing from the campus)," he said.

Aishe Ghosh, the presidential candidate for the Left unity, saluted the voices of journalist Gauri Lankesh and scholar Kalburgi. He also said they will not forget Akhlaq, Junaid and Pehlu Khan, who were allegedly killed in separate incidents of mob lynching.

"Capitalist forces are encouraging the rise of right-wingers in the entire world. We do not consider the elections that were fought and won riding on the money power as democratic," she said. She accused the government of diluting the RTI Act, Transgender Rights Bill, and also alleged human rights violation in Kashmir.

Ghosh's speech was interrupted briefly due to a clash between the ABVP and Left supporters. BAPSA candidate Jitendra Suna took to the stage amid cries of 'Jeetega Jitendra'.

He began his speech by saluting Kashmiris "who are fighting for their" rights and Assamese who are "fighting for their citizenship". Suna said he was a labourer and "his life's struggle" was depicted in his presidential debate.

He attacked the Right and the Left. "The RSS and BJP are creating an atmosphere of fear. I feel that RSS and BJP are anti-national," he said. Suna accused the CPI(M) of bringing capitalism and said, "Had Karl Marx been alive, he would have said, 'end CPI(M)'".

Chhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Priyanka Bharti said the government wants to privatise education and deny access to it to students from marginalised backgrounds. Taking a dig at the Centre for abrogation of Article 370, she said, "These people only want Kashmiri girls and the land there but not Kashmiris."

At a time when the GDP is going down, the government is talking about nationalism, she said. She was hailed by supporters of BAPSA too for her fiery speech. The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls will be held on September 6 and the results will be declared on September 8.