ASJ trounces ABVP in HCU polls

Hyderabad: The Alliance For Social Justice (ASJ), comprising Left and Ambedkarite Student Organisations, swept the elections to the students union of the prestigious University of Hyderabad here on Friday. The alliance has won all the student union posts with varying margins.

The elections assumed importance as the Rohit Vemula episode that attracted the nation’s attention still impact the campus political life.

The contest was primarily between ABVP and the ASJ comprising Ambedkar Students Association (ASA), Students Federation of India (SFI), Dalit Students Union (DSU), Tribal Students Forum (TSF) and Muslim Students Federation (MSF). The ABVP is the students wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The ABVP has tied up with the OBC Student Forum.

However, the unease in the Left-Ambedkarite alliance helped the ABVP and NSUI to improve its voting tally though it could not prevent the outright victory of the ASJ.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI), the students wing of Congress could not find a place in the ASJ due to the resistance from CPI(M) backed SFI. The SFI has opposed any electoral alliance with Congress students wing. The NSUI independently contested and fielded a candidate for the post of President.

However, the presence of Muslim Students Federation made a dent into the otherwise secular appeal of the alliance. The MSF is affiliated to All India Muslim League. Therefore, the Alliance primarily fought the elections on the plank of social justice.

The ABVP tried to expose the double standards of the alliance due to the presence of MSF. The SFI followers were also not fully convinced of the presence of MSF in the alliance.

The SFI led panel that did not include ASA or MSF has in fact won the elections last time. But, in a bid to pose a united fight to ABVP, the Left and Ambedkarites came together on a common platform. The ASA insisted on the inclusion of MSF. In fact, the ASA has also pressed for inclusion of Student Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) in the alliance.

The SIO is the students' wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. But, it did not fructify as the SFI refused to yield to the ASA demand. However, the SFI had to accept the MSF at the insistence of ASA to ensure the alliance. The alliance was at odds to explain and convince its support base on this compromise, leave alone convincing the electorate.

This has helped the ABVP to launch a strident campaign against the alliance and tried to polarize the voters in its favour. However, the strong presence of the Left and formidable electoral arithmetic of the ASJ made it impossible for the ABVP to wrest the students union.

Though the SIO was not officially part of the alliance, its cadre claimed and campaigned that they also constitute the grand alliance. This created enough confusion. Despite SFI objection, the ASA campaigned alongside the SIO strengthening the ABVP criticism.

The Left -Ambedkarite alliance win in HCU comes close on the heels of anti-ABVP students' organisations and alliances trouncing the RSS-backed ABVP in several students’ union elections held recently, including, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi University (DU), Rajasthan University and Gauhati University.