CALCUTTA, May 20: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) will test its popularity among the students community in West Bengal `in the changing political scenario' when its National Executive Council (NEC) begins four-day meeting here from 24th May.Incidentally, the ABVP is holding its meeting in Calcutta after a gap of 18 years. Calcutta was venue in 1980; and after organising a national seminar in 1984, the state had not had the opportunity to feel the ABVP presence in a big way.The meeting, which the state leaders feel `may eventually throw up a rare opportunity for reintroducing a well-defined nationalistic ideology among the students, fed too long on Marxism,' coincides with BJP-dominated coalition's coming to power at the Centre and emergence of a new political force (Trinamool-BJP) in West Bengal. The ABVP's Calcutta meet also coincides with its Golden Jubilee celebrations.The ABVP, which has over 20,000 members in West Bengal, besides chalking out plans on important issues relating tothe students, will also finalise its strategy for `a special member recruitment drive in the state during the meeting.'According to sources here, the meeting will test the level of Bengal students' response to the rapidly changing national political scene and formulate plans to cash in on students disillusionment with the Left politics.'Among other issues, the state education policy would also be discussed and, according to the former state secretary of the ABVP, Pronoy Roy, ``We will decide on ways to stop the Student Federation of India (SFI), the student union of the CPM, converting the state educational institutions into their fiefdom.''A popular feeling among veteran Left leaders in West Bengal that unlike the good old days the ``good students are not joining Left parties now,'' seemed to have also inspired the ABVP leaders, who think the disenchanted and disillusioned students are also looking for new ideological orientation.Happy that the ABVP meet comes in the wake of several importantpolitical changes both at the national and state level generally favourable to the Right-wing ideology, state BJP leaders feel the meet would play an important role in taking a well-defined non-Left ideology to the Bengal students.Bansilal Sonee, party's West Bengal-based central observer, said that he was happy that the ABVP meet would be ``able to present a clear picture about our ideology before the students of Bengal.''However, Sonee, like the state ABVP leaders here, denied that the selection of Calcutta was a result of a political scheme. ``We will attend the meeting as guests and not contribute to its planning and programmes on West Bengal,'' Sonee said.
