Congress, Prashant Kishor bonhomie in Patna University fray, JD(U) opts out for ABVP

The PUSU polls involving over 18,000 student voters have been delayed as they were originally due in July 2023. Besides the NSUI and ABVP, Chhatra RJD and Left student bodies AISA and AISF have also fielded their candidates for the posts of president, vice-president, general secretary, joint secretary and treasurer. The term of the PUSU poll winners may however end in just four months.

On the Chhatra JD(U) opting out of the PU poll fray, the party’s chief spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said: “Our state party unit has taken a call not to contest the PUSU polls. It simply means our support goes to ABVP, student wing of our NDA ally BJP.”

Another JD (U) leader said, “Chhatra JD(U) and the ABVP clashing in the PUSU polls in an election year would not go down well with people.”

In the run-up to the Bihar Assembly polls slated for October-November this year, poll strategist turned Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor has been trying to remain equidistant from both the ruling NDA and the Mahagathbandhan comprising the RJD, Congress and Left.

The Jan Suraaj’s withdrawal of its president candidate Divesh Dinu in favour of NSUI nominee Manoranjan Raja has caused a flutter in the state political circles, even though its nominees for four other positions remain in the fray. The Jan Suraaj Party released a statement to clarify its stand, saying that “We have withdrawn support from Divesh Dinu after he was found involved in influencing the election results by colluding with ABVP, using pressure tactics, money transactions, and attempting to buy out candidates. Dinu has also been expelled from the party with immediate effect. In the interest of the students and to counter ABVP’s unethical political tactics, Jan Suraj stands firmly with the students and announces its unconditional support to Manoranjan Kumar Raja, the NSUI-backed candidate for the president’s post in the PU elections.”

The NSUI’s national secretary in-charge of Bihar, Satyam Kushwaha welcomed the Jan Suraaj’s decision. “Jan Suraaj’s support to our president candidate shows that it supports our ideology and our commitment to fight against fascist forces. We have been taking up students’ issues like paper leaks and demand for quality education. Congress’s ongoing yatra being led by the AICC’s Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru and the AICC in-charge of NSUI Kanhaiya Kumar has taken up the cause of students and unemployed,” he said.

Gautam Anand, a research scholar in the PU’s political science department, said: “While NSUI has been talking about digital and physical libraries, reopening of hostels and restoration of several fellowships, ABVP has been engaged in taking up nationalist issues”.

Asked about the impact of the PUSU polls on state politics, Anand said: “If PUSU polls are held every year, it can surely have deep impact in preparing student leaders for a bigger role. PUSU polls would still pave the way for the emergence of student leaders. Bihar politics has been dominated by two PU students, Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, for over three decades now”.

The ABVP’s candidate for the treasurer post, Om Jai, said: “Jan Suraaj’s withdrawing its president nominee suggests its proximity to Congress and belies Prashant Kishor’s equidistant stand.”

On the ABVP’s poll campaign, its president candidate Maithili Mrinalini said: “We have been taking up only students’ issues and not engaging in politics. We are talking about functioning sanitary napkin vending machines and good working ambience in the PU colleges.”

Commenting on the PUSU polls, RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta said: “We still hold that students union polls can play a big role in giving us future leaders. Bihar has over 1.5 crore students from undergraduate and postgraduate courses. PUSU polls need to be conducted every year. We expect keen contests in the upcoming polls.”

After a long gap since the 1970s student movement led by JP or Jayaprakash Narayan, the PUSU polls resumed in 2012, when the ABVP won the president post. In the two PUSU elections held in 2018, the Chhatra JD (U) won the post both times. Prashant Kishor, then JD (U) national vice-president, had played a key role in galvanising the party’s student wing.

The PUSU polls had produced a slew of top Bihar leaders including Lalu, Nitish, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Sushil Kumar Modi.