People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
36
September 05, 2010
|
Vol. XXXIV
No.
36 September 05, 2010 |
HIMACHAL
PRADESH
SFI Scores
Bigger, Splendid Successes
in Student Unions
TROUGH
a statement issued by P K Biju (MP) and Ritabrata Banerjee,
respectively
the president and general secretary of the Students’ Federation of
India
(SFI) on August 28, the central executive committee (CEC) of the
organisation
has extends its greetings to the students of Himachal Pradesh for
giving the
SFI a sweeping victory in the student union elections held in the state.
In
the results declared on August 27, the SFI has once again emerged
victorious in
the prestigious HP University in Shimla. Not only has the SFI won all
the four
posts, the victory margins have increased significantly on all of them.
The
results given below clearly show the increasing support for the SFI
among the
students in
President: Khushi
Verma,
victory margin 449 (last year, it was 406)
Vice
President: Vipin Mehta, victory margin 292 (last year, it was 182)
General
Secretary: Sunita Ranot, victory margin 330 (last year, it was 210)
Joint
Secretary: Ankush Mandial, victory margin 443 (last year, it was 378)
Alongside,
the SFI has also bagged 33 out of the 43 posts of
department representatives (DRs).
Last year its tally was 28.
Moreover,
the SFI has also swept the elections in all colleges in Shimla
district, except
the
The
elections results are a fitting rebuff to the BJP state government
which has
unleashed massive repression against the SFI, in order to help the
Akhil
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) win the elections. The leadership
of the
SFI was implicated in false cases and its leaders at various levels
were put
behind bars. In Hamirpur, the SFI leadership was booked under section
307 three
times within a week!
ABVP
goons launched a physical attack on SFI CEC member and Himachal Pradesh
state president,
Vikram Singh, when he was campaigning at Dharamshala in Kangra district.
However,
even such blatant misuse of state power has not been able to stop the
SFI from
emerging victorious. The comrades of SFI in Himachal and our elected
representatives in student unions have shown over the past years that
only the
SFI is capable of fighting for the rights of students in the state.
These
elections have also been a slap in the face of the National Students
Union of
India (NSUI) which has been acting as a stooge of the Congress. None
other than
Rahul Gandhi himself went to campaign for the NSUI in HPU, Shimla.
Speaking in
a seminar in the university, he asked the students to support the NSUI
for
making the “Bharat Nirman” campaign a success. Despite all this, the
NSUI has
finished third in the elections with no NSUI candidate polling more
than a hundred
votes. Out of the 43 department representative seats in the university,
the
NSUI has failed to get even a single. These results should convey a
clear
message to the hollow politics which Rahul Gandhi and others are trying
to sell
in the name of “youth power.”
The
SFI CEC has congratulated the Himachal Pradesh state unit of the SFI
for this
splendid success in the elections.
The
Himachal Pradesh Election Results have come immediately after the
student union
election result in Rajasthan where elections were held after a gap of
six
years. The SFI has got its biggest victory in the elections held in
Rajasthan
as well.
The
results of Rajasthan and Himachal indicate the growing discontent
within the
student community against the anti-student policies of this government
and also
mark the rejection of the ABVP’s bankrupt and divisive politics, which
cannot
provide an alternative to these attacks.
The
SFI has also reiterated its view that unless student union elections
are held
in all educational institutions, democratic rights of the students
cannot be
defended and advanced. While congratulating its comrades in Himachal
Pradesh and
Rajasthan, the SFI CEC has decided to start a determined and militant
struggle
across all campuses to demand the holding of student union elections.
