People's Democracy

MAHARASHTRA

 

SFI Wins In Dr Ambedkar University Sixth Time

 

Bhausaheb Zirpe

 

THE Students Federation of India (SFI) recently won the student council election in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada (BAM) University at Aurangabad, Maharashtra, for the sixth time in seven years, with Suraj Sribas of the SFI getting elected general secretary of the new student council this year. As the vice chancellor of the university is the ex officio president of the student council, election took place only for the general secretary post.

 

In this system of indirect election, 34 out of the 43 divisional representatives entitled to vote actually voted, and the SFI got 20 votes. The Research Students Federation, that was set up by the SFI, played an important part in this victory.

 

An important aspect of this election was that the Rashtrawadi Student Congress, the student wing of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had an unprincipled alliance with the RSS-affiliated ABVP but got only 10 votes. The alliance of the student wings of the Bharatiya Republican Party (Prakash Ambedkar) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got only 4 votes.

 

The NCP made every effort to snatch victory in this election that took place on September 27, on the eve of Bhagat Singh birth anniversary. NCP MLAs and MLCs, municipal corporators and other leaders left no stone unturned to influence the student representatives. But the planned and disciplined campaign run by the SFI triumphed over all these nefarious NCP efforts.

 

With this victory, the SFI won the student council election in the prestigious BAM University for the sixth time in seven years. It lost only once a couple of years ago, and that too by one solitary vote. Last year, the winning SFI candidate was Aruna Parkhe, a girl student. The SFI has over the years led several struggles for students’ rights in the university campus, which is what accounts for its popularity.

 

In fact, its main publicity material in this election was a big collection press clippings that highlighted the 72 such struggles led by the SFI over the years and also the record of work of its last two elected general secretaries. The other crucial point stressed by the SFI during the campaign was the importance of the defence of democracy and secularism in society in general, and in the University campus in particular. Through various seminars and meetings, the SFI also tried to inculcate progressive values in the campus.

 

INAUGURATION OF

NEW STUDENT COUNCIL

On October 21, the newly elected student council was inaugurated by former DYFI general secretary and former MP, Mohd Salim. The other guest at this function was Dr Ashok Dhawale who has been the all-India vice president of both the SFI and DYFI. BAM University vice chancellor, Dr K B Patil, chaired the elegant function that was attended by over 500 students and faculty members.

 

At the outset, the guests garlanded the statues and portraits of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Mahatma Jotirao Phule, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Mohd Salim then lit the lamp which signified the inauguration of the new student council. SFI state secretariat member Bhausaheb Zirpe introduced the guests while director of the student welfare section, Dr Suresh Gaikwad, made the introductory speech. Newly elected general secretary Suraj Sribas assured the gathering that the new student council would work to uphold the rights and promote the welfare of students. All the divisional representatives were felicitated by the guests and the vice chancellor.

 

In his inaugural speech, Mohd Salim congratulated the new student council and wished it success for its tenure. He then said that mafias are taking over the field of education and turning it into a sub-standard, commercial and profit-making venture. As a result, lakhs of meritorious students from the toiling classes, the weaker sections and the minorities are being thrown out of the stream of education. Now the central government is inviting the foreign education mafias too to join in the fray. This will have a disastrous effect. The field of politics is also becoming a fiefdom of dynastic succession, with all the money power and muscle power that this entails. This is posing a direct threat to democracy itself. So far as the neo-liberal policies followed by all central governments and most of the state governments are concerned, they have consistently favoured the rich and discriminated against the poor. The chief guest then talked of the Left alternative which alone can protect our national sovereignty and national unity as well as defend the interests of the common people.

 

In his address, Dr Ashok Dhawale said there has always been a struggle in history between two streams of ideology. One of these streams works to perpetuate and reinforce the existing economic, social and political inequalities, while the other works for a society free from exploitation and inequalities of any kind. All of us have to, in such a situation, choose which stream of ideology we adhere to. Dr Dhawale said all the great personalities that we garlanded in the beginning of this function, belonged to the second stream. He congratulated the university for setting up a Shaheed Bhagat Singh Academic Centre and hoped that it would begin its work soon.

 

Vice chancellor Dr K B Patil, in his concluding remarks, called upon the gathering to keenly consider the thoughts expressed by both the guests. He expressed confidence that the new student council would have a successful and fruitful term. Sunil Rathod and Harshada Satghare conducted the proceedings and Farukh Shaikh proposed the vote of thanks.

 

Among the SFI activists who made special efforts to ensure this victory were Sunil Rathod, Pandit Shinde, Farukh Shaikh, Yogesh Khosre, Amol Giram, Atul Chorpagar, Sanjay Waghmare, Aruna Parkhe, Hanuman Lavhale, Rupesh Deshmukh, Suraj Sribas and Bhausaheb Zirpe.

 

In the afternoon, Mohd Salim was accorded welcome at the CPI(M) district committee office in Aurangabad. He, Dr Ashok Dhawale and district CPI(M) secretary Uddhav Bhavalkar addressed the press conference held there. In the evening, Mohd Salim held a group discussion with SFI and DYFI activists about the current situation in West Bengal.