On campus for 5 decades, ABVP yet to win Panjab University student council top post
Akashdeep Virk
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 14
Despite being active on the Panjab University campus for over five decades, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of Bharatiya Janata Party, has never won the president seat in Panjab University Campus Student Council elections. The party has won other seats from time to time, but that has mostly been possible under alliance with other student parties, including SOPU and PUSU. With student elections around the corner, the ABVP is gearing up to fight the president seat and is set to announce the contenders in the next few days.
It has been seen that while other parties stage protests and strikes together at times, the ABVP has often been sidelined by the mainstream parties from collective agitations. "The party is directly associated with the BJP and other right-wing organisations. For this reason only the university students do not trust the party much," said a former PU campus student leader.
"We are a nationalist party and not a right-wing party. We are committed to student welfare and our knowledge about campus issues is far more than what other parties possess. Apart from the ABVP, some other parties are also backed up by mainstream political organisations. It is known to everybody that many parties indulge in unfair practices only to defeat us. But this won't happen every time," said Rajat Puri, former ABVP campus president.
However, it is not just the 'right-wing' connection which acts against the ABVP in polls. In 2022 elections, a video had emerged in which the party's president post contender Harish Gujjar was seen indulging in violence against some student leaders. The video, reportedly from September 2021, had again dented party's campaign to win the president post.
The saffron party-backed ABVP has been present on the campus for many years. In fact, Satya Pal Jain, Additional Solicitor General of India and former Chandigarh MP, was elected as general secretary of the council in 1973. Former External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, former Himachal State Information Commissioner Kali Sass Batish and others were part of the ABVP in Panjab University and a few had also held council positions, except the president post.
According to information, the party had fought for the general secretary post for three consecutive years in 1972, 1973 and 1974 and had won. But after the general secretary post win, the party's next win was only in 2000, when the vice-president seat was won by Mukta Sharma and general secretary post by Vivek Chauhan. The party had fought these elections in alliance with PUSU.
The party on various instances contested for the president's post. In 2007, the ABVP fielded candidates for the post of president and general secretary, but lost. The following year, the ABVP fought in alliance with SOPU and had contested for the post of general secretary and vice-president, while SOPU had contested for the post of joint secretary and president. The alliance had won all four seats.
In 2010, the party won the general secretary seat. In 2012 and 2014, the party contested on all four seats, but couldn't win any. In 2013, they won the vice-president seat. In 2019, the party's president candidate lost the election by a margin of 200 votes. In 2022, their president candidate ended second in vote share with 2,017 votes. In 2023, party's president candidate emerged third, but with an increased vote share than that of 2022.
"The ABVP has seen tough days in PU. However, it is again emerging as a voice of the students. The day is not far when the party will have its own candidate winning the president's post on the campus," said Dinesh Chauhan, former campus ABVP leader.
