Congress MPs protest Senate poll delay outside Parliament
Congress MPs, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and former Haryana Congress president Kumari Selja, protested against the delay in elections to the Senate — Panjab University’s governing body — outside Parliament today. Warring and Selja were joined by Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh and three other Lok Sabha members of the party.
Stating that it was an attempt to attack the democratic character of Panjab University, Warring promised to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha as well.
Alleging that the BJP-led Central Government and the RSS were interfering in the functioning of universities, Ludhiana MP Raja Warring said, “Since the inception of Panjab University, elections have been an integral part of the Senate. The Centre now wants to abolish the provision of elections to the body and pick its members through nomination. It is an attempt to plant RSS’ ideology in universities and benefit their politics.”
Warring also raised concern over an FIR registered against 14 students of the university for allegedly trying to disrupt the address of Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann on November 13 on the PU campus. “The students have been protesting for over a month. Instead of paying heed to their demands, the government has slapped cases against the protesters. We demand that the case should be quashed,” he said while demanding immediate elections to the Senate.
Senate is a 91-member governing body of Panjab University, the tenure of which ended on October 31. As per the PU Calendar, elections to the body are notified 240 days prior to the end of its tenure. However, the polls have not been announced. The students, under the banner of the Panjab University Bachao Morcha, have been protesting outside the Vice Chancellor’s office for over 40 days. They have been visited by numerous political leaders, including Chandigarh MP Manish Tewari, Punjab Vidhan Sabha LoP Partap Singh Bajwa, Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh and Anandpur Sahib MP Malwinder Singh Kang.
