Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
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Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)
JNU Students’ Union elections
2000-13
JNU still a red bastion, but SFI no more the leader
Manash Pratim Gohain TNN
The Times of India 2013/09/17
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru University remains a red bastion. But the organization that dominated students’ politics there for nearly 25 years received its worst drubbing in 2013. Students’ Federation of India, CPM’s student wing, failed to win even a councillor post in JNU Students’ Union polls. In the contest for the four central panel posts, SFI fell below NSUI and ABVP in three. The decline of SFI has been attributed to deterioration of left politics in general and CPM’s weakening in particular.
in 2013, SFI’s presidential candidate came an embarrassing fifth; the group has won the president’s post just once since 2004, and no central panel post since 2007. The expulsion of some of its senior-most members in July 2012 — they’d first formed SFI-JNU and later Democratic Students’ Federation — for opposing CPM’s support of Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for the post of President may have driven the final nail into the coffin.
Political scientist Yogendra Yadav says, “Established Left has lost its moral and ideological charm. This was compounded by the split. When SFI started looking like a wing of the political establishment, AISA emerged as a formation that represented radicalism. The youth is naturally attracted to radical movement. There is an emerging space in national politics for alternative politics. In JNU, at least for now, AISA appears to have captured that space.”
Emergence of SFI in JNU dates back to just before the emergency, the same period which produced prominent leaders such as Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat. But even then, among the Left organizations, CPM was considered “elite”. As JNU’s roll strength grew, students from semi-urban and rural background also multiplied. This, some Left analysts claim, resulted in the emergence of a “genuine Left” like Progressive Students’ Organization, which many say was a precursor to AISA.
The president of PSO in JNU in 1980-1981, a senior journalist now, Urmilesh says, “JNU has been a campus of some of the best minds and has a tradition of secular democratic ideology. The students are idealists and therefore the influence of Left has been immense. The fall of SFI is not an isolated incident; it’s connected to the decline of CPM’s political attractiveness. AISA has been raising issues like Nandigram. Leftleaning students who couldn’t shift to NSUI or ABVP, got an alternative in AISA.”
Former president of JNUSU (1985-86) and a senior journalist T K Arun says, “It has to do with the overall deterioration of Left politics. Though JNU remains a Left stronghold, the mainstream Left is not identified with raising issues such as poverty.” AISA has been present on campus since 1992; they contested JNUSU elections first in 1993, winning three central panel seats including president.
Questions are being raised on CPM’s treatment of its best student leaders. In fact, according to former JNUSU president (2001) Albeena Shakil, “Except one former president, nobody is with CPM. One lot joined the Congres. From 2000 onwards, all the anti-Congres JNUSU presidents from SFI have been expelled.” She argues that CPM is “close” to Congres and that puts off majority of the voters.
2015
AISA wins, ABVP second
The Times of India, Sep 14 2015
ABVP wins seat in JNU after 14 yrs In a comeback after 14 years, ABVP secured a JNU central panel seat in the students' union when Saurabh Kumar Sharma, who won by just 28 votes, took oath as the new joint secretary on Sunday , reports Shreya Roy Chowdhury . In 2014, ABVP candidates came second for the posts of VP and general secretary but, in both cases, the gaps were appreciably wide.
In 2015, ABVP second runners are practically snapping at the heels of the firsts with just 234 and 213 votes between them and the winners from AISA. ABVP last made a dent in the Left stronghold when Sandeep Mahapatra, who became president in December 2000.
Rock carvings
See Delhi: J for more about the 'mediaeval' rock carvings discovered in the JNU campus.
Untoward incidents
Note: JNU remains India’s finest seat of higher learning and research in the social sciences. Its campus is quite peaceful and safe. The incidents mentioned below represent less than 1 per cent of JNU’s students. Therefore, it is unfortunate that the first entries about JNU on Indpaedia are about the seamier side. Indpaedia is unlikely to start accepting articles directly from its readers before 2014 or 2015. Till then JNU alumni, students and others can send articles/ paragraphs about the positive side of JNU as messages to facebook
'Different’ JNU loses sheen
Cases Of Ragging, MMS Scandals, Clashes Haunt Campus
Manash Pratim Gohain TNN
The Times of India 2013/08/01
New Delhi: It always prided itself on being ‘different’ but recent cases of ragging, alleged rape, MMS scandals and clashes with cops have dented Jawaharlal Nehru University’s image. The July 2013 incident has shocked everyone associated with the university, and many see it as a low point that calls for introspection and action.
PREVIOUS CASES
July 2013: Student, a jilted lover, tries to murder girl and then commits suicide
Jun 3, 2013: An alumnus held on allegation of rape of a student in Narmada hostel
Jun 3, 2012: MMS scandal
Feb 11, 2011: Porn CD scandal; 2 students expelled
Nov 23, 2009: Students clash with cops after a student was allegedly molested by outsiders
Aug 13: First incident of ragging where an MCA student lodged a complaint and university officials caught seniors red-handed
Spurt in molestation, stalking cases in JNU
Raj Shekhar TNN
The Times of India 2013/08/01
Police say, JNU campus is not a particularly safe place. What’s worrying is the recent upswing in cases of molestation and stalking. Some gun-runners had confessed to delivering country-made pistols near Delhi University and JNU campuses to people who looked like students.
Sources say crimes against woman are frequently reported from the campus now.
In June 2013, a JNU alumnus was arrested for allegedly molesting and trying to rape a 21-year-old student inside Narmada Hostel after a party.
In June 2013, an English literature student was allegedly molested by two students of her class inside Lohit Hostel. A case of molestation was registered at Vasant Kunj police station and two men, Rajiv Kumar and Gautam Vashishth, were arrested. Recently, a 57-year-old canteen incharge was also arrested.
A foreign student had also alleged molestation on the campus. The girl was friendly with the accused, a PhD student. On the day the alleged incident occurred, she had lunch with him in his room before he molested her.
In October 2013, a PhD scholar at JNU’s School of Languages was suspended after he allegedly molested a girl inside a university hostel. The Vasant Vihar police registered a case. “The victim was a history student at DU and claimed she was invited to the accused’s room in JNU’s Brahmaputra Hostel where she was locked up and molested,” a police source said.
In November 2011, a 35-year-old PhD scholar was arrested for allegedly molesting his 14-year-old domestic help. The girl, who was from Odisha, worked for and lived with Mohammed Azimuddin and his wife at JNU’s Mahanadi Hostel.
Sexual Harassment
2015: services of an assistant professor terminated
The Times of India Dec 22 2015
Jawaharlal Nehru University on Monday terminated services of an assistant professor after a varsity inquiry committee found him guilty in a case of alleged sexual harassment filed by a foreign scholar pursuing research under him.
The decision was taken at an emergent meeting of Jawaharlal Nehru University's Executive Council, the varsity's statutory decision making body .
The complainant was pursuing research under the professor's supervision.
“A research scholar, working under the supervision of the professor, had alleged that she was sexually abused by the professor.Subsequently , an inquiry was instituted by the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), the university watchdog for dealing with such issues,“ an official source said.
Why JNU is so political
The Times of India, Mar 02 2016
Shreya Roychowdhury
Jawaharlal Nehru University was never going to be Delhi University. An unusual admission policy adopted soon after its establishment has ensured its very DNA is different. It also explains the diversity of its students’ union and why it makes nearly every struggle—Vemula, northeast, Kashmir, adivasis, dams and nuclear plants—its business. Students, teachers and even members of the administration agree that JNU ultimately owes much of its politics and its atmosphere, to “deprivation points” awarded to candidates from backward districts, women, transgender, Kashmiri migrants and those from defence backgrounds.
Census data is studied to draw up a list of districts according to literacy rates, percentage of non-agricultural workers, even “agricultural productivity per hectare”; these are divided into “quartiles” one and two with points assigned.
As AISA chief Sucheta De observes, in JNU, affirmative action begins even before reservation.
“There is representation of every part of India. And each group brings its own idea of the nation and nationalism,” observes V Lenin Kumar, former JNUSU president who was ousted from SFI for disagreeing with CPI(M)’s stand on Pranab Mukherjee’s candidature for presidency and Nandigram.
The 27% OBC reservation has also contributed to JNU’s uniqueness. Incidentally, the All India Backward Students’ Front, established to fight for implementation of this quota, also organised “Mahishasur Shahadat Divas”. According to the administration, women account for 57% of the student population on the campus.
There are 141 quartile-I districts—most backward—with the largest numbers in Bihar, Odisha and Chhattisgarh; and 144 in quartile-II. Some states, including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Mizoram, have only Quartile II districts.
“You will find students from Kalahandi (Odisha) as well as from St Stephen’s,” says former JNUSU vice-president Anant Prakash. The present general secretary, Rama Naga, is from Kalahandi while president Kanhaiya Kumar hails from Bihar. “Over the years we’ve had supporters of Godse, Charu Majumdar, Naga separatists, Manipuri rebels and Assam’s ULFA,” says Anand Kumar who has studied and taught at JNU.
And the different groups have always found ways to settle their differences without writing, as AISF’s Aparajitha Raja puts it, “squealing letters” or ministers wading in.
