Political Parties Rejected in Elections Are Using Issues like BHU Protests for Politics, Says ABVP

New Delhi: Just hours after police registered FIRs against 1000 students for arson in Banaras Hindu University violence, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad on Monday said there was heavy political interference on campuses around the country.

Speaking to CNN News18, Nagesh Thakur, ABVP’s national president said, “Political parties are interfering on campus and are provoking students. The parties that have faced defeat through the democratic system in the country, are trying to use campuses for their motives. This political interference is wrong.”

The ABVP protested at the ministry of human resource development in New Delhi demanding justice for BHU girls, formation of fact finding committee, and action against those in the administration for not paying heed to the girls’ complaint.

Thakur wasn’t the only one who questioned political parties — Congress and Left — for exploiting the situation “for their ulterior motives.”

The National Organizing Secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Sunil Ambekar told CNN News18, “Congress has lost ground, and Left has lost the moral ground; hence the two are using our campuses for politics. For past three years, they have used the universities for playing politics, and in doing that they have allowed the anti-national forces to play on campuses. That is a big issue,” he said.

The parties, he added, must give students the freedom to pursue their careers and address their issues “without any political drama.”

“If Congress and Left want to fight the BJP, they should. Why use universities? If the parties want to regain their political momentum, then they should work on the ground to perform better. Not get politics into university campuses,” said Ambekar.

Voicing his opinion was Saket Bahuguna, national media convener of ABVP, who took to Twitter, “Students of BHU understand very well how some communist elements are trying to take political mileage out of this protest.”

Ambekar further said that the BHU administration had made mistakes in handling the situation, and ABVP was demanding an inquiry into the incident. “The BHU administration should call a delegation of girls, and discuss the problem. It was a simple issue that can be addressed and can still be,” he said.

When quizzed on the losses faced by ABVP in a few student elections, Ambekar said it was not a matter of concern. ABVP lost student elections in JNU, DU and Hyderabad—a fact Ambekar said did not affect the body’s chances in future elections. After the defeat in Hyderabad’s central university polls, Mayawati had called the string of defeats an “auspicious omen”.

“In Hyderabad, we were not the front runners, but we have come to the point that we lost the president post by just a few votes. It is not our base area yet after such venom and campaign, we have gained in Hyderabad University polls,” he said.

“Why have NSUI and Left not won in Rajasthan University elections? There, an independent candidate, who is an ABVP karyakarta, won the polls? Why are you not asking, why NSUI did not win in JNU or Left in DU or Rajasthan? ABVP is above all this,” he added.