Want to revive JNU’s political legacy, says Kanhaiya Kumar

Newly-elected president of JNUSU, Kanhaiya Kumar of the All-India Students’ Federation (AISF) on Sunday said his priority would be to revive the university’s political legacy and initiate movement against the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations that he said were a “big barrier” to campus politics.

Speaking after he won the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president’s post by 67 votes, he said: “The political process on  campus is declining. We want to revive the legacy of JNU. A big barrier to it is the Lyngdoh Committee... We want to defy Lyngdoh and restore our 

constitution.” 

Results of the JNUSU polls were declared on Sunday. Kumar won the president’s <g data-gr-id="38">post,</g> while AISA’s Shehla Rashid Shora and Rama Naga won the post of vice-president and general secretary, respectively. ABVP, which swept DUSU polls on Saturday, won the post of joint secretary.

During the oath-taking ceremony, amid the sloganeering, a minor scuffle broke out between supporters of the Left outfits and ABVP, which was sorted soon.

Jubilant supporters of the winning candidates celebrated by beating drums and distributing sweets. Victory marches were also taken out by the winners and their supporters.

ABVP’s Saurabh Kumar Sharma, who won joint secretary’s post, said: “Our success is a result of the hard work done by our activists. Our vote share is very high this time. This shows that students are disappointed with the ineffectiveness of Left politics.” 

“On two seats (vice-president and general secretary) we came second, we gave a tough fight and lost at the last moment. In the coming year, we hope to win all four seats,” he said.

Kumar, who admitted that his performance in the presidential debate was instrumental in his win, said a person’s capability is reflected in the debate and JNU being an intellectual campus, the students considered it. On the alleged “saffronisation” of institutions in the country, he said: “If this is done at JNU we will fight against it strongly. We are in support of FTII students, who are protesting saffronisation of their campus, and if an attempt is made here, we will also start a movement."