Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union

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Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union
Location Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

The Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union or JNUSU is a students' union at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. [1] [2]

Contents

The JNUSU follows the student drafted JNUSU constitution. [3] [4]

The Students' Union has four central panel positions. These are the posts of President, Vice President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary. [5]

An EPW study notes how in the last four decades (1974–2008 and 2012–17), in the JNUSU elections, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has won the post of president 22 times while All India Students’ Association (AISA) has won it 11 times while Akhil Bhartia Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has won it once. [3] Notable presidents of JNUSU include CPI(M) politician Sitaram Yechury who was president in 1977-78, Congress National Secretary Shakeel Ahmed Khan in 1992-93 and Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain in 1999-2000. [6] [7] [8] Vijoo Krishnan became the president of JNUSU in 1998. [9] D Raghunandan, D. P. Tripathi, Nalini Ranjan Mohanty also served as President. [10]

Chandrashekhar Prasad another president of the JNUSU was assassinated after joining politics in Bihar in 1997. [8]

JNUSU elections

JNUSU elections are conducted by students through an elected Election Committee. [11] In 2006, the Lyngdoh Committee, [12] [13] formed to frame guidelines for 'Students’ Union Elections' across the country noted that there is no need for altering the JNU model and that JNU's model would be "difficult to replicate elsewhere". [11] [14] However the JNUSU passed a resolution in 2016 to hold the elections via the JNUS constitution and not the Lyngdoh Committee model. [4]

The Students Union has four central panel positions. These are the posts of President, Vice President, General Secretary and Joint Secretary. Other posts include Councillors for each of the Schools and as well as a part time Councillor. [5] In 2019 there were 43 Councillors. [15]

After 2015, the left parties have been fighting the elections as one unit under the umbrella of United Left. [16]

Union Presidents

JNU is known for best Presidential debates by all candidates before elections. [17] [18] [19]

SFI has won the post of President the maximum number of times in the last 40 years, [lower-alpha 1] a total of 22 times. [3] All India Students’ Association (AISA) follows by having won the presidents post 11 times. [3] SFI, AISF and AISA are the student wings of the Communist Parties. [3]

Presidents of JNUSU

PresidentStudent OrganizationDurationFirst Runner-upStudent OrganizationVice-PresidentStudent Organization
Dhananjay AISA (United Left)2024-nowUmesh Chandra AjmeeraABVPAvijit Ghosh SFI (United Left)
Aishe Ghosh SFI (United Left)2019-2024Manish Jangid [20] ABVP [21] Saket MoonDSF (United Left)
N Sai Balaji AISA [22] (United Left)2018-2019Lalit Pandey [23] ABVP [21] Sarika Chaudhary [24] DSF (United Left)
Geeta Kumari AISA (United Left)2017-2018Nidhi Tripathi ABVP [25] Simone Zoya Khan [26]
Mohit K Pandey AISA (United Left)2016-2017Sonpimple Rahul Punaram BAPSA [27]
Kanhaiya Kumar AISF 2015-2016Vijay Kumar AISA [28] Shehla Rashid AISA (United Left)
Ashutosh Kumar AISA 2014-2015
Akbar Chawdhary AISA 2013-2014
V. Lenin KumarDSF2012-2013
Sucheta De AISA 2011-2012
Election did not take place2010-2011
Election did not take place2009-2010
Election did not take place2008-2009
Sandeep Singh [29] AISA 2007-2008
Dhananjay Tripathi SFI 2006-2007Tyler Walker Williams AISA
Mona Das [6] AISA 2005-2006
Mona Das [6] AISA 2004-2005
Rohit Azad [6] 2003-2004
Rohit Azad [6] 2002-2003
Albeena Shakil [7] SFI 2001-2002
Sandeep Mahapatra [7] ABVP 2000-2001
Syed Naseer Hussain SFI 1999-2000
Vijoo Krishnan SFI 1998-1999
1997-1998
Batti Lal Bairwa SFI 1996-1997
1995-1996
Chandrashekhar Prasad [30] AISA 1994-1995
Chandrashekhar Prasad [8] AISA 1993-1994
Shakeel Ahmed Khan [8] SFI 1992-1993 Chandrashekhar Prasad [8]
Tanvir Akhtar [8] NSUI 1991-1992 Shakeel Ahmed Khan [8] SFI
Sitaram Yechury [10] SFI 1977-1978
Prakash Karat [10] SFI 1976-1977
D. P. Tripathi [31] SFI 1975-1976

While some JNUSU presidents joined politics after JNU other presidents such as V. Lenin Kumar and Dhananjay Tripathi pursued academics. [6] Those who joined politics include Ashutosh Kumar who joined CPI-ML(Liberation), Kanhaiya Kumar joined the CPI and Sandeep Singh joined the Indian National Congress. [6]

Sandeep Mahapatra has been the only JNUSU president from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Notable student organisations

These student organisations contest in JNUSU: [32]

See also

Notes

  1. 1974–2008 and 2012–17

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On 9 February 2016, some students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) held a protest on their campus against the capital punishment meted out to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. The organisers of the event were former members of the Democratic Students' Union (DSU). The event was held despite the university administrations withdrawing permission for the event shortly before it was due to begin, due to protests by members of the student union of ABVP. The event saw clashes between various student groups. A video was circulated by an Indian news channel, Zee News, in which a small group of individuals, whom a later university-investigation described as outsiders to the university wearing masks, shouted "anti-India" slogans.

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Shehla Rashid Shora is an Indian human rights activist who has pursued her Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University. She was vice-president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) in 2015–16 and was a member of the All India Students Association (AISA). She rose to prominence whilst leading the student agitation calling for the release for Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid and others who were arrested on charges of sedition in February 2016 for participating and organizing sloganeering in JNU.

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Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association (BAPSA) is a student organization formed on 15 November 2014 at Jawaharlal Nehru University on the anniversary of Birsa Munda's birth. It claims to work for student rights and the issues affecting Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and other minority groups. BAPSA says it stands for assertion, follows Ambedkarite ideology and is critical of both left and right-wing forces on campus. BAPSA is also active in Central University of Gujarat.

On 5 January 2020, more than 50 masked people armed with rods, sticks and acid attacked the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, and injured more than 39 students and teachers. Many students received serious injuries. Professors who tried to intervene and protect the students, as well as ambulances carrying injured individuals, were attacked. Eyewitnesses stated that police within the campus did not intervene to stop the mob. After attacking residents of the university campus for three hours, the mob escaped; none of its members was arrested or detained. All 36 students who were injured and admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS) were discharged within 24 hours.

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Left Unity is a group of left wing students' organisations in Jawaharlal Nehru University. It was formed with aim to counter the growing influence of right wing students organization like ABVP, a students front of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Left Unity predominantly consists of four major students organisations - AISF, AISA, SFI, and DSF. The panel of Left Unity has won the election of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union for four consecutive years.

Aparajitha Raja is an Indian politician who was the national leader of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF). She is currently serving as a National Council member of All India Youth Federation. She is the daughter of D. Raja, the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) General Secretary, and Annie Raja, the General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aishe Ghosh</span> Indian student activist (born 1995)

Aishe Ghosh is an Indian politician and student activist. She is a former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union and is a Member of the Students' Federation of India. She was also the CPI(M) candidate from Jamuria constituency for 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election and lost to Hareram Singh.

References

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Further reading