JNU student polls: BAPSA’s tough challenge for the Left

BAPSA has found takers among a section of JNU students who believe the Left groups on the campus have failed them.

WrittenBy:Kumar Prashant
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In three years of its existence, the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Student Association (BAPSA) has come to establish itself as a credible force in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and has actively participated in campus movements led by the students union, while leading some of its own. It has found space in a strong section of JNU students which believes that the Left groups in the campus have failed them. BAPSA is strongly critical of the Left groups: AISA, SFI, and DSF, and the Right, the ABVP, and has accused it of being patriarchal and Brahmanical.

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The Ambedkarite political organisation came into being on the birth anniversary of tribal freedom fighter from Jharkhand, Birsa Munda, on November 15, 2014. Since inception, BAPSA has asserted and instilled the need for unity of the oppressed, both at political and social levels, among the students. As is obvious, it draws inspiration from Birsa Munda, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, and Jyotiba and Savitri Bai Phule, and believes in a political system where the lower castes, the religious and sexual minorities, and suppressed nationalities find their due place by fighting for their political rights and representation at every level.

In the JNU Students Union elections last year, BAPSA presidential candidate Rahul Sonpimple secured 1545 votes against the Left’s Mohit Pandey who got 1954 votes, thus establishing his party as a formidable opposition. This year, BAPSA is again contesting with a diverse panel of candidates from diverse sections—its ppresidential candidate is a Muslim woman, at other positions it has candidates representing the Dalits, physically challenged and religious minority students, students from the Northeast, and South India. Representing what it asserts as “unity of the oppressed,” BAPSA aims to reach out to a large number of students with different identities.

BAPSA has repeatedly been criticised by the Left of lacking a clear economic understanding, though BAPSA has condemned the nexus of capitalism and Brahmanism. It has also condemned the Leftists, accusing it of “Brahmanising Marxism itself.” Equating Gandhian and communal politics with that of the dominant Left in the campus, BAPSA aims to establish an Ambedkarite version of a just society. It has found support from non-electoral forces like United OBC Forum, and Students Islamic Organisation, who aim to further identity politics in campus and society, and who have been disregarded by the Left.

This year, BAPSA’s Central Panel candidates for JNUSU include Shabana Ali (for President), Subodh Kunwer (for Vice-President), Karam Bidyanath Khuman (for General Secretary) and Vinod Kumar (for Joint Secretary). The candidates are aspiring to put forth an alternative to the Left while convincing the students that a vote for BAPSA does not mean a favour to the Right, a narrative that the Left is keen on pursuing. For the past one week, in a tense and polarised campus, the Left Unity (AISA-SFI-DSF) has vehemently argued in its pamphlets against BAPSA, calling it “an opportunist self-styled Ambedkarite group that is playing on behalf of the administration and the ABVP”.

This year’s BAPSA election manifesto includes a place for minority deprivation point in M.Phil/Ph D admissions, hostel accommodation for SC/ST/OBC, women, religious and sexual minority students on a priority basis, and implementation of the Rohith Act among others.

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