Student organizations that run behind political parties
Every nation believes that the future of their nation is in its youth. Ever since India’s independence, many students’ unions in India have formed that aim to work towards promoting a democratic outlook within the nation’s youths to help them identify India’s social, cultural, moral and intellectual values. These groups also promote consciousness among the students by helping them imbibe the idea of ‘duty towards the state’. Their thoughts, views, and hard work can steer the nation towards productivity and their misdeeds and mala fide intentions can even break this nation apart!
Currently, India is seeing a bitter mix of the upper two phenomena happening every few days. Either there are violent clashes against people supporting a particular ideology or there are peaceful protests and candlelit marches to support a cause and this is all because of the fact that they are under the leadership of major political parties in India.
Here are some popular student organizations that are directly/indirectly linked to some of India’s political parties:
- ABVP – Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad
Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) (or All Indian Student Council) is a Nationalist all-India student organization founded in 1948 which is affiliated to the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). It currently claims to be World's largest student organization with more than 3 million members. The ABVP follows a right-wing ideology and participates in activities across the nation in conjunction with BJP's official youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
The ABVP's manifesto generally indicates action towards educational and university reforms and to fight these, they compete in student-body elections in colleges and universities. The official ABVP magazine called ‘Rashtriya Chhatrashakti’, which is published monthly in Hindi in New Delhi.
ABVP is mostly in the news due to violent incidents, attacks and alleged right-wing extremism which are mostly claimed by ABVP to protest against anti-national and anti-Hindutva activities in the country.
- SFI - Students' Federation of India
Founded in 1970, The Students' Federation of India (SFI) is an independent student organization in India which follows a leftist ideology. The slogan of the SFI is "Independence, Democracy, and Socialism!" and the group believes that they can help build India with rationality and justice on the basis of proper education. The SFI publishes a monthly magazine called Student Struggle in English, ‘Chatra Sangharsh’ in Hindi, ‘Chhatra Sangram’ in Bengali, 'Satra Xakti’ in Assamese, ‘സ്റ്റുഡന്റ്’ in Malayalam, ‘ఐక్య విధ్యార్థి’ in Telegu, etc. They also have an e-Journal called ‘Resistance’.
The SFI has also been in the news for the wrong reasons like violent protest walks, surrounding West Bengal finance minister Amit Mitra in New Delhi, misbehaving with lecturers and employees at South City College, ransacking a college, etc.
- NSUI - National Students' Union of India
Established on 9 April 1971, The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) is the official student wing of the Indian National Congress party. The organization was founded by ex-PM of India, Indira Gandhi when she merged the Kerala Students Union and West Bengal State Chhatra Parishad to combine them into a formidable national students' movement. In November 2013, two members of the NSUI were injured by police as they attempted to submit a memorandum to the district magistrate. In late November, the NSUI filed a complaint with the police against Madhu Kishwar, a writer who ousted the journalist that had been allegedly sexually assaulted by Tarun Tejpal. - Wikipedia
- AISSF - All India Sikh Students Federation
The actual origin of the Sikh Student Federation can be traced back to "Khalsa clubs" established in 1888. It became AISSF in 1944 when the Muslims made their own All India Muslim Students Federation, in 1937.
The Sikh student organization seeks to promote the values and heritage of Sikhism in India based upon the teachings of the Guru Granth Sahib. They are currently demanding justice for the victims of the 1984 massacre of Sikhs.
- AISF - All India Students Federation
Founded on 12 August 1936 under the guidance of Jawaharlal Nehru, the AISF has the honor of being the first student body to be directly involved in helping India attain independence. Though it is an independent students' union, it is rumored to be supported by the CPI and Congress. The CPI says that outfits like AISF are independent but "friendly" towards the party.
The AISF recently came into news after Kanhaiya Kumar of AISF, the President of the JNU Students’ Union, was arrested on sedition charges after allegations of ‘anti-national’ sloganeering against him. He was allegedly protesting against the hanging of Afzal Guru in 2013 and the struggle of Kashmiri migrants in JNU.
- Bahujan Samaj Students’ wing - Bahujan Samaj Student's Forum
It is an organization which represents the oppressed and exploited communities in the Indian society and is generally supported by the Bahujan Samaj Party and the BAMCEF - The All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation. It aims to combat India’s caste system that provides undue privileges to a part of society and imposes certain disabilities on the rest. The BSP recently announced that it is looking forward to introducing an official student’s wing for its party.
- DUSU - The Delhi University Students Union
DUSU is the official representative body of students from most colleges under the ambit of the Delhi University. Each college also has its own respective Students' union to which elections are held every year.
Several members of DUSU have gone on to hold public office at the State and Centre level, for example, Arun Jaitley (finance minister of India), Vijay Goel (Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs ), Ajay Maken (President of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee) were all members of DUSU.
- AIDSO - All India Democratic Students’ Organization
Founded in 1954, AIDSO is under the leadership of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist). AIDSO is against all anti-education policies of the central and the state governments and presses for the creation of a scientific, secular, democratic education system in India. In recent years, AIDSO has been active in carrying out national movements against the commercialization of education and introduction of basic sex education at school levels.
India has developed a complex tradition of student politics in recent times since most of these unions are now affiliated to a political party and actively participate in any current crisis, especially those related to students. Many times, these ‘protests’ turn violent and tend to hamper civil life, but mostly these unions are doing a good job in keeping the hopes and aspirations of students in India alive.
Student Unions are a really important part of India’s democratic nature and through the experience gained under political parties help lead India in the political capacity in the future. However, the negative aspect of such organizations is what can hamper India’s sovereignty. These organizations must strive to remain as apolitical and neutral as possible in promoting the needs of students in India to remain blemish free.
