UP parties eye university polls

Student elections in various universities, scheduled to be held in August-September this year, will witness a serious and intense involvement of almost all political parties in Uttar Pradesh that are targeting young voters.

With youth, in the 25 to 35 years age group, forming the almost 38 per cent of the voting population, all political parties seem to have realised the advantage of wooing young voters.

The Bahujan Samaj Party, for instance, will be taking active interest in campus politics this time and the party has asked its leaders to connect with the dalit youth on the campus. The BSP, so far, had kept away from student politics and it was the Mayawati government that had banned students’ elections in 2007.

“The death of Rohith Vemula, a dalit scholar, has forced the BSP to take a stand on student politics and Ms Mayawati has decided to up the ante against the Modi government on dalit issues. There are a growing number of dalit students in each university and we need their support too,” said a BSP functionary.

The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, has always banked heavily on student support and Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav asserts that the university campus should be treated as a nursery for politicians. The SP has a predominant presence in campus politics and its members are known more for their aggressive behaviour than their political views.

Moreover, with Mr Akhilesh Yadav as chief minister, the party has gained youth support and the SP leadership now wants to use it to their advantage in the 2017 Assembly polls.

The BJP is smug on the youth issues because its youth wing ABVP is aggressively battling these issues on the campus after the JNU controversy. “The ABVP role in the JNU controversy has won us appreciation from students across Uttar Pradesh and this will help us in enlisting youth support on the campus and in Assembly elections,” said a party MLA.

The Congress, too, is keen to cash in students’ movements and the party is focusing on cases of casteist discrimination on the campus.

The Congress will also put up its candidates in students’ elections and senior party leaders will oversee their campaigns. “Students belonging to dalit and Muslim communities are facing discrimination in universities and colleges and we are preparing the list of such case. The Congress will take them up at suitable platforms,” said senior Congress leader Siraj Mehndi.