Stage set for keen JNU contest

Last November had seen the saffron brigade of Jawaharlal Nehru University defeat the red in one of the most keenly fought students union elections in the history of this University.

And a year later, the campus is once again brimming with activities and talks on what will happen in this year's innings of the same old game. Will history be made like last time, or simply repeated?

Last time around, it was a keen contest between the ABVP and Students Federation of India (SFI), with SFI's Vijoo Krishnan being beaten by the ABVP presidential candidate Sandeep Mahapatra by just one vote. The RSS outfit had created history of sorts by winning the President's post for the first time, and this time too, the main contest will continue to be between the ABVP and the SFI-AISF alliance.

Although the dominance of red in JNU is well known, over the years, the ABVP has been gaining roots in the University. The students outfit had won three of the posts in the central panel a couple of years ago, and last year, although by a very narrow margin, finally won the JNUSU presidentship. Close to half the 26 offices of student councillors had come into the kitty of the ABVP last time. While ABVP and SFI had bagged 11 each, three had gone to independents.

The issues that are expected to figure in fray this year, include privatisation and saffronisation of education. While the final list of candidates, and the real contest would be clear only on November 3 when the final list is announced, the real action should begin with the beginning of withdrawal of nominations, which often results in breakups within the organisations.

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And with students all ready for the big contest of the year, the election committee is not really taking any chances. The code of conduct may not make much difference in Delhi University, but here no posters have invariably meant a strict `no' in the years goneby.

According to the Chairman of the election committee, Ali Raza Moozvi, copies of the code of conduct have already been plastered outside the Election Committees office and other parts of the Campus. With the election committee busy checking the validity of these nominations on Wednesday night, Thursday will see the final list of the valid nominations being displayed at 10 a.m.

A couple of students have been infact even issued showcase notices for flouting these rules, Mr. Moosvi said. ``At least four students have been issued notices so far. But these were simple cases of students putting up stickers and posters. In fact the students have also send their clarifications explaining their position and we are looking into these cases now,'' he said.

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Professor Naom Chomsky will be delivering a lecture on ``Militarism, Development and People's right to information'' at the Delhi School of Economics this coming Monday at 5 p.m.

The lecture will be followed by a public forum and a question and answer session. Joining Prof. Chomsky in the conference will be Ms.Shabana Azmi, Ms.Aruna Roy, Ms.Arundhati Roy and others. An initiative of the National Campaign for the People's right to information the event is being organised in association with the Delhi School of Economics.

One of the leading linguists and political dissidents, Prof. Chomsky has been a formidable critic of the US foreign policy over the years and has persistently proposed the role of propaganda and thought control in democratic societies.Those wanting to participate can contact the School of Economics at the telephone numbers 7666533, 7666534 and 7666535.

---Lakshmi Balakrishnan

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