Latest news with #VaibhavMeena
India.com
29-04-2025
- Politics
- India.com
Meet Vaibhav Meena, the student leader behind ABVP's 'historic' resurgence at JNU
Vaibhav Meena bags the position of joint secretary in JNUSU elections New Delhi: In the early hours of April 28, 2025, the results of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union Elections were unveiled, marking a transformative moment in the university's political landscape. Vaibhav Meena, representing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), emerged victorious as the Joint Secretary candidate, breaking a nearly decade-long absence of his party from the central panel of JNUSU. His win signals a significant shift in a university long dominated by Left-affiliated student groups. From Karauli to JNU Meena's journey begins in the quaint town of Karauli in Rajasthan, where he was raised in a tribal farming family. His academic pursuits took him through various esteemed institutions, including the University of Rajasthan and Banaras Hindu University (BHU), before culminating at JNU, where he is diligently working towards a PhD in Hindi literature. Despite JNU's reputation for vibrant Left-leaning politics, Meena's background and experiences offer a unique perspective that is often underrepresented in the university's political discourse. A Focus on Practical Issues Prior to his central panel candidacy, Meena showcased his leadership capabilities within the university by serving as the President of Kaveri Hostel. In this role, he championed improvements in hostel facilities, tackled issues related to food quality, and advocated for the overall welfare of students. His campaign revolved around addressing everyday challenges that resonate with the student body, focusing on practical solutions rather than theoretical debates. In addition to his leadership role, Meena is a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) holder and actively participated in the National Service Scheme (NSS), underscoring his dedication to both academic excellence and community service. The Election Results and Significance In a closely contested election, Meena secured the position of Joint Secretary with 1,518 votes, narrowly besting Naresh Kumar from AISA, who garnered 1,433 votes. This outcome is viewed as a watershed moment, especially given the entrenched presence of Left-affiliated factions in JNU's political scene. Meena's victory transcends mere numbers; it represents the dawn of a fresh voice in the dialogue surrounding student issues. While the Left-leaning unions maintained their foothold with roles such as President and Vice President, Meena's ascent indicates a burgeoning interest among students for diverse leadership options that prioritize tangible academic and campus-specific concerns. A Changing Campus Landscape Although key positions remain in the hands of Left-affiliated groups, Meena's success underscores a palpable shift within the student community. His prioritization of practical issues like hostel conditions, resource availability, and student welfare resonated deeply with many, particularly those who felt overlooked by the traditional political establishment's focus. This development suggests a potential evolution in the trajectory of student politics at JNU, reflecting a desire among students for leadership that is responsive to their daily realities. What's Next for JNU Politics? With these election results, the landscape of JNU student politics seems poised for a new direction. While Meena's triumph is notable, it represents just a fragment of a larger trend toward a more inclusive and varied political discourse on campus. Whether this shift will sustain and influence future elections or simply serve as a temporary alteration in the political tide remains to be seen.
The Print
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Print
JNUSU polls: With a divided Left, ABVP breaks decade-long drought with seat on central students' panel
This year's JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) elections saw a split among the dominant Left student groups, with the Students' Federation of India (SFI)—affiliated with Communist Party of India (Marxist)—and the All India Students' Association (AISA)—aligned with CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation—forming separate alliances. While ABVP has hailed its victory as a triumph over the Left's 'ideological tyranny', Left-aligned groups have now begun a blame game, accusing each other of moving to form separate alliances. New Delhi: Amid the rift among Left-aligned student groups, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has made significant inroads in the political landscape of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU)—a traditionally Left stronghold—by winning a central panel seat for the first time in a decade, along with 24 of the 46 councillor positions it contested in the students' union polls. In contrast, a united Left front had defeated the ABVP in the 2024 JNUSU polls. This year, ABVP's Vaibhav Meena, a student at the School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies, has secured the position of joint secretary. The last time the ABVP won a central panel post was in 2015, when Saurav Sharma was elected joint secretary, marking the group's first entry into the JNUSU panel in 14 years. Before that, Sandeep Mahapatra from ABVP was elected the president of JNUSU in 2001. Meena won by a narrow margin of 85 votes, defeating Naresh Kumar, the candidate from AISA-DSF (Democratic Students' Front) United Left Panel. The margins for other positions were similarly close. For example, in the presidential race, Nitish Kumar of United Left Panel won by a gap of just 272 votes over the ABVP candidate. Meanwhile, the candidate from the SFI-led 'Left-Ambedkarite' alliance trailed ABVP's candidate by 512 votes. In the race for the general secretary post, the ABVP candidate narrowly lost by 114 votes to AISA-DSF candidate, Munteha Fatima. In the vice president contest, the ABVP candidate was only 34 votes behind the candidate from AISA-DSF. Rajeshwar Kant Dubey, president of the ABVP JNU unit, said, 'This victory signifies a democratic revolution against the ideological control the Left has maintained in JNU for years. ABVP will continue to work tirelessly, driven by its commitment to the student community and the noble mission of nation-building.' However, AISA called ABVP's victory a 'shock' for the students' community. 'It is the need of the hour that all progressive organisations and forces on campus now resolve to come together to fight this formidable challenge of entrance of the ABVP in JNUSU. Despite the ABVP's victory, the overall mandate clearly manifests the student community's acceptance of the Left progressive politics,' AISA said in a statement. Also Read: Allies turn rivals as JNU Left splits wide open ahead of deferred high-stakes student polls 'ABVP victory mirrors current dynamics of Indian politics' According to students on campus, while ABVP has maintained a strong presence at JNU in recent years, the split between AISA and SFI played a significant role in allowing the party to secure a spot on the central panel. 'The fact that the margins between ABVP and the united Left panel are not very wide indicates that ABVP already has a strong foothold in JNU. However, if AISA and SFI had contested together, ABVP wouldn't have won that seat. This split has given it the opportunity to be part of the central panel again. The last time ABVP was on the central panel in 2015, the sedition row occurred,' Ashutosh Kumar, a postgraduate student at the School of Social Sciences, told ThePrint. Students also view ABVP's victory as a reflection of the broader national political landscape. 'It mirrors the current dynamics of Indian politics, where the BJP has mastered the art of consolidating its own support base, while strategically fragmenting the Opposition. Just as the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) has managed to divide its rivals into multiple factions, the internal rifts within the Left student groups here at JNU have played into ABVP's hands, helping them secure a foothold on,' said Basant Kumar, a PhD scholar at School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies. However, N. Sai Balaji, former JNUSU president and AISA member, said that it would be incorrect to claim that ABVP has 'unfurled the saffron flag' in JNU, as the majority of students still align with the Left. 'ABVP couldn't even win a single councillor seat from the School of Languages, the largest school in the university, which also saw the highest voter turnout. How can they call this a 'saffron wave'?' he remarked. ABVP had contested 46 of the 48 councillor positions, and secured 24 of them, sweeping all the seats in the School of Engineering, School of Sanskrit and Indic Studies, and the Amalgamated Centre. Blame game In its statement, AISA pointed out that while AISA-DSF united to fight together, the SFI opted to form a separate alliance, which faced credibility issues throughout the election process. 'While SFI claimed that BAPSA (Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students' Association) was in an alliance with them, BAPSA came with a pamphlet that their organisation is not in alliance with SFI and the BAPSA candidate contested for the post of president in the elections. The opportunist and desperate attempt to appropriate the name of an Ambedkarite organisation was identified by the student community at large. The sectarian attitude manifested by the SFI shows in their performance on their presidential post, where they've secured 918 votes,' the organisation said. In its statement, SFI's Delhi unit attributed the results of JNUSU elections to the fragmentation of progressive and Left forces on campus, which it identified as the primary reason for ABVP winning the joint secretary post, and coming close to victory in other central panel positions. 'This fragmentation is also why ABVP saw gains in the student council elections. With the two largest progressive student organisations, SFI and AISA, contesting from separate panels, the vote was split, significantly narrowing the margin of victory in the Central Panel races,' the statement further said. 'We hope that Progressive and Left forces take the requisite lessons from this Elections, and forge strong unity inside and outside the council to lead the student resistance against NEP—privatisation, centralisation and communalisation of education.' (Edited by Mannat Chugh) Also Read: House panel seeks 'Institute of Eminence' tag for JNU, more autonomy for colleges under existing IoEs
Indian Express
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Son of tribal farmers, PhD scholar: How ABVP's Vaibhav Meena broke barriers to reach JNU — found a spot on its students' union
Long before he stepped into Jawaharlal Nehru University's sprawling campus, Vaibhav Meena spent his days balancing coursework with side jobs at call centres in Jaipur. The son of tribal farmers from Rajasthan's Karauli district, Meena worked to pay his university fees, determined to have an education his family had never imagined for him. 'I come from a simple lower-middle-class family background where we had to support our own education. While pursuing my Bachelor's degree in Jaipur, I worked at a call centre to pay my fees. Then I did my Master's from Banaras Hindu University,' the 27-year-old told The Indian Express after his win in the JNU students' union election. He bagged the post of joint secretary — marking the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad's (ABVP) return to the central panel for the first time in nearly a decade. The ABVP last held a central panel seat in 2015-16, when it won the post of Joint Secretary by defeating the AISA candidate by a narrow margin of 28 votes. Polling for the four central panel posts was held on Friday. Of the 7,906 eligible voters, close to 70% cast their votes — slightly lower than last year's turnout of around 73%. In the final tally, Nitish Kumar from the All India Students' Association (AISA) was elected President, Manisha from the Democratic Students' Front (DSF) became Vice-President, Munteha Fatima from DSF was elected General Secretary, while Meena clinched the post of Joint Secretary for ABVP. The AISA, which broke away from the Students' Federation of India, allied with DSF for the polls. Meena, now a PhD scholar in Hindi Literature at JNU, has become the first from his village to enter the university and made it to the central student body. Growing up, he said, his father's interest in politics laid the foundation for his own political journey. 'My father has always been my inspiration to enter student politics. I have been associated with the ABVP since my time at Jaipur University.' But Meena's entry into JNU wasn't just about academic ambition, it was about breaking barriers of caste, geography, and class. 'I come from a tribal background… my mother and father work as farmers,' he said. 'I am the first from my village to do a PhD in Hindi.' Apart from the central panel win, the ABVP claimed it won 23 out of 42 councillor seats across JNU's 16 schools and special centres. In a statement issued Sunday, ABVP described its performance as 'historic,' highlighting breakthroughs into traditionally Left-dominated bastions such as the School of Social Sciences and the School of International Studies. In a statement earlier, the student body also said that the 'failure of the current Left-led JNUSU has raised concerns over academic quality, infrastructural facilities and democratic discourse on campus'. Asked about operating within a historically Left-dominated campus, Meena remained unfazed. 'We have done very well in winning most of the councillor posts in schools, so I don't think it should be a problem,' he said. 'The Left has been dominant for a decade, but still, look at the campus and its deteriorating infrastructure. They couldn't make anything better. This is my goal: to make JNU better for students and to save it from the 'deshdrohi' image that the Left is responsible for.' For Meena, student politics is only the beginning. His ambition stretches far beyond JNU's campus gates. 'I aim to enter active politics in the future while being associated with the Vidyarthi Parishad and wish to do more work to uplift people in our society,' he said.
India Today
28-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
RSS student wing finally breaches Left citadel JNU
New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where red ran deep, is now showing a saffron shift. In the hotly contested Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) elections, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has achieved a massive breakthrough in the traditionally Left-dominated the Left alliance secured key central panel posts, the ABVP made unprecedented gains in councillor seats. The ABVP won 23 out of 42 councillor seats across 16 schools and special centres, which is the highest number of seats won by any student body, according to BJP leader Amit the ABVP has also secured two out of five seats in the School of Social Sciences and the School of International Studies, strongholds long controlled by Left student bodies. The election's verdict, which was declared late on Sunday, marks the first time in 25 years that ABVP has won seats in the School of Social GAVE LEFT UNIONS A CLOSE FIGHT FOR ALL JNUSU POSTS Among the four key posts, ABVP's Vaibhav Meena has been elected Joint Secretary. Even in the vice-president and general secretary posts, where the Left alliance won, the ABVP fought close battles, losing by just 34 and 114 votes victory marks the first time since 2015–16, when ABVP's Saurav Sharma last clinched the joint secretary post, that the student wing has secured a central panel seat. The last time the ABVP won the JNUSU presidency was in 2000-01 when Sandeep Mahapatra was elected."History was created and this is just the beginning," posted the ABVP-JNU X the JNUSU, the council is made up of the central panel (president, vice-president, secretary, and joint secretary) and the councillors, who hold the power to approve all proposals. With 23 seats now under its belt, the ABVP's influence over decision-making is set to rise SUCCESS IN JNU NO SURPRISE, GREW IN LAST 10 YEARSThe performance of the ABVP is a testimony to its growing presence and purchase on the JNU campus, where Left organisations like the All India Students' Association (AISA) and Students' Federation of India (SFI) have historically held Left's dominance in JNU, long hailed as a Left bastion, now stands shaken by the rise of the Saffron on the campus. The ABVP has significantly expanded its presence in JNU over the past decade. The AVBP's Sunday win follows a decade of incremental gains, with ABVP consistently polling 800-1,000 votes every the 2024 JNUSU elections too, the ABVP came second in all the four key Left parties, on the other hand, had been hit by challenges of internal divisions before the 2024 elections. Unlike previous years, the Left went into the elections fragmented. The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)'s AISA and the SFI contested despite the ABVP's sweep of the councillor seats and winning the joint secretary post is the beginning of the breach of the Left citadel. It will only be complete when the ABVP is able to win all the four top posts of the university's students Reel
