Betrayal and backstabbing: Why the NSUI isn't fighting the University of Hyderabad elections this year

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) is not contesting the upcoming students' union elections at the University of Hyderabad so that they can defeat the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). It might sound bizarre but the NSUI, who has a fairly large vote share at the university, did not want to be the vote cutter in this election. They claim to have a clear goal — vote out ABVP. The Congress-backed student organisation has been campaigning against the ABVP for the UoH Students' Union elections on September 26.

Even though they are not contesting the elections, the NSUI has a close bond with the elections. Phani Krishna, pursuing his PhD in Cognitive Sciences at the university is contesting the elections for the ABVP. Phani was an integral part of NSUI till a month back and reportedly a critic of everything ABVP. "He is nothing but a power-hungry opportunist with no ideology whatsoever. He was criticising the ABVP even two days before he suddenly switched sides," said Alan Christian Joy Kaniparampil, the spokesperson of NSUI.

The NSUI said that since the ABVP has come to power in 2018 after a long gap of eight years, they have suppressed academics and free speech and have never stood up for students' rights. "We are fighting against this fascist student union and in this fight, we decided to campaign against the ABVP but not contest the elections ourselves. They have never stood up for the students. They even dissolved the union two days before the Academic Council meeting where they are supposed to talk about the students' demands and speak for us. They seem to be working as the administration's chamchas. We have a major vote share. If we contest alone we'll only be a vote cutter party and this will facilitate another ABVP win," said Alan. "None of the other parties invited us or initiated a discussion about an alliance so that was out of the way," said Alan talking about why they did not fight in an alliance with the SFI-led front opposing the ABVP.

The NSUI, in a statement titled #Vote_Out_ABVP, urged all its "members, supporters, sympathisers and the entire student community" to vote against the student wing of the RSS. They also lamented that there is no "united front of progressive forces" against the ABVP and added that they are opting out to avoid being the third front.