Sachin Pilot joins NSUI protest for restoration of student union elections in Rajasthan

The Opposition Congress’s student wing, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), staged a massive protest in Jaipur on Tuesday (August 5, 2025) with the demand for restoration and conduct of student union elections in the universities and colleges in Rajasthan.

The protesters clashed with the police when they were stopped from marching towards the Chief Minister’s residence.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot, who joined the protest, expressed solidarity with the students’ demand for starting the process for democratic representation on the campuses. When the police used water cannons to disperse the crowd, Mr. Pilot was also hit by the water spray. He was forcibly removed from the site.

The protest took place at Shaheed Smarak on Mirza Ismail Road, where the traffic was stopped and a large number of policemen were deployed amid heightened tensions. The students and NSUI members, who arrived from all over the State, held placards, raised slogans and marched in unison to press for their demand.

Police detained 36 NSUI members, including NSUI State president Vinod Jakhar, and Congress MLA Mukesh Bhakar during the protest. The NSUI workers continued trying to break through the barricades despite the heavy police presence.

The student union elections were suspended in Rajasthan earlier, during the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s tenure from 2003 to 2008. The polls were restarted in 2010, under the subsequent Congress government. They were postponed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and were later resumed in 2022.

In 2023, the elections were again deferred for a few months due to the acquisition of college buildings by the Election Commission for the Assembly polls and the implementation of various parts of the new education policy. Since the formation of the BJP government in December 2023, no action has been taken to resume the student elections.

Addressing the protesters, Mr. Pilot launched a scathing attack on the BJP government, while affirming that the election process was important in the democracy and there was no justification for denying the opportunity to the youth to contest the polls. “What is the compulsion that the student elections are not being held? This is sheer injustice,” he said.

Mr. Pilot, who is at present the AICC general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh, said the BJP wanted to enjoy power and avoid holding any elections and serving the people: “Even the urban local body and panchayat elections are not being held on time. This double engine government knows how to rule for five years without accountability.”

Congress MLAs Abhimanyu Poonia from Sangaria and Manish Yadav from Shahpura also addressed the protesters. MLA Mr. Bhakar, representing Ladnun, said student politics was the backbone of youth leadership, and a large number of political leaders had started their career from student unions.