PUSU elections a nursery for future political leaders

Patna: Right since the first elections to its newly constituted students’ union in 1959, Patna University (PU), the seventh oldest university of the country, has been serving as a nursery of future political leaders of the state.

From former chief minister Lalu Prasad to the present CM Nitish Kumar, most political leaders have been groomed in the crucible of PU politics. In fact, PUSU serves as a “launching pad” for the would-be politicians.It is thus natural that the Patna University Students’ Union (PUSU) elections scheduled for Feb 28, has brought many politically ambitious students and the student wings of different political parties into the fray.

Most of them are striving hard to join the bandwagon of would be political leaders at the national or state level.Several PU student leaders have earned name and fame in the political world. In the first elections to PUSU in 1959, Shailesh Chandra Mishra, son of former Chief Justice Satish Chandra Mishra of Patna high court, was elected president and the union was inaugurated by the then defence minister V K Krishna Menon at Patna Science College grounds.

Elections were held almost regularly until 1984. In 1973, Lalu Prasad, former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad were elected PUSU president, general secretary and assistant general secretary, respectively. While Prasad had contested from Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, Modi and Ravi Shankar had contested from Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Earlier, Ram Jatan Sinha had been elected PUSU president, defeating Lalu Prasad in 1972.

The union led by Lalu Prasad was inaugurated by journalist Kuldip Nayar at Science College grounds.PU’s high watermark was 1974, when, at the call of Sarvodaya leader Jayaprakash Narayan, today’s firmament of top leaders—Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan, among a host of others—plunged into politics.Following the 1974 students’ movement and promulgation of national emergency, no elections were held for the next four years.

ABVP-sponsored candidate, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, was elected president of the union in 1978. In 1980, Anil Kumar Sharma was elected president. In the 1984 elections, Shambhu Sharma and Ranbir Nandan were elected president and general secretary, respectively. But, after 1984, when the Congress govt was in power in the state, the powers that be preferred not to hold elections as, they thought, elections would promote caste war and violence.

Even when the student leaders of the JP movement came to power, they avoided elections to the union for some obvious reasons.However, in 2012, the then PU VC Shambhu Nath Singh conducted elections to the PU students’ union after a lapse of 28 years. And, again, thanks to the initiative of then chancellor Satyapal Malik in 2018, all the universities started conducting student union elections as per provisions of the union statutes based on Lyngdoh Committee recommendations.

PU has been conducting the union elections almost regularly.With only two effective days left for campaigning which is likely to end on Thursday evening, student outfits of different political parties are walking extra miles to contact their voters. Candidates sponsored by major student organisations, including ABVP, Chhatra Janata Dal (U), NSUI, AISF, AISA, and SFI are moving from Patna Women’s College in the west to Patna Law College in the east to garner students’ vote.