Kolkata:
In West Bengal, college union elections are on, and Calcutta University goes to the polls on Saturday. But for the first time in recent history, the Students Federation of India (SFI), which is the students' wing of the CPI (M), is not even contesting. Not because they didn't want to, but because they were not allowed to file nominations. By the Trinamool Chattra Parishad (TMCP), they claim. The BJP's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), too, accuses the TMCP of widespread violence in college elections.
The election process to 450-odd colleges across the state began mid-December. Since then, there have been innumerable clashes on campuses across the state - between the TMCP and the ABVP in many colleges, and between the TMCP and SFI in others. This, not only in the districts, but in Kolkata as well.
Calcutta University, for instance, saw huge clashes on the 8th of January, which was the last day for filing nominations. There are 826 seats in the Calcutta University election. Last year, the SFI had fought in 142 and won in 126. This year, they were not able to file a single nomination paper.
Said Madhuja Deb Som, SFI all-India vice president, "The attackers were the TMCP. We couldn't even file a single nomination paper. Last year, we lost but at least we were in the fight. This year, they realized that SFI would do well in most of the seats it contested. So, they didn't let us file nominations."
The ABVP, the BJP's student wing, is not much better off. They could file nominations in only 32 seats out of 826 at Calcutta University. "For the first time in Bengal, there is an undeclared political emergency and as elections advance, TMCP is becoming even more aggressive," said Kishore Barman, ABVP's organizing secretary, adding, "TMCP is perhaps even using terror groups, given the kind of bombs and arms they are using."
The Trinamol Chattra Parishad or TMCP dismisses all such allegations. They claim SFI and ABVP have no presence in colleges, they can't field candidates and are conspiring to create turmoil. "We are also worried about the violence. We don't want it. The kind of trouble there is in colleges, it's a conspiracy between SFI and ABVP. They want to destroy the peace. We are opposed to this," said Ashok Rudra, the TMCP chief.
However, results out so far do tell a story. Of the 450 colleges in Bengal, the Trinamool Chattra Parishad has won uncontested in over 200 of them. In colleges where there are elections, scenes of violence will continue to play out till the end of January, when they are expected to conclude.