-Ananth Seth
Bharath has a rich and complex tradition of student politics dating from the pre-independence years. The nation has seen the organization of Student Associationsboth within universities (like the Student Council of IISc), and across Universities. The largest amongst the latter category (student associations which span across Universities) is ABVP i.e. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (Translation: All India Students’ Council), founded in 1948 with the initiative of Sri Balraj Madhok. Madhok ji was a teacher and swayam sevak who believed that there is a need for inculcating nationalistic approach in the academic campuses in order to counter the spread of external divisive forces and their activities.
ABVP was formally registered as a student organization on July 9, 1949 – a day which our country celebrates as National Students’ Day – with the objective of channelling students’ energy towards the task of national reconstruction. The organization grew at a rapid pace after Sri Yeshwantrao Kelkar, a lecturer and Swayamsevak from Mumbai, took over the management of the organization in 1958 and developed the ABVP into the influential and powerful student organization as it is today. Kelkar ji started several activities for student unity and mobilization across the organization, establishing ABVP’s core philosophies of national reconstruction and character building. The ABVP strongly encourages its members to keep the Nation above everything else. Nationalism and national integration, social justice, equality and harmony; gender justice and equality, and evolving a comprehensive youth leadership have always remained the hallmarks of the ABVP’s world view and activity profile. The regular activities of ABVP include, among other activities, waging a constant struggle against the increasing commercialization of education, channelizing students’ power to remonstrate on issues like illegal infiltration, terrorism, Maoist violence, and separatist tendencies in Kashmir and other areas.
ABVP contends that as a student organization, it is beyond party and partisan politics. The organization is of the view that though politics and political parties are essential parts of the society, they ought not to be all pervading and all controlling. The Parishad asserts that political party seldom cannot be the focal point of social organizations and therefore strong mass organizations who don’t serve to power and power politics are necessary components of a successful society. As an organization, it believes in the doctrine that social transformation is the responsibility of various components of the society and for the society. Nevertheless, it is very clear in stating unambiguously that it lays strong emphasis on the concept of ‘Educational Family’ which it describes as consisting of the student, the teacher and the education administrator, with the teacher being the natural guardian of the family.
Sri Sunil Ambekar, the former National Organizing Secretary of ABVP is of the view that the Emergency imposed in 1975 was the first major turning point in the journey of ABVP. When senior political leaders were behind the bars, it was the ABVP cadre which had developed a strong base in universities and colleges across many states, which led the nation against the onslaught on democracy. He has articulated that ABVP has opened the Ashtadwar (Eight Doors) of Sewa, Sangharsh, Sports, Sanskriti, Shrishti, Shiksha, Samarasta and Samvedna, for the students of the country.
Membership to the Parishad is open to all the students above eighth standard and even teachers can be the members of the organization. To underscore the practise of equality, ABVP has a common form for all intending members, be they school students, college students, university students or, teachers. ABVP has three kinds of activists viz. the Student activists, the Teachers/Professors who are guides in the organization and finally, the unique concept of Full Timers. Full timers are those students, who after completing their minimum qualification of Graduation, want to devote time for the society through the organization. The activities of the Vidyarthi Parishad span across domains and include the Creative way which involves activities aiming towards the personality development of the students; the representative way which aims to stimulate the student leadership towards nation building rather than allowing them to slide towards entities inimical to national interest and finally, the way of Protest which, the Parishad clearly believes, is a way of building pressure to secure the genuine and fair rights especially with regards to issues concerning students, the whole domain of education in the broader sense, and National Interest.
While the Vidyarthi Parishad is itself the student union, it has various different sub-arms like WOSY (World Organization Of Students and Youth) which is a forum for foreign students pursuing their studies in India, SFD (Students For Development) which works for Environment and the Bio Diversity, TSVP (Technical Students Vidyarthi Parishad), AgriVision (for students in Agriculture), MeDeVision (for Medical and Dental students), Jingyansa (for students of Ayurveda), Think India (for students of National Institutes and Premier Educational Institutions of the Country), Rashtriya Kala Manch (for students of Arts, Drama, Culture and Literature) etcetera. It also organizes, through its own units, sports meets, Pratibha Sangams (Talent Meets), and career guidance and personality development workshops. ‘Student Experience in Inter-Sate Living’ (SIEL) is an initiative, started in 1965 under the Presidency of Acharya Giriraj Kishore, with the aim of promoting camaraderie and feeling of brotherhood between youth from North-East India and the rest of the Nation.
In addition to the above activities, ABVP also publishes a monthly magazine called ‘Rashtriya Chaatrashakti’ and conducts self-defence training program for girls, titled Mission Sahasi, all over India. The organization had also conducted Mission Arogya – door-to-door screening for Covid-19 symptoms in more than 100 slums of Delhi – and encouraged people for vaccination.
The greatest achievement of the Parishad has been that it has gifted the country a student organization which has been built through years of tireless and painstaking efforts, and devotion. ABVP is a student organization which has relentlessly strived to enthuse generations of young people towards nation and character building. It has succeeded in nurturing – and presenting to the nation – stalwarts who have gone on to provide exemplary National leadership in varied domains.
It is said that there is no school for socio-political education better than a college or a university campus. What is inculcated in the student at the campus penetrates every corner of the country where the student goes and wherever the student goes, the student becomes a formidable force in making and moulding public sentiment. Patriotic students are a vital force in nationalistic thought and action. ABVP has been striving to ensure that the young citizens of today – and the leaders of tomorrow – involve themselves and contribute handsomely in setting and achieving nationalistic goals. It goes without saying that that the Vidyarthi Parishad has been excelling in the pursuit of nation building.
Jai Hind…Jai Chaatrashakti
-Author is Hyderabad-based Legal Practitioner
This article was first published in 2021
