Young leaders are not made in Parliament but in campuses of universities, be it Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Rajasthan University or Banaras Hindu University, these campuses have acted as the first arena for young leaders to debate, discover their art of leadership. Here country’s future generation leaders are being shaped, groomed by the existing student wings of national parties like BJP and Congress. In some cases they follow party ideology, in some they follow their own path.
Miniature political ecosystem
Many renowned political leaders who made it to the cabinet such as Arun Jaitley, Sitaram Yechury, Nirmala Sitharaman, and even Lalu Prasad Yadav started their leadership drive from student unions and later came into national prominence. There is a very strong connection between campus politics and national politics as students here take charge of the change that is desired by all, they protest, debate and discuss policies.
For over a decade now the student wings of national parties—Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of the BJP and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) of the Congress—have become a centre of transformation and grooming, where future leaders become ready to face the world. There are many other student wings like All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) who have different ideologies.
Basically, campus politics are miniature political ecosystems, there are manifestos, election campaigns, and even mobilization.
DU: The Electoral Training Ground
Elections at Delhi University (DU) are fought with as much intensity as any state polls. Student wings like ABVP and NSUI are very dominant in this landscape. Here student wings test different national issues such as unemployment, women’s safety, and even education reform. What makes DU leaders different from the young leaders of other universities is that students at DU as young or even younger than 20 years, very well know how to do public engagement, public speeches and even for that case alliance-building.
One of the former DUSU president Alka Lamba later became MLA, and Arun Jaitley, we all know rose to a position of India’s most respected parliamentarians. It is a very common saying in DU that if one manages to win 60 colleges in DUSU, then they can face any election in the country.
JNU: The Ideological Heartbeat
When it comes to ideology and activism, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is way ahead of Delhi University. JNU is popular for the Left movements, a stronghold of AISA, SFI, and recently ABVP. Prominent leaders like Kanhaiya Kumar (AISA), Shehla Rashid (SFI), and N. Sai Balaji (AISA) cut their political teeth here, raising questions on nationalism, social justice, and the rights of marginalized communities. In JNU, student politics is more about conviction.
Rajasthan University: The Ground Reality
While Rajasthan University is away from Delhi politics, yet it has a very strong student politics, here campus politics is linked with state politics. Students from RU are mostly from rural backgrounds and take up issues they have directly faced such with reservation, unemployment, among others.
In RU the major contest is between two dominant parties’ student wings NSUI and ABVP, just like the state politics that shuffles between Congress and BJP. There are many former RU presidents who have become prominent leaders in the state. Some of them are Hanuman Beniwal, who was elected president of Maharaja college Jaipur in 1994 and in 1996 from Law College, he eventually founded his own party Rashtriya Loktantrik Party and became a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Rajasthan. Another very prominent leader is Rajendra Singh Rathore, he was elected President in 1979 while studying B. Laws from RU. He became a six-term MLA from Rajasthan and a senior leader in the BJP.
Below is the list of 10 such student leaders who raise to state level/national level leaders
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Hanuman Beniwal
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Rajendra Singh Rathore
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Kali Charan Saraf
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Mahendra Chaudhary
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Raghu Sharma
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Pratap Singh Khachariyawas
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Mahesh Joshi
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Rajkumar Sharma
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Ashok Lahoti
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Naresh Kumar Meena
The Political Nursery
Student politics is considered a nursery where future leaders are trained.
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ABVP- This is the student wing of current ruling party BJP, the key focus of this student wing is on nationalism, education reforms, and cultural identity.
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NSUI- This is the Congress’s youth arm; the key focus is on democratic values and social justice.
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AISA and SFI – The key focus is on equality, secularism, and resistance.