Chandigarh (Agency): Jatinder Singh Virk, the newly elected president of Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC), has accused his former student organization ABVP of selective activism over the Manipur violence, which led to his decision to leave ABVP and join rival NSUI.
Virk, a PhD scholar in Chemical Engineering, broke his 5-year-old association with ABVP on August 30 to join NSUI along with at least 70 other ABVP volunteers, just a week before the PU elections held on September 6.
Virk, contesting on an NSUI ticket, won the president post with a margin of 603 votes, securing 3,022 out of the total 10,263 votes polled.
Addressing the media at the student center in Panjab University, said, “One of the foremost reasons behind my decision to leave ABVP with which I was associated for more than five years was the organisation’s selective activism. The entire nation was boiling over the Manipur violence, particularly on the incident of rape of two women in Manipur. I urged the leaders of ABVP to hold protest against the violence. The call of protest was my inner call. But I was not allowed to sit in protest. I was told that whenever we got instructions from higher authorities we will react or issue a press statement which was absurd. And it was not only me who was feeling very sad at that moment. There were many others like me.”
Taking a dig at the CYSS, a student wing of the Aam Adami Party (AAP) that swept last year’s student body elections, he said, “There were MLAs, MPs of Aam Adami Party (AAP) who were campaigning for CYSS candidates instead of the student leaders. Students ignored them and the result is before all of us. I am committed to fulfilling all our promises which are part of our manifesto.”
Meanwhile, ABVP campus leader Rajat Puri dismissed Virk’s remarks. He said, “Jatinder Singh Virk was inactive in ABVP for the last one year. He had developed differences when he was declined the seat for contesting the post of president from ABVP in the last student body elections. Virk has been making these claims just to gain sympathy of North-East students in which he succeeded to some extent.”
There were nine candidates in the race for the presidential post. Divyansh Thakur of CYSS was second in the polls with 2,399 votes. Rakesh Deshwal of ABVP received 2,182 votes. Yuvraj Garg of SOI received 996 votes. (Courtesy: The Indian Express)
