- Slogans echoed at JNU's presidential debate with seven candidates vying for president
- Left Unity's Aditi Mishra advocated resistance on Kashmir, Palestine, and environment
- ABVP's Vikas Patel accused Left of ruining JNU and lacking women and Dalit leaders
Slogans of Vande Mataram, Jai Bhim, and "Campus is red, my brother is red" echoed across the open-air theatre at Jawaharlal Nehru University as midnight hour struck. The much-anticipated presidential debate of the JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) election season, turned the campus into a stage of principles, dissent, and democratic ideals.
With seven candidates vying for the post of president and twenty contestants in the central panel, Sunday night's debate marked the final crescendo before the November 4 voting. Results will be declared on November 6.
"Democracy in motion", is how a doctoral student describes the JNUSU election as. "This space is a reminder that politics begins with dialogue and speaking truth to power."
Left Unity: "Voice of Dissent Is Shrinking"
Left Unity's presidential candidate Aditi Mishra, a PhD scholar from the School of International Studies, placed her campaign squarely within the tradition of resistance. "We will continue to raise our voice for Palestine, for Kashmir's statehood, for Ladakh's fragile environment, and for the release of Sonam Wangchuk," she declared.
Mishra accused the ruling dispensation of "attacking the very idea of India", from bulldozed homes to the jailing of activists like Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam. She also decried "hate replacing humanity," quoting poetry to underline her message. "The unemployed youth are being told to look for temples in mosques instead of jobs," she said, drawing loud applause.
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ABVP's Counterattack: "Fifty Years of Ruin"
Taking the stage next, ABVP's presidential candidate Vikas Patel turned his speech into a sharp rebuke of what he called "Left hegemony" on campus. "For 50 years, the Left has ruled and ruined JNU," Patel said, amid chants and drum beats. "Their fourth partner today is the administration itself."
Akin to the presidential debate, when Patel began speaking, slogans crying "Go back" rose through the student groups as they beat drums in the chilly night.
Patel accused the Left of double standards on representation, alleging that its leadership lacks both women and Dalits. "They speak of equality, but their actions tell another story," he remarked, asserting that "only the ABVP stands with students throughout the year, not just during elections."
On national politics, Patel called the 1975 Emergency "a dark chapter in India's democracy" and condemned rising intolerance. "The slipper thrown at the Chief Justice was not dissent, it was an attack on our constitutional values," he said.
Ideologies Collide Under the Spotlight
While the Left and Right marked the ideological extremes, NSUI's Vikas contended that both camps had "hijacked the real concerns" of students. "This constant Left-Right tug of war has sidelined core issues like fellowships, research funding, and hostel safety," he said, adding that "the Left has damaged the campus, and the Right has only benefited from that decay."
He went onto raise both international and domestic concerns-from Gaza and Ukraine to the floods in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Condemning the arrest of Sonam Wangchuk and the recent shoe-throwing incident at a Supreme Court judge, he accused the Centre of being "anti-Dalit and anti-tribal" and of "handing over farmers' land to corporates."
Calling for solidarity with conflict zones worldwide, Vikas said the government's silence on oppression "reveals its selective morality." Raising campus issues Vikash spoke about inadequate library facilities at JNU library and rising student expenses.
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Progressives, Independents and Others Challenge the Binary
Breaking away from the Left-Right axis, Progressive Students' Association (PSA) candidate Shinde Vijayalaxmi Vyankant Rao delivered one of the night's most fiery speeches. Ripping apart a copy of the Chief Proctor's manual on stage, she called it "a symbol of surveillance, not safety."
"Barricades are everywhere on this campus but not around justice," Rao thundered. "There's space for RSS parades but not for protest gatherings."
She accused the government of inflicting "pain on Dalits, tribals, and women," and mocked its "masterstroke politics" from GST imposition to its rollback. Her poetic recital of Bashir Badr's couplet drew a standing ovation.
Independent candidate Angad Singh struck a more introspective note. "I'll care for Gaza or Nepal after fixing the broken ceilings over students' heads," he quipped, challenging what he called the "performative politics" of campus activism.
From the Disha Students' Organisation (DSO), candidate Shirshava Indu focused on climate change, academic pressure, and the new Four-Year Undergraduate Programme, warning that "education is being turned into an endurance test."
A Festival of Ideas-and Noise
Supporters waved posters of Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries as drums echoed across the night. Each presidential hopeful had twelve minutes to speak, but interruptions, slogans, and laughter often stretched the limits.
Left Unity, comprising AISA, SFI, and DSF, is contesting jointly after years, while the ABVP fights solo. The NSUI, PSA, DSO, and independents have added new layers to the contest, turning this year's campaign into one of JNU's most ideologically diverse in recent memory.
Last year, AISA's Nitish Kumar won the president's post, while ABVP's Vaibhav Meena secured the joint secretary seat-the outfit's first major victory in a decade.
Beyond the Campus Walls
For many students, the debate was about more than elections. "You may disagree with every word spoken, but you still listen," said a student from the Centre for Political Studies. "That's what makes JNU special."
As the campaign silence began on November 3, fading posters and curled pamphlets fluttered across campus lawns. Yet, the echoes of the night remained-a reminder that at JNU, democracy is not merely a process, but a performance of ideas.
"Before power," said one departing student, "there must always be dialogue."
