The police firing in Nandigram have proved a disaster for the Students Federation of India. With SFI losing elections in all the three faculties of Jadavpur University, state president Sudip Sengupta talks to Mou Chakraborty on the tough task ahead of winning back their support base:
Is the SFI losing popularity among the student community after the police firing in Nandigram that killed 14 villagers and injured many more?
True, the students are a very sensitive lot. The incident in Nandigram has saddened us. But then who is responsible for the Nandigram incident? Four among those killed actually died when the bombs they were carrying burst. In a democratic country, a region cannot be allowed to remain cut off from the rest of the country for over two months. The administration had to act. We need to know who instigated women and children to remain in the forefront of the villagers when the police were marching in. We need to find out those who are trying to resist the progress of Bengal?
Who are they?
The reactionary camp in Bengal includes the Naxalites and the rightist forces. They want to halt the progress of the state. For the last 30 years the Left Front government did a lot for the development of the state. Now the government wants industries. But these forces want to disrupt the law and order of the state. The results are the incidents in Nandigram, JU, Shalboni and many other places. Their success lies in scaring away investors for the state.
It seems the SFI’s image has taken a beating. How do you plan to refurbish your negative image among students?
Industrialisation will happen in Bengal. We have lost JU and Presidency not because of Nandigram but because of our organisational weakness. If we explain to the students of JU and Presidency, how industries will not only ensure them jobs, but will also change the economy and life style, we will win all elections. It is wrong to say that we have lost the student elections after Nandigram. Except in JU, we won all the students’ elections held in 12 colleges after the Nandigram incident.
But how can you deny that the brilliant students are rejecting SFI? You lost in Presidency College after Singur and then again lost in JU after Nandigram.
Brilliant students do not study only in JU and Presidency. They love the state and they have been voting for us. We need to take the right message to the students. We will show them CDs and paper cuttings related to Nandigram and Singur and will explain to them what the state government plans to do on the industrial front. With so many investments coming to Bengal and so many sick industries including Dunlop, Sulekha and Bengal Lamp being revived, the students will understand our point of view.
In JU, the SFI has named nine students for the vandalism. Do you have any proof? A section of students in JU feel that after losing the elections the SFI cadres themselves vandalised the science club and non-teaching staffs’ union rooms to give a bad name to your rivals.
We are sure that these nine students were involved in some way or the other. Though we do not have any proof, but it is an open secret. The teachers and students of JU know that. And for those who think that the SFI supporters have vandalised, well that is not our culture and we feel that such people need to stay in asylums.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
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