The anti-corruption civil society movement, which has gained momentum in a year dominated by scams, is set to witness increasing participation from the student fraternity.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Students Federation of India (SFI) are gearing up to support the Lok Pal movement in their own ways. The two unions have a strength of 1.8 million and 4.5 million students, respectively.
The ABVP, which supports the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has supported both Anna Hazare and Ramdev campaigns on corruption and black money. It has launched a forum called ‘Youth Against Corruption’ and conducted 20 media events across states. While it has extended its support for a Lok Pal with wide powers, it will agitate for a more comprehensive set of laws to deal with corruption.
“The Lok Pal is just one issue and will not be able to eradicate corruption, 60 per cent of which is rooted in the private sector. We are demanding a comprehensive reform of the system,” said Sunil Bansal, national joint organising secretary, ABVP.
Similarly, SFI, linked to the Communist Party of India-Marxist [CPI(M)] which has a prominent presence in student politics in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, has also launched a country-wide movement against corruption in college and university campuses.
“SFI is active from the first day, be it corruption in the Commonwealth Games or the 2G telecom scam. We believe in a unit-based movement. We are spreading the movement through our state committees in all 26 states,” said Ritabrata Banerjee, all-India general secretary.
The Lok Pal movement gathered steam in early April when social activist Anna Hazare, with the support of a motley crew of intelligentsia and civil society members, started a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
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ABVP wants a strong Lok Pal that would cover the Prime Minister, the judiciary and members of parliament and is demanding that politicians having corruption charges be tried and sentenced. “We are present in over 10,000 cities and believe that a movement within the student community is a must. We did support Anna Hazare and the anti-black money movement by Ramdev,” said Bansal. However, the ABVP stance, reflective in many ways of the BJP, appears different from that of the SFI. The leftist student union is not backing civil society's participation in the anti-corruption movement.
“The civil society movement is bogus. We do not support the stance of either Anna Hazare or Ramdev. If they want to fight in a democratic process, let them come and join politics,” said Banerjee.
The organisation, which is in favour of an effective Lok Pal legislation, will meet on June 26 in Delhi to decide on its stand on whether the PM should be under the ambit of the Lok Pal.
However, the National Student Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to the Congress, seems to be openly toeing the central government line and says it will work within the process laid down by the government to fight corruption. “While we are in favour of the Lok Pal, it cannot be a draconian body which will run as a parallel government. Democratically elected members of the legislatures, including the PM, need to be respected,” said Hibi Eden, national president, NSUI.