Potential political leaders have stopped walking out of the doors of Patna University — once a hotbed of student politics.
Apathy of established political leaders towards budding student leaders has resulted in these young minds becoming nonplussed. Active student politicians said the famous political faces hardly bother to train them to become future leaders.
The apathy does not seem to be in line with the history of students’ movements in Bihar, which nurtured present political leaders. Lalu Prasad, Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Abdul Bari Siddiqui were all products of students’ movements launched by Jayaprakash Narayan in 1974. Lalu Prasad, Ram Jatan Sharma, Anil Sharma, Sushil Kumar Modi and others, who hold key political positions, were office-bearers of the university’s students’ union.
Looking back at a mammoth gathering at Gandhi Maidan against corruption, during the JP Movement of 1974, a revolution called by Jayaprakash Narayan, a staunch Gandhian, Siddiqui told The Telegraph: “The movement was started under the leadership of students across the state from different colleges and universities. It was a students’ movement, which gradually turned into a mass movement. Politics, then, was issue-based. Today, it is all about gambling on caste, creed and religion lines. I joined the movement at Chandmari Road. The JP Movement had helped many small leaders like us regain respect in society. Earlier, people would think we were aawaras (loafers).”
JP’s protégés, especially the student leaders, were among the lucky lot to get nurtured under the supervision of the senior leaders. “Over a thousand agitators and student leaders were arrested during the protest. I was arrested thrice but the journey to jail enhanced my historical knowledge about my country. I used to read books in my spare time. It was compulsory for everyone of us to read books related to history. There was proper class held inside the jail by senior leaders Jagdanand Singh, Thakur Das, Shivanand Tiwari and Chaudhary Bhram Prakash. We were supposed to read all the newspapers and write our own editorials. We were trained to keep society and politics together,” added Siddiqui.
The movement, which shook the Indira Gandhi government and took the country by storm, had probably churned out leaders but they failed to pass the baton to the next generation. “Almost all parties have a students’ wing but they use them according to needs. For 28 years, the students’ union elections were deferred. No party interrupted or ever thought of resuming the elections again. There is a huge communication gap between the senior leaders and the student leaders now,” said Abhishek Kumar Munna, the secretary of Dharm Nirpeksh Sevak Sangh in Patna College.
A former MP and once a close associate of Lalu Prasad, Ranjan Prasad Yadav, a leader who was part of JP Movement, shared memories of the time when these unions formed the strong case of any political party. “Back in the 1970s, students’ union elections were crucial. There were 10 colleges, including Patna Engineering College, Patna Science College and Patna Women’s College, which voted. But after the rise of Lalu Prasad, elections were deferred and student politics hit a dead end. Regional parties in Bihar are pocket parties run by a single man. Bihar has a dearth of young political leaders,” said Ranjan.
Anand Kumar, a former political science student and general secretary of the students’ wing of Jan Andolan Party and a part of RJD before, shared his agony with The Telegraph: “Students are not leaders now. They are objects — used for rallies, protests and votes. Ironically, both Lalu and Nitish Kumar have denounced student politics. The JP Movement was a successful movement because of them — the then student leaders — Lalu, Nitish, Sushil Kumar Modi, Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Shivanand Tiwari. We are now divided on the basis of caste, creed and religion,” he said.
