With the township talking of nothing but the elections all week, eight college students got together to discuss campus politics and related issues at the library in FD Park. The participants were...

Chandrachur Bhattacharya, mechanical engineering student of Jadavpur University and a resident of BJ Block.
Prakriti Rudra, commerce student of Shri Shikshayatan College and a resident of FD Block.

Swagata Bagchi, English student of Bidhannagar College and resident of AH Block.

Sayak Chatterjee, political science student and class representative at Scottish Church College; a resident of AH Block.

Ronit Basu, commerce student of Bhawanipur Gujarati Education Society and resident of DL Block.

Tamoghna Saraswati, Nilratan Sircar Medical College student and a resident of AL Block.

On the voting experience last Saturday

Sayak: I was happy with the arrangements in AH community hall when I went to vote early morning. The police was on duty and the opposition was well-represented inside the booth.

Prakriti: I stood in the queue outside Administrative Training Institute (ATI) from 6.30am but there were no policemen around. 

Tamoghna: I found the process   at CK-CL community hall slow. It was tedious standing in the sun for so long. 
Ronit: I didn’t cast my vote as I wasn’t sure who to vote for. My parents voted but not me.

On the violence on poll day 

Chandrachur: It was very surprising. I had voted during the Lok Sabha elections last year too but nothing like this had happened.  

Sayak: I had predicted such scenes when the day before the election my father saw some 100 outsiders with our former councillor Anita Mondal. We were sure they would use force so we went and cast our votes early morning.

Prakriti: My grandmother’s friend got injured trying to save the EVM from outsiders and my neighbours saw the booths at ATI locked from inside to cast proxy votes. FD Block wasn’t like this before. Even if residents had conflicting opinions, we would co-exist. Violence was unheard of.

In BD Block, my friend’s father’s vote had already been cast despite him standing in queue from 6.30am! He found that the votes of their former tenants, who had left the block two years ago, had been cast too. My friend’s brother, who doesn’t even live in Calcutta, had his vote cast. The queues were full of outsiders and when a resident asked one such man where he had come from, he said Bihar!

In Bidhan Abasan, my friend saw 10 to 15 people in the queue who looked like outsiders, and asked the police to check their voter cards. The cops did nothing.

Ronit: It was just as bad in CL Block’s Sri Aurobindo Institute of Education. A scuffle broke out when my mother went to vote and one of my friends from EE Block got beaten up outside the Rabindra Bharati University booth for complaining about some men who were pushing women in the queues. 

The election results they expect 

Prakriti: The way the voting was carried out, there can be no result except absolute majority.

Sayak: I think the ruling party will win all 14 wards in Salt Lake. At most, they might lose one — in the ward where Anupam Dutta is contesting as an Independent.

Chandrachur: In our ward, the outgoing councillor Krishna Chakraborty had done good work and she would have anyway won. 

Sayak: I agree. Even our outgoing councillor, Anita Mondal, has done good work and people would have voted for her. There was no need to get people from outside. It created fear among genuine voters and even those who wanted to vote for her didn’t go out fearing violence. 

On student politics 

Tamoghna: I think the reason college politics is violent is because the students see and learn from what is happening in such mainstream elections. 

Prakriti: I’m glad my college has no political party. 

Swagata: The ruling party in Bidhannagar College is Trinamul Chhatra Parishad. In fact, it is the only party in college. Since there is no opposition there is no violence. There is no question of holding elections either.

As for the municipal elections, our college is where the counting will take place. So college is off now and even our exams have been postponed. I’m happy!

Chandrachur: At Jadavpur University, our teachers’ union is political but the students’ one is apolitical. It had waged a war of sorts to oust vice-chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti because he wasn’t an able administrator. But he is a brilliant professor, I have heard.

Prakriti: But the protests at Presidency University lacked decorum. You can’t vandalise college property or destroy the sanctity of a vice-chancellor’s chamber. At the end of the day she is academically more qualified than the students and is elder to them. They need to show respect.

On students leaving Bengal for higher studies 

Sayak: Students are leaving but others are coming from places like the Northeastern states. 

Ronit: I did my schooling from Hyderabad but came here as Calcutta is better for studying commerce. 

Tamoghna: Also, some students stay back as it cheaper. 

Swagata: I stayed back in Calcutta as I wanted to be with my family. Although my parents would never allow me to enrol at Bidhannagar College if the campus was not peaceful. 

On the possibility of the civic election experience dampening the spirit before Pujas

Prakriti: No, nothing can mar Durga Puja for Bengalis. And as for pandal-hopping, my block (FD) shall have the highest footfall this year again.

 

Aniket Sil sat in on the conversation
saltlake@abpmail.com