- In the upcoming University of Hyderabad (UoH) student union elections, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), has fielded its very first Muslim woman candidate for the post of president.
- Sheikh Ayesha will compete against Mohammad Atique Ahmed of the SFI-ASA-TSF alliance for the president’s post.
- This is the first contest between two minority candidates for the top post in the central university.
- The ABVP panel includes three female candidates out of a total of nine students.
- Ayesha said that if elected, her main focus will be to ensure that the National Education Policy 2020 is implemented in letter and spirit at Hyderabad University.
In the upcoming University of Hyderabad (UoH) student union elections, scheduled for November 9, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is the student wing associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has fielded its very first Muslim woman candidate for the post of president. Shaik Aayesha, originally from Visakhapatnam and currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry, will be contesting against Mohammed Ateeq Ahmed, another PhD student who is fighting the student election for the SFI-ASA-TSF alliance.
The ABVP Hyderabad Central University Unit also announced the names of its other candidates for the upcoming elections. The ABVP is contesting the polls in alliance with Seva Lal Vidyarthi Dal (SLVD), an organization dedicated to the welfare of the tribal community at the university.
The ABVP panel includes three female candidates out of a total of nine students.
The outgoing president, Prajwal Gaikwad, was from the alliance led by the Ambedkar Student Association (ASA), which included SFI and TSF as other partners. SFI is the student wing of the CPI(M) Students Federation of India, and TSF is the Tribal Students Federation.
The report said that 24-year-old Ayesha said that the organization has always been ‘minority supportive’. She has been with the ABVP since 2019. Ayesha strongly opposed the claims of her opponents that the ABVP chose her only to send a message that the organization is not anti-minority. Ayesha said, ‘Whatever it is, ABVP is minority supportive and India supportive. They support all those minorities who support the nation and think about it first. I have been a part of it since I was doing my MSc at the Central Tribal University in AP. I was then a state executive member, which shows that they support Muslim women in leadership roles.’
What will she do if she wins the election? Ayesha said that if elected, her main focus will be to ensure that the National Education Policy 2020 is implemented in letter and spirit at Hyderabad University. She also intends to provide a facility for establishing a ‘social harmony’ (social harmony) academic center on the campus. The alliance led by SFI rejects Ayesha’s argument. They said emphatically that Ayesha’s selection was nothing but ‘politics of representation’. Atique argued, ‘ABVP always does this.’
(With inputs from agencies)
