The political stage of our country is fraught with many complicated issues. Corruption,
bureaucracy, violence and lack of empathy with the masses at the grassroots levels are some of the prominent features. Floor- crossing and switching of loyalties have become the order of the day.
Add a new dimension to the game of politics students and we have a new concoction of a dangerous political era that could affect our political as well economic lives for long times to come.
Politics in the college has become a hotbed of regional and national level political manipulations. Elections in the students unions of the colleges and the universities are in fact, proxy wars of the major political parties. Money, hooliganism, violence and gaudy promotions of Candidates in the elections of Students’ Councils are some of the prominent characteristics of elections held in colleges and universities. The educational schedules take a backseat and struggle for power takes ugly proportions in many cases.
Why students take to politics? For example, why should there be elections in an engineering college whose students are unlikely to join a political party ? The students of arts and politics are likely to be interested in this profession. But wastage of time and energy is an important issue. This wastage leads the students to ill-planned careers as they suffer on account of their poor performances on the academic front.
However, only some of the students join active politics later. The politicians milk them during their college days and leave them without any career when they join a political party. After all, a social worker of a political party remains a social worker. However, he has no support from his party for building his future or even for meeting his basic needs. He has to take up a profession or a, vocation in order to survive.
When the student leaders are elected in the college and university elections, they take their commands from their political bigwigs. Boys and girls, who are not adept at getting a decent job, are made Vice President, President and Secretary of a student union. They do not know what they are saying to the students as their words are the cooked up words of the politician who guides them. Their actions are controlled by the instructions from the offices of the major political parties.
Political events in the educational institutions lead to violence, destruction and colossal wastage of money. It is an irony that a student, who goes to his college by bus, is able to arrange enough of donations through his efforts for posters, loudspeakers, campaigns and other promotional gimmicks. Further, the leader of the students always have one difference or another.
The lost party always tends to resort to leg- pulling and violence. Elections bring outsiders especially criminals, hooligans and opportunists—on the centre stages of educational temples. The incidents of beating of candidates, murders, destruction of buses and private property and kidnapping of rival candidates are quite common.
Academic sessions are not held regularly. Even if the classes are held, the powerful student leaders force the students to close the college or the university for the sake of their petty demands ego. Those students who are interested in studies, suffer the most. They are not interested in political affiliations but are forced to vote and support a particular set of candidates. The academic and sports performances are also adversely affected.