Bengaluru: The Karnataka campuses are all set to regain their 'bloody' glory of 90's, with the state government contemplating to re-introduce campus elections that were banned due to violent incidents during elections, which used to continue throughout the year.
Thanks to a letter written by Leader of Opposition in the Parliament (LOP) Rahul Gandhi to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has suggested building leadership among the youths through campus elections.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah forwarded the letter to the Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudharkar, who is now holding discussions with the Education Department officials to explore the ways to introduce elections in the campuses from next academic year.
The 80's and 90's were the worst years for Karnataka in terms of campus elections. The campus elections were being sponsored by the political parties. The ABVP was insignificant, while NSUI, SUCI and SFI dominated the student union groups, which fought the elections. However, the student unions had political backing in many areas, especially in places like Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi-Dharawad and Kalaburgi..
The Bengaluru University College Campus, which was also known as Central college was a hub of political activities. Apart from Central college, the student union elections witnessed personal and political rivalry in colleges like Government Ramnarayan Chellaram college, Government Arts and Science College and VV Puram college. Most of the election days witnessed fights among the unions, which were being supported directly by outside rowdy elements. While rowdies were trying to get backing of the students, they were being directly funded by the politicians. Many of the students who managed to get key positions in NSUI managed to get Congress tickets and became MLAs and even Ministers.
The late 80's witnessed the murder of Diwakar Hegde, who was a student leader. He was murdered in broad daylight in Kuruba hostel, Gandhinagar, heart of Bengaluru. However, things went out of hand in 1989, when the election for Government Ramnarayan Chellaram college elections were held. The students armed with choppers and daggers fought in the middle of Chalukya Circle, barely 500 meters from Vidhana Soudha. The police were helpless as the student unions had political backing. The fight later took a caste colour and the then Veerendra Patil government banned elections in the campus.
However, efforts were made in 2021 to bring back elections in the campus and the government did permit elections in the campus. However, they were not too serious and the elections remained on the papers.
Higher Education Minister Dr Sudhakar admitted that he had a proposal from the Chief Minister.
``Our leader Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to our Chief Minister and the letter has been forwarded to me. I will talk to the Chief Minister and take a decision on allowing campus elections from next academic year,'' Dr Sudhakar added.
1 Karnataka government is contemplating to re-intoduce elections, which was banned three decades ago from campuses of Karnataka.
The 1990s witnessed fights and even murders in the backdrop of campus elections. The government had banned elections and student unions from campuses.
1. However, recently LOP Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to CM Siddaramaiah that campus elections would help build leadership qualities among youths and Higher Education Minister Dr M C Sudhakar said that his department was considering the proposal and would come out with a decision soon.
