Valley
NSU conclave begins after a decade
Despite some complications in selecting representatives from some districts, the Nepal Student Union inaugurated its 11th General Convention amid a ceremony in the Capital on Sunday.Sarin Ghimire
Despite some complications in selecting representatives from some districts, the Nepal Student Union inaugurated its 11th General Convention amid a ceremony in the Capital on Sunday.
The three-day jamboree of the Nepali Congress’s student wing is being held at Bhrikutimandap after almost a decade-long hiatus. This is the first NSU convention since the unification of the NC faction led by Sher Bahadur Deuba with the mother party in 2007.
Speaking on the occasion, NC central committee member Prakash Sharan Mahat urged all student representatives to work towards making the convention a success by voting for their choice of leaders.
“It is true that there are some disagreements regarding representatives, some districts still have not chosen their representatives due to dispute. There is a tremendously high number of aspirants since the NSU has not been able to hold their polls for almost a decade,” he said. “However, despite all the complications, let us all unite to elect a new student union committee. We may not have the most perfect of conventions, but we can always improve.”
Following the mother party’s general convention in March, newly-elected NC President Deuba had pledged to conduct polls of all sister organisations within the following six months. The party had also formed a panel under Mahat to ensure that the convention was held within the stipulated time.
Another central committee member Gagan Thapa, also the former NSU general secretary, was nostalgic of the time he had been engaged in student politics. “It gives me immense pleasure to say that I was once an integral part of the NSU,” said Thapa.
The NSU has not been able to elect representatives from 11 out of the 75 districts due to the dispute. A faction led by Kundan Kafle has been on a relay hunger strike at the party’s headquarters in Sanepa since last week, urging the party leadership to postpone the polls. They claim a “majority of the elected representatives were not students.”
Kshitiz Bhandari, Manoj Acharya, Nain Singh Mahar, Jit Jung Basnet, Shuvaram Basnet, Kundan Kafle and Deepak Bhattarai, among others, have announced their candidacy for presidency.