The Telegraph

Alipurduar, March 14: The student wings of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the Akhil Bharatiya Adivasi Vikas Parishad, though opposed to each other on the separate statehood demand, have decided to strike an electoral alliance for the coming Jaigaon College election.

Both the Gorkha Janmukti Vidyarthi Morcha and the Adivasi Chhatra Sangha alleged that nothing had been done for the students or the development of the institution when the college union had been under the control of the RSP’s Progressive Students’ Union (PSU) for the past nine years.

“We might be against the demand for the inclusion of the Dooars and the Terai in the Morcha’s proposed map of Gorkhaland and several other issues, but for the interests of the students and the college, we have decided to go in for the alliance,” said Noushan Beg, the vice-president of the Chhatra Sangha’s state committee.

Kiran Sewa, the secretary of the Jaigaon unit of the Vidyarthi Morcha, said an understanding had already been reached with the Chhatra Sangha on fielding nine candidates each in the 18 seats of the college union. “Our stands on the Gorkhaland might not be in agreement. But we are one with the Adivasis that the students in the region have been getting a raw deal and we have decided to improve the situation,” Sewa said.

The election to the college union that was slated for March 16 was postponed by the subdivisional officer of Alipurduar after the college authorities had approached the administration for police arrangement.

Hyder Ansari, a PSU leader, has refuted the charges. “The alliance will have no effects on our prospects. We will bag all the seats,” he said.

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