CHANDIGARH: The Indian National Student Organisation (INSO), the student wing founded by Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), on Wednesday demanded the restoration of student union elections in Haryana, the setting up of a fee regulation commission to curb “arbitrary” fee hikes by private educational institutions, and opposed what it termed the “saffronisation” of campuses.The demands were raised at INSO’s 24th foundation day programme, “Student Victory Day”, in Chandigarh, where JJP national president Ajay Singh Chautala, former deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala and JJP youth president Digvijay Chautala addressed students.Ajay Singh Chautala urged students to launch a sustained movement for the revival of student union elections, saying young people must play a leading role in shaping the country’s future.He said organisational work, elections and public struggles help develop leadership among youth and asserted that Haryana students would have to unite to secure the restoration of campus polls.Referring to the recent student protests in Delhi, Chautala claimed the movement had demonstrated the strength of organised youth and said the next INSO foundation day should mark the return of student union elections in Haryana.Dushyant Chautala alleged that the state’s education system was in poor shape and claimed nearly half the seats in Haryana’s colleges remained vacant because of inadequate educational infrastructure.Highlighting the disparity in tuition fees, he said a medical degree in a government institution costs around Rs 15 lakh, while students spend up to Rs 1.5 crore in private colleges for the same course.Demanding a fee structure commission, Dushyant said such a body was needed to regulate private institutions and ensure affordable education for students from economically weaker families.He announced that the JJP would launch a major campaign against “unregulated” fee hikes.The former deputy CM also demanded stricter action against paper leak cases, alleging that repeated examination leaks in Haryana had gone unpunished.He said stronger legal provisions were needed to deter those involved in recruitment examination scams.JJP youth president Digvijay Chautala vowed to continue the agitation until student union elections were restored, warning that the youth would intensify their campaign over the next year.He also accused the BJP government of allowing educational institutions to become centres of BJP-RSS influence and demanded equal access for all political organisations to hold programmes on campuses.Separately, responding to a question on the recruitment of 3,206 JBT teachers, Ajay Singh Chautala referred to a recent high court ruling upholding the recruitment process and questioned why he had been sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment in the case despite having no official role in the recruitment.He alleged he was implicated due to political vendetta and said he would pursue legal action against those responsible.
