NEW DELHI: JNU Student Association President Aishe Ghosh, who came into the spotlight during protests against the 2020 fee hike, will contest the assembly elections in West Bengal with a CPM ticket from Jamuria. The 25-year-old from Durgapur is aiming for an MPhil / PhD from the School of International Relations.
Several former JNUSU presidents – DP Tripathi, Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechuri, Chandrashekhar Prasad, Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Tanvir Akhtar, and Kanhaiya Kumar – graduated from state and national politics. With the exception of Tanveer, who won as an NSUI candidate, the other left student groups represented.
Ghosh is likely the first sitting JNUSU president to vote in parliamentary elections. As a member of CPM’s Student Wing SFI, she became President in 2019. The top post was claimed by the SFI after a 13-year hiatus, despite being a left-wing coalition.
Ghosh studied political science at Daulat Ram College, Delhi University. She had been involved in student politics since college. She moved to JNU for her masters.
Aishe was excited at JNU when the candidacy was announced
The protest against the 2020 fee hike began during her tenure as president, but it didn’t gain momentum until after the January 5 violence, when she injured her head and hand. Ghosh led from the front and called for justice and action against the perpetrators.
Even when her candidacy was announced, she participated in a JNU protest calling for campus and library facilities to be reopened. She returned to the university on March 8th.
She comes from a family on the left. Her father Debasish Ghosh, an employee of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), has been linked to the Center for Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the CPM’s working wing.
