Shimla, Oct 12 (Inditop.com) Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi is set to visit Himachal Pradesh Tuesday to woo students and infuse new life into the party’s students’ wing – the National Students Union of India (NSUI) – in the state.
Gandhi will have interactive sessions Tuesday morning with the students of Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla, and later in the afternoon with the youth in Dharamsala, 30 km from the district headquarters town of Kangra.
“The aim of Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the hill state is to strengthen the party’s student wing. He is coming here to spread the ideology of the party and to infuse fresh life into it,” NSUI’s national general secretary Ragini Nayak told Inditop here Monday.
She said Gandhi would also interact with members of various youth organisations affiliated to other political parties.
“It’s just an interactive session to understand the pulse of the youth. For this, any student organisation can come and discuss their issues and aspirations with our youth leader. It is just a platform for discussing issues,” she said.
In Shimla, the interactive session would be held in the HPU campus, whereas in Dharamsala it would be held in the municipal council hall.
In student politics in the state, the NSUI has been marginalised over the years. The HPU has long been a bastion of the Student Federation of India (SFI), a wing of the Communist Party of India – Marxist, and the NSUI has not been able to win even a single seat in the past one decade.
However, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a wing of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has managed to build inroads into university politics by winning a few seats in the recent student elections.
Ragini said the visit of Gandhi would also boost the membership drive launched by the NSUI.
“We have already launched a membership drive in the state. Currently, we have more than 30,000 students enrolled with the NSUI,” she said.
Meanwhile, the police have made elaborate security arrangements.
Shimla Superintendent of Police R.M. Sharma said the Congress leader was scheduled to reach here on a chartered plane at around 9 a.m. and would drive straight to the party office and then to the HPU.
“We have made special security arrangements for his visit,” he said.
