Bhubaneswar, Oct 18 (PTI): Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Sunday slammed the BJD for not holding students’ union elections for eight consecutive years during its rule in the state, claiming that the Naveen Patnaik-led party did not have faith in the youth.
Addressing the Young Leaders’ Conclave in Cuttack, Majhi said the recent elections in colleges and universities were conducted without any violence.
BJD leaders, who started their political career during student life, had remained mute spectators for years, he claimed.
“Who had stopped them from speaking against cancellation of the campus elections? They have cancelled the students’ union elections because they didn’t have faith in the youth,” Majhi said.
The chief minister said his government had decided to hold such elections despite protests by students and Gen-Z over alleged SIR irregularities.
“Some people had suggested that I should not hold the elections in view of the protests at the national level and Gen-Z are angry with the government. But I decided to conduct the polls because all this propaganda is limited to social media only,” he said.
Despite the protests and misinformation spread against the government, the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won the campus elections in Delhi University, Majhi pointed out.
“We have decided to hold the campus elections during the current academic year because we have strong faith and believe in the youth of the state,” he said.
Highlighting the initiatives taken by his government for the students, Majhi said education from KG to PG (kindergarten to postgraduate) at government facilities has been made free in the state.
To accommodate all college and university students, new hostels will be constructed in big cities like Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Berhampur, Balasore, and Rourkela.
Bus service will be provided to students from hostels, he said. PTI BBM BBM BDC
(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)
