Refugee Review Tribunal AUSTRALIA RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE Research Response Number: IND33378 Country: India Date: 16 June 2008 Keywords: India –Rajasthan – Student Politics – BJP – Congress Party – Police – Politics and Indian Astrology This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein. Questions 1. Please provide information about the influence of the NSUI and BJP on students, particularly at GHS Government College and MLV Government College. 2. Please provide information relating to local political figures Master Bhanwarlal, Khemaram Meghwal and Anand Paul Singh. 3. Please provide general information on the political scene in Rajasthan from the 1990’s onward. 4. Please provide information on relationships between local government party politics and local police stations. 5. What is “karishma”? If this term is a reference to the ability to tell the future, how “superstitious” is the local political scene about this “skill”? 6. Please provide any other relevant information RESPONSE 1. Please provide information about the influence of the NSUI and BJP on students, particularly at GHS Government College and MLV Government College. No information was found on student politics at GHS Government College or MLV Government College. The following information is on student politics in India generally, as well as some examples from Rajasthan specifically. Sources indicate that the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). According to Jaffrelot, as well as the ABVP itself, it is the largest student organisation in India in terms of membership. The National Students Union of India (NSUI) is the student wing of the Congress Party. An article in ExpressIndia.com describes the NSUI as one of the “frontal organisations” of the Congress Party. Generally, as in a 2006 Tribune article, student politics is described as a “springboard” to national politics. Many politicians from both the BJP and Congress started their political life as leaders in the respective student wings (Jaffrelot, C. (ed) 2007, ‘Hindu Nationalism: A Reader’, Princeton University Press website, 25 April http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i8560.html – Accessed 27 June 2007 – Attachment 1; ‘Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad – Background’ (undated), ABVP website http://www.abvp.org/index1.htm – Accessed 15 March 2002 – Attachment 2; ‘Rahul Gandhi appointed Cong general secretary’ 2007, ExpressIndia.com, 24 September http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Rahul-Gandhi-appointed-Cong-general- secretary/220549/ – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 3; Ramachandran, S. 2006, ‘Campus elections: Party time is over’, The Tribune, 14 October http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061014/saturday/main1.htm – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 4). In late 2006 a report on the state of student union elections was released. This report, known as the Lyngdoh Committee Report, notes the “the marriage of convenience between mainstream political parties and students’ factions”, as the article in The Tribune puts it. The article details the recommendations of the committee, along with a description of the past and present state of campus elections and the role and influence of political parties in student bodies. The article states: A seemingly intrinsic part of everybody’s college years, student union elections have graduated from campus debates to a struggle between political parties over the control of the youth, a potent pawn to net the bigger game (Ramachandran, S. 2006, ‘Campus elections: Party time is over’, The Tribune, 14 October http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061014/saturday/main1.htm – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 4). The above article also refers to the violence which is part of the “murkier side of student politics”. The available information includes media articles reporting on student political violence during the 1990s, indicating that the sometimes violent aspects of student politics are not just recent developments. For example, a 1998 Indian Express article describes “angry and violent protests by students”, including NSUI members, which resulted in the state government closing down all colleges throughout Rajasthan (Ramachandran, S. 2006, ‘Campus elections: Party time is over’, The Tribune, 14 October http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20061014/saturday/main1.htm – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 4; ‘Rajasthan wakes up, closes all colleges’ 1998, Indian Express, 14 November http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981114/31850554.html – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 5). In relation to student politics in Rajasthan during the early 1990s, a search of the Google News archives did not turn up any pre-1998 articles on the NSUI or ABVP. A search of the Factiva database returned only a few articles from before 1998, with nothing relating to Rajasthan specifically. Although relating to student politics in states other than Rajasthan, the following selection of articles from 1997-1998 may provide some general information: A November 1998 article reports on the influential ties between the BJP and Congress and their student wings (in Gujarat) (Mazumder, S. 1998, ‘Campus credos swing with political fortunes’, Indian Express, 6 November http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19981106/31050934.html – Accessed 2 June 2008 – Attachment 6). A September 1998 article describes violence between ABVP and NSUI campaigners in New Delhi (‘Canvassing ABVP candidate stabbed in college canteen’ 1998, Indian Express, 9 September http://www.indianexpress.com/res/web/pIe/ie/daily/19980909/25251834.html – Accessed 2 June 2008 – Attachment 7). A 1997 article (reporting on Andhra Pradesh) notes the linkage between state government and student politics, stating that “the ABVP wields considerable influence on the campus, because the state government has a vested interest in discreetly blunting the popularity of left- wing students’ groups” (Messias, L. 1997, ‘Violence haunts AP universities’, Gulf News, 25 November – Attachment 8). 2. Please provide information relating to local political figures Master Bhanwarlal, Khemaram Meghwal and Anand Paul Singh. Master Bhanwarlal The Election Commission of India (ECI) Statistical Reports on the 1993, 1998, and 2003 Assembly Elections in Rajasthan show a number of different candidates named Bhanwar Lal or Bhanwarlal. The information provided suggests that he is referring to Bhanwarlal (or Bhanwar Lal) Meghwal, sometimes also called Master Bhanwar Lal, who was the Congress candidate in the constituency of Sujangarh in all three election years. Information on this figure is provided in this response (Election Commission of India 1993, Statistical Report on General Election, 1993, to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan, Election Commission of India website http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1993/StatRep_RJ_93.pdf – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 11; Election Commission of India 1998, Statistical Report on General Election, 1998, to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan, Election Commission of India website http://eci.gov.in/infoeci/key_stat/keystat_fs.htm – Accessed 15 April 2002 – Attachment 12; Election Commission of India 2003, Statistical Report on General Election, 2003, to the Legislative Assembly of Rajasthan, Election Commission of India website http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_NOV_2003/StatisticalReports_RAJ_Nov2003.p df – Accessed 30 May 2008 – Attachment 13). A 1998 Rediff article reports that Master Bhanwar Lal became a minister of state after being elected in the 1998 Assembly elections (‘Gehlot inducts 31 ministers in 2-tier council’ 1998, Rediff, 5 December http://www.rediff.com/news/1998/dec/05rajas.htm – Accessed 2 June 2008 – Attachment 14). A 2005 article reports that the “former cabinet minister” is being investigated for corruption and gives the following information: The Anti-Corruption Department of Rajasthan today swooped down on former cabinet minister Bhanwar Lal Meghwal and exposed his “rags-to-riches’’ story after a series of raids conducted across the state. Meghwal, known as “master’’ for his humble beginning as a primary school teacher, was a minister in the Ashok Gehlot government and was known to be a close confidant of the former chief minister. Meghwal is the fourth Cabinet minister of the Gehlot government to land in the ACD net. Three of his colleagues were booked by the department a few weeks back, after they were found guilty of accepting bribes on camera from swinging land deals. “The ACD raids on Meghwal began on Tuesday morning following information from a source,’’ Additional Director-General P.K. Tiwari said. “We were informed that Meghwal had misused his powers as a minister and had amassed huge assets. The complaints were verified and found to be true,’’ he said. Tiwari said documents in possession of the ACD indicate that the former minister had made huge investments in properties that include residential land, houses, mines, petrol pumps, agricultural land and in salt business. Sources reveal that Meghwal’s own son-in-law