NEW DELHI: Criticising the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Mona Das for sticking to an "undemocratic and irresponsible" position on the recent black flag protests held against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the campus, the SFI-AISF combine has called upon the student community to vote for the recently passed censure motion by the JNUSU Council at the UGBM meeting on Saturday.

The student outfit, however, reiterated that impeachment of the JNUSU president on the issue was not justified and asked students to defeat the motion. Reacting to the statement issued by Mona Das, the student outfit on Wednesday said the JNUSU president had failed to address the questions that had been raised about her role during the Prime Minister's visit.

Responding to her attack on JNUSU's role during the protests, SFI-AISF said: "The composition of the present/past JNUSU is/was decided by the student community of JNU. The president of JNUSU neither has the right to question the mandate of the students nor bypass the democratic processes laid down by the JNUSU Constitution simply because she does not like the composition of the JNUSU.''

It further asked why as the JNUSU president, if she was against the visit, did she not raise the issue after getting elected as president."If she feels that `Manmohan Singh Go Back' should have been a call given by the JNUSU, she could have proposed it in JNUSU and in case the `present composition' of the Council came in her way, taken the issue to the UGBM,'' it said.

Accusing her of suppressing information about the Prime Minister's visit, the outfit blamed her for vanishing from the campus just two weeks before the event so her organisation could take a position in violation of the JNUSU decision.

"This is precisely where her irresponsibility lies, which has been correctly criticised by the censure resolution passed by the JNUSU Council. The disdain towards the other elected representatives of JNUSU that gets reflected in the arguments of the JNUSU president is most unfortunate. She should realize that she is not merely the president of AISA but the entire students' union. Such sectarianism does not befit a JNUSU president,'' SFI-AISF said.

Citing past instances when leaders like Indira Gandhi and L.K.Advani had to cancel visits to the campus due to protests by the JNUSU Council, the student outfit said no such initiative had been taken by the president in the case of the Prime Minister's visit to mobilise the opinion of the student community in a democratic manner.

Accusing AISA of doing a volte-face during the protest march despite the decision taken by JNUSU, SFI-AISF said the act was a "breach of trust''.

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