All you need to know about key student wings in Indian politics: NSUI, ABVP, SFI and newly relaunched ASAP

Aam Admi Party (AAP) relaunched its student wing called Association of Students for Alternative Politics (ASAP) on Tuesday. It joins the major student organisations which has National Students' Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI).

“We will force people to rethink about the superiority of our brand of alternative politics over the mainstream politics of other parties,” the party's national convenor and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal informed students from Delhi University, Indraprastha University, and those from Panjab and Gujarat at the Constitution Club.

Why did AAP relaunch its student wing?

The AAP’s earlier student and youth wing, the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), was established in 2015. It contested two elections each in Delhi University and Panjab University but became inactive in Delhi due to limited success. Its sole notable achievement was winning the president’s post in the Panjab University elections in 2022. Last year, it secured second place.

“We were recently called for two meetings in which we were told that the student wing would be relaunched. The goal is to ensure 5 lakh student members across India in one year. It has also been decided that going forward, we will contest each and every campus election that takes place in universities across the country,” The Indian Express quoted a leader who was involved with the CYSS.

ASAP

ASAP's logo is a fountain-pen nib with flames shooting out at the end, giving it the appearance of a rocket. According to Kejriwal, much of today’s challenges stem from mainstream politics, and ASAP’s mission was to revive political integrity and motivate the youth to lead reform. Besides contesting elections, it would establish cultural and discussion groups in colleges across the country to foster student engagement on the topic of mainstream versus alternative politics.

Former Deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia shared the vision and said ASAP Presidents and Secretaries will be elected in every college and university across the country. ASAP has been created to change the “student politics full of violence and intimidation—and many fall into that trap”.

NSUI

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) is the student wing of the Indian National Congress, one of India's oldest and largest political parties. It was founded in 1971. Ronak Khatri became the first president of NSUI to take charge of the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) in 2024, after a seven-year gap. He defeated ABVP's Rishabh Chaudhary by over 1,300 votes, with Khatri receiving 20,207 votes compared to Chaudhary's 18,864. Additionally, NSUI's Lokesh Choudhary won the Joint Secretary position, defeating ABVP's Aman Kapasia by a margin of 6,726 votes.

ABVP

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) is one of India's largest and oldest student organisations, established in 1949. It is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Vaibhav Meena (ABVP) was announced winner for Joint Secretary post in the recent JNUSU polls, marking its major comeback after 9 years.

During last year's DUSU election, ABVP secured the Vice President and Secretary positions. Bhanu Pratap Singh won the Vice President role with 24,166 votes, while Mitravinda Karanwal was elected Secretary with 16,703 votes, defeating NSUI's Yash Nandal and Namrata Jeph, respectively.

SFI

Formed in 1970, SFI is a left-wing student organisation in India whose General Secretary is Mayukh Biswas and President VP Sanu. It voiced its opposition to the National Education Policy, 2019, the hike in fees and under-representation of reserved students in IITs. It was also involved in organising and participating in various protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019.