New generation, old contest: After 9 years, campus politics returns to Madhya Pradesh

The ABVP on Thursday took out protests across Madhya Pradesh to demand basic facilities at educational institutions. (Photo: X/ABVP) 11 min readBhopalSep 1, 2026 10:31 AM IST First published on: Aug 30, 2026 at 03:47 PM IST In Indore, ABVP protesters broke through police barricades outside the District Collector’s office over basic facilities in government colleges. In Katni, water cannons were used against an NSUI march demanding a government medical college. Across Madhya Pradesh, motorcycle rallies, student meetings and membership drives are gathering pace as political organisations prepare for student union elections — the first in the state since 2017. After an eight-year gap, the ABVP (the RSS-affiliated students wing), NSUI (the Congress affiliated body) and smaller outfits are mobilising a generation of students with little or no experience of campus politics.The elections return at a time when student politics has acquired fresh visibility nationally. The Cockroach Janta Party(CJP)-led agitation over irregularities in examinations and NEET paper leak grew from an online campaign into weeks of street protests in Delhi, culminating in Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union Education Minister on July 25. The protests brought examination integrity, jobs, institutional accountability and the quality of education back into the centre of youth politics. Madhya Pradesh will now test whether that wider ferment translates into campus politics in a state where students have not had elected representatives for years.