Odisha Youth In Fray For President’s Post In JNU Students’ Union Polls

Bhawanipatna: People in Odisha may not be aware about this fellow Odia from a nondescript village in Kalahandi district contesting the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Students’ Union Elections slated for September 6.

Jitendra Suna is the presidential candidate of the Birsa Ambedkar Phule Students ‘Association (BAPSA).

Hailing from a Dalit family of Pourkela village, 29-year-old Jitendra lost his mother when he was in Class VIII. As his father was an agricultural labourer and the sole earning member of the family, he helped him by working in paddy fields as a daily wage labourer and dug roads and ponds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme.

Despite financial hardship, Jitendra managed to complete his Plus II. With an aim to earn more, left for Delhi in search of a job and worked in a gas agency with a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,500. However, he returned to his village as it was difficult to sustain oneself in the country’s capital on such a paltry sum. While working as a daily wage labourer, he completed his graduation.

In 2012, he appeared for the entrance examination for admission into JNU on the advice of one his friends but failed to qualify. However, he succeeded in his second attempt in 2013 and did his post-graduation in History and MPhil from the Centre for Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy. He is currently pursuing PhD on ‘History of Identities & Exclusion; Ambedkar and the Marginalised’ at the same centre.