Kerala Students Union
 |
|
| Abbreviation | KSU |
| President | V S Joy |
| Founded | May 30, 1957 |
| Slogan | Progressive Thought, Secular Vision and Democratic Action |
| Website | |
| http://www.ksuonline.org/ | |
Kerala Students Union was the Kerala branch of the National Students Union of India, the student wing of the Indian National Congress. KSU was founded on May 30, 1957 in Alappuzha.
KSU is the largest student organization in Kerala. KSU proposes the idea of student activism based on progressive thought, secular vision and democratic action. KSU entered the center stage of student politics in Kerala with the famous "Orana Samaram", a strike for travel concessions for students in boats of the state.The agitation was successful, and the government had to relent to the demands of KSU. From then onwards, the growth of KSU was tremendous. KSU was only short lived as the rise of SFI (current largest student organisation in Kerala) slowly weakened it and by the late 90s it was over shadowed by SFI in the major universities of Kerala. The communist Government led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad, which was the first democratically elected communist government in the world, was suspended from office in 1959 by the congress led central government. Various strikes and agitations were held by KSU against the state government and brought the educational system of the state to a halt by continuously disrupting the classes.
Many of its founder leaders like A.K. Antony, Vayalar Ravi, Oommen Chandy, A.C.Jose, V. M. Sudheeran and M.R.Prasad went up the ladder of INC . It injected fresh blood into the Congress party and a whole generation of new leaders entered into the political arena, a lot of them M.P.s, M.L.A.s and even two Chief Ministers.
The NSUI was formed at the national level taking inspiration from KSU in Kerala and the 'Chhatra parishad' in West Bengal. But KSU suffered some setbacks after the emergency period (1975–77) and consequent split in the Congress party. By then, factionalism in the Congress peeped into this organization also, which made it somewhat weak. And by this time its student support base in campuses had largely eroded and other student organisations had started to emerge in the horizon.
The Kerala Students' Union, or KSU as it is commonly known, is the premier student organization in the state of Kerala. Right from its inception in 1957, it played a leading role in giving the student community of the state a new vision, outlook and a platform for creative academic and social interventions.
...
Wikipedia