The NUS (National Union of Students) Annual Conference held in Brighton two weeks ago might have been the most controversial for over a decade. Malia Bouattia, former NUS Black Students’ Officer, was elected as the first female Muslim NUS President following a controversial vote to not adopt a system that would allocate a vote to every individual member of the NUS. Her stances on ISIS, Palestine and the Prevent agenda have created a divided student population and she has been left with many questions to answer.
In her campaign to protest “Prevent” by the UK government, she said that it pushed an Islamophobic agenda or “plot” by “Zionist and neocon lobbies”. Such anti-Semitic comments have seen an angry Jewish student population raise its voice with hundreds of blogs denouncing her nomination and every J Soc (Jewish Society) President across the country signing a letter of concern. Her response to the letter of concern was to separate the Zionist and Jewish populations, an oddly divisive move for the new, non-Jewish NUS President.
Furthermore, her use of Islamophobia, particularly in not condemning ISIS, has led to concerns that she will create an unrepresentative NUS. Should this be the case, then this could be hugely damaging for the entire student population, including all Hindus at university.
Whilst the NUS engages all faith groups in discussions regarding prayer space and other faith matters, particularly through the Vice-President for Welfare, Shelly Asquith; Yajur Shah, NHSF (UK) National President alongside over 80% of all Hindu Society Presidents from across the UK, have asked for Malia to also engage with the discussions to ensure that the NUS remains truly representative of all faiths –something that every student in the UK deserves from its representative body.
Furthermore, alongside the J-Socs from across the country, NHSF (UK) and its university chapters have written a letter of concern following the recent events at the NUS. We are certain that the NUS NEC (National Executive Committee) will answer the necessary queries and work with us to continue driving a fair agenda for all students in the UK, regardless of their faith or ethnicity.
We look forward to working closer with the NUS to address the concerns of the Hindu student community.