ABVP, in its defense, claims that NSUI has done no work in the past year, and is therefore looking for ways to demean the party.
With Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections just a couple of days away, major party National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) alleged that rival Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) stole their election manifesto.
NSUI’s manifesto had the proposition of subsidized food for DU students, which promised a complete meal thali at the meagre amount of Rs. 10. The same was allegedly seen on ABVP’s manifesto.
Saimon Farooqi, National Media Secretary of NSUI, said that their national handle has some posters and their corresponding dates are given. He added that on checking ABVP’s posters, the same designs and points can be seen, but with a later date.
What is also a shared point between the two parties is ‘the Institute of Eminence’, wherein, if a university is chosen, added funds of Rs. 1000 crore are allocated to them. Had DU been given these funds, the current budget of Rs 1100 crore would almost be doubled and would amount to Rs. 75,000 extra spent per student. This would ensure better facilities for them. Both the manifestos claimed to make DU the next Institute of Eminence. NSUI also says that there have been reports of the Prime Minister’s Office’s (PMO’s) involvement in the decision.
According to NSUI, ABVP’s manifesto has given themselves credit for writing off GST on sanitary pads, but a change petition was run by Sushmita Dev, National President of Mahila Congress on which she got half a million signatures. The petition was handed over to Arun Jaitley, the Minister of Finance and was thereby written off.
“ABVP is following Copy-cat politics. They are copying NSUI, whether it is about the points in our manifesto or the design of our poster”, told Farooqi to a DU Beat correspondent.
Jyoti Chaudhary, Joint Secretary ABVP, said that the work for writing off GST on sanitary napkins was done by Mahameda Nagar. When asked about the thaali, she said that it was never included in ABVP manifesto because it is not possible to provide food on such low rates. ‘Only the manifesto of those who have actually done work is stolen,’ Chaudhary said. ‘What will we do with the manifesto of those who have done nothing in the past year?’
Besides these, the shared points include fee reduction, provision of hostels for all colleges in vacant lands around the campuses, Delhi metro and DTDC student passes, study room facilities, etc. However, it can also be argued, that issues like these are universal to the students of the Delhi University and not limited to one party.
Feature Image Credits – DU Beat
Maumil Mehraj
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