DUSU Elections 2017

“DU Demands” Protest March by AISA for Accommodation, Metro Passes, and Non Violence

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On 22nd August 2017, the All India Students Association (AISA) conducted a march called “DU Demands” in North Campus, University of Delhi. Kawalpreet Kaur, the organisation’s President at the DU level, said, “There are three central purposes behind the march – the problem of accommodation, violence, and the demand for the reestablishment of university special buses and metro passes to make travel easier for students of Delhi University”.

Kaur stressed upon the fact that there is a severe lack of hostels in Delhi University and reiterated that a no-tolerance policy must be implemented in DU against violence, referring to the Ramjas incident where numerous students were hurt due to violence from the involvement of several political parties in February 2017. She also laid emphasis on the immense cost incurred by DU students who travel from a large distance to their respective colleges and how the introduction of university special buses and special metro passes could contribute to solve this problem. Through this march, AISA wanted to make these demands known to the Vice Chancellor of Delhi University.

The march began at the Arts Faculty at 1 p.m., where over 100 students had gathered from both off-campus and on-campus colleges like Deshbandhu College, Kirori Mal College, Miranda House, etc. to show their support. The students carried AISA banners that had the three demands mentioned on them. Kawalpreet Kaur addressed the gathering where she reiterated the purpose of their meeting and motivated the students to raise slogans and march with them. The students then proceeded towards Ramjas College where they went inside the campus and raised several slogans like “DUSU ka itehaas badal do“,  “Dekho kaise garaj ke aaya AISA AISA, Bhagat Singh ka naya roop hai AISA”, “Vice Chancellor khabardar“, “Hostel ke liye kon ladega: AISA”, “Hostel ka adhikar maangte, nahi kissi se bheek maangte“.

During the march, the students also raised several slogans against the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) by chanting “Gundagardi nahi sahenge, pathar maaro nahi sahenge, inqalab zindabad, ABVP haye-haye“.

Rupal Anand, a student of Ramjas College said, “The march by AISA was a great disruption to our classes as they were shouting very loudly.” From Ramjas, the march continued towards Hindu College and ended at Kirori Mal College.

 

Image Credits: P.V. Purnima for DU Beat

Bhavya Banerjee
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