The campaigning for Delhi University Students’ elections 2019 took an eventful turn in Miranda House as Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and All India Students’ Association (AISA) came in to present their manifesto.
On 9th September 2019, Miranda House conducted its official manifesto reading, where it allowed the DUSU candidates to present their manifestos and carry out campaigning in the college. The students of Miranda House gathered in the college auditorium to attend the manifesto reading. However, it did not go as expected.
The Vice-Presidential candidate from ABVP, Pradeep Tanwar, came to address the students and present the manifesto of the party but he was met with chants of “ABVP! Go Back!”. The students of Miranda House led the chants for about seven minutes until the representatives of the party finally left.
Amidst the loud chants, the candidates tried to speak in favour of the party. Tanwar asked the students to let him speak for five minutes but on not being given any chance to speak, the representatives showed their ballot numbers and left.
This was followed by a scuffle between the ABVP members from Miranda House and the other Miranda students where the girls could be heard saying, “nahi chahiye humein ABVP (We don’t want ABVP)”, while the administration tried to control the situation.
ABVP’s departure was followed by AISA’s manifesto reading. When AISA’s Presidential Candidate, Damni Kain, came on the podium, most of the students from Miranda House started cheering for AISA, while, the ABVP members of Miranda House were heard chanting “AISA! Go Back!”.
“Aapka yeh response na ki sirf humare liye encouraging hai, but har us bacche ke liye encouraging hai jo DU ka common student hai; jo university mein sirf padhne ke liye aata hai, aur jo gundagardi ko tahe dil se reject karta hai (not only is your response encouraging for us, but also for every person who is a common student of DU; who comes to DU to study and rejects all forms of hooliganism)”, said Kain in her speech as a DUSU Presidential Candidate.
However, after Kain’s speech was over, an ABVP student member could be heard saying, “Manifesto reading mein manifesto toh bolte hi nahi ho. karne kya aaye the bhaisahab? (You didn’t talk about your manifesto in the manifesto reading. What were you even here for then?)”
As reported earlier, the members of ABVP had disrupted the Tempest’19, the Annual Cultural fest of Miranda House, and had demanded entry, banging and pushing the gate in lieu of then relevant, Hindu College’s V-Tree protest. Hence, the dissent against them came stronger.
Video Credits: Priya Chauhan for DU Beat
Video Caption: Chants of “ABVP, Go Back!” could be heard in the auditorium at Miranda House during ABVP manifesto reading.
Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives
Satviki Sanjay
Priya Chauhan
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