On 5th September 2019, DU Beat conducted an interview with All India Students’ Association’s (AISA) Presidential candidate, Damni Kain to know her and her perspective regarding the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.
To the common student, DUSU feels like an unapproachable political entity, what will you and your party do to ensure accountability to the students of Delhi University?
The question that you have raised is an extremely important one, and its one of the main agendas that we really want to put forward, We have always said that Delhi University’s student union should only represent students because it is not a space where violence and hooliganism of certain political outfits would dominate. So, we really want common students to become a part of the election process. For this, we have always raised the point that students should come and vote on the day of elections, on 12th September. They should come and vote on 12th September. AISA has met a lot many struggles, So initially AISA had this campaign through which we got bus passes in AC buses, and what we are planning to do is ; after they vote us and if we come into power, we will make all the students a part of a number of struggles, because now, AISA has been like running the struggles. We had this environment campaign, we had a campaign against privatisation and a lot many things, so what we can do, we will change the banner, instead of AISA, we will just make it student union, and all the students will come and become a part of the campaign, so that all the students of DU will come together and lead the struggle that students really want to raise up. That’s one thing, and as I said, for greater student participation, we will organise a lot of seminars and talks so that we can explain to them the issues regarding the current political scenario that will help in understanding the current phenomena’s. So, these are two things which we are planning to do.
The incidents on Old Gupta Road and Hindu Rao Hospital highlight security concerns for those living in the north campus, what steps will you take to ensure safety and security on campus?
The safety issue arises only because ABVP is in power at the current time. Because certain hooligans have got a kind of dominance because they know they have a kind of certain impunity. They know that the leaders are from ABVP and they are never going to stop them from violence. So, when AISA comes into power, it will make sure that every legal step comes into implementation, it will make sure that all of us register cases, and all the students get to know about the cases and then we lead protests and struggles regarding this and automatically when the leadership changes, when the leadership changes to something like AISA, so when we have AISA, a panel of common students coming into power then automatically these hooligans will know that the campus is not accepting them anymore, and the campus is rejecting the model of hooliganism. So, if people vote AISA that will automatically lead to a shift in power, and with this power, the hooligans will understand that no one is accepting their dominance.
How inclusive do you think AISA is in terms of minority and LGBTQIA+ representation?
To begin with, we have a Dalit representative this time in our panel, we have a representative from a Muslim community as well, so we have a religious minority, we also have the minority in terms of caste. We also have women representatives, I, myself Damini am standing for the position of president and Chetna is standing for the position of joint secretary, so we have two women representatives, a Dalit representative and a representative from the Muslim community. So our panel itself shows how inclusively we think about politics. Secondly, regarding LGBTQ, as I mentioned earlier, we have a lot many of discussions and seminars because that’s the only way we can spread awareness and that’s what we are thinking to add on to the kind of politics, because when you are going to elect AISA, automatically that would mean that student struggle and important issues that affect students will come into highlight and will be discussed. Because that is our main agenda, that we need to restore academic democracy in people, we need to restore a space which provides freedom of speech and expression, we need to provide a space which gives ways to debate, dissent, and discuss.
Campaigning every year uses up a tremendous amount of paper for pamphlets; posters etc., which then leads to litter on campus, what is your say on the matter?
We totally reject this kind of politics that ABVP and NSUI promote, they have made the campus space a littered space. You can see their pamphlets which have just the name of the candidate and the party name and its spread all over the road, we cannot even see the road, its spread that much. We can see the huge banners and boards, but you won’t see a single banner or board of AISA throughout the campus, throughout the DU street, you won’t see a single pamphlet spread on the road of AISA, because we have a very small printed sheet and we used to give that to every student in the classroom, with the responsibility that they are going to read it. This had our manifesto, it had our agendas and issues mentioned on it, it had a history of our struggles on it whilst being in the opposition. So when these agendas and issues are mentioned over there, they also make people aware and when they make people aware, then we can make more space to debate, dissent, discussion, and we can like change the entire practice of student politics. So we totally reject the kind of paper wastage that NSUI and ABVP uses, and that’s why there is a difference between how they use paper and how AISA uses, AISA uses just one sheet and it had our manifesto, struggle, and agendas and issues and everything that we gave to students with the complete responsibility that they are going to read it and they were reading it but paper wastage happens when ABVP and NSUI, they come only with their names of the candidates and only with the political party’s name and they actually, they can see it on the roads, how much paper that they use, so we are strictly against that kind of politics and we believe in giving just one sheet of paper which mentions agendas and issues
Delhi University was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to payment of a 1000 crores over 5 years, however, the trend in 2019 in DU has been of increasing fees and hostel rates, why do you think this is so? And what will your party do to reduce fee hikes and hostel rates?
AISA being a leftist student union has always opposed privatisation so we believe that public education is a right for all. So we have led huge protests when there was a huge protest against privatisation and against the implementation of three-party power. Higher education funding agency, to this thing they actually told that colleges will get a loan instead of funds, what happens when a college gets a loan from Higher Education Funding Agency is that they need to pay back them with interest and how are they going to do this? By increasing the fees and by increasing the hostel charges. So we had a huge protest against this. We believe that public education is extremely important for all the students and public education should not be limited only to the fees that they pay in colleges but public education should include how they travel, how they come to colleges because that’s a part of public education. So students should get concession in the metro, and AISA has led a huge campaign under the banner of ‘environment matters- Delhi against pollution’ and for that AISA has a huge protest over time, and we have secured AC bus passes in AC buses and we continued our demands. We went to Hardeep Puri last year and he assured that students will be getting concessions for travelling. So this entire idea of public education needs to be fulfilled and that’s our stand; that it’s a basic right for all, and we are strictly against privatisation of education and against this corporatisation of education where they are getting equity charges for education, they are actually selling education, so we are completely against that.
The overriding perception of University politics is that It involves dirty politics, strong-arming, and violence. What has your party done to prove this perception wrong during this campaigning period, and what does it plan to do to reduce these perceptions in the future?
So our entire campaign has always been to the point of how ABVP and NSUI use money and muscle power as a factor to win in elections. When we used to go for campaigning we used to mention how dominantly they come, they appropriate public spaces, they appropriate colleges. So their physical presence as well as the policies they carry out. So, basically this hooliganism, I can cite an N number of examples of this hooliganism. Yesterday itself SFI and AISF candidates were beaten up, they couldn’t even come for nominations for this years DUSU elections. We can see the same trend across the university. So, all that we do is to make students aware, we go into colleges, we say, we criticise it, and we boldly oppose this kind of hooligan politics and we tell students that this time we need to elect a panel of common students, not hooligans. The moment they elect common students, there will be a change in power as I mentioned in my earlier answer and hence hooligan politics will be goaded out.
The Lyngdoh Committee lays down 5000 rupees as the maximum expenditure amount, how does your party maintain it?
This is an extremely good question, and we have tried our level best that we will not be overspending, that we will not cross the amount of 5000. All our workers, all our comrades which help us in the elections use their own money and they come over there. We travel through metros and E-rickshaws and whatnot, but ABVP and NSUI candidates, they travel through SUVs and all sorts of cars and bikes and whatnot. So, there’s a huge difference, there is a visible difference in the kind of banner that they put up, you know for getting a single banner on DU streets they need to pay 1000s for every day and when we do not have a single banner over there then it actually shows visually how we are not spending that much. We are spending only on printing a small piece of paper that mentions our issue. So we manage that but certain other political outfits actually never respect the Lyngdoh Committees rule of not crossing rupees 5000 for the resources to be used during elections, so there is a visible difference.
Which element differentiates you from the other contenders for the post of President/ VP?
So, I am a person who always believes that the beauty of a university lies in its space for which provided space for freedom of speech and expression, which provides a space for debate, dissent and discussion. So, I really want to restore that. I really aim to restore academic democracy. Attacks on our professors, attacks on our syllabus as well, certain chapters, certain books have been deleted from the curriculum. We really protest against that and that’s what we need in campus, a student who comes from any other state or even Delhi, who comes here while aiming that he’s going to do well in our university should feel safe enough to pursue his study. He shouldn’t feel unsafe. So, I am going to take the struggle over and I myself will represent a model of politics which every student would like to appreciate. So, personally I have been the college topper at JMC in my graduation days, and for the DU MA entrance which happens once in a year, so basically that’s a masters entrance in Delhi University for political science, I scored all India rank 3rd. So, despite all of this, despite the conventional understanding that I am a studious person; I do want to come into politics. That’s what I want everyone to do. Everybody should be a part of politics because politics is not disconnected from them. None of us lives in isolation, so a person who is an academic should be able to come into politics and this can happen only when the space for politics becomes safe. So I will ensure that this will happen in the campus and I will ensure that I myself would never ever represent the kind of hooligan politics that I have always criticized. I will ensure that as a person who is so much interested in studies, I will always motivate others to study and to participate in student politics because of that what is important for any student that is part of University.
Last year, there were allegations of EVM tampering against ABVP, also to be noted, the EVM’S were privately supplied and not by the Election Commission, how will you ensure that incidents like this don’t occur this year and how do you plan to make sure elections are held fairly?
See, as a common student, We always want that no kind of rigging should happen in elections, we really want free and fair elections to take place. So our head, the Delhi State president Kawalpreet Kaur has written an application and she has given it to the Chief Election Commissioner which ensures that there should be a ballot this time for voting and which ensures a large number of rules and regulations that we really want this time to happen. So, a letter has been given and we have always spread the word around across the campus in a number of classrooms that this type of tampering should be criticised. That’s what a common student can do, we cannot really become a part of the bureaucracy, we can only protest while being away from bureaucracy. We cannot get violent like ABVP or NSUI, we can only request them, we can only protest, we can only dissent, so a letter was given to the Chief Election Commissioner by Kawalpreet Kaur regarding the same.
In 2017, DU colleges were given autonomy, which could lead to privatization of DU’s constituent colleges, are you for or against this and why?
We are totally against the privatisation of education because we feel that Delhi University being a public Univesity should ensure public education. Public education is a right and is a must, and the most important things for all the students across the country, every student should be able to afford it, and privatisation of education would simply mean that a number of students from the marginalized community, from the SC, ST, OBC communities, and a number of women students won’t be able to get education because they don’t have the kind of resources to afford a fees which is in lakhs. So, we are totally against it, we want education to become inclusive that can happen only when every person from every community and every person from every sphere will be able to afford it.
Feature Image Credits: AISA
Prabhanu Kumar Das
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