DU Beat in conversation with Anjali, contesting for the post of President for Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) 2025, from the All India Students’ Association (AISA), as a part of the AISA-SFI panel. This interview was originally taken in Hindi and has been translated into English.
S: What, according to you, is the biggest challenge that university students face, and how would you work on improving it?
A: The biggest challenge is that there is a lack of trust between the students’ union and the student body as a collective. Students tend to think that student politics is limited to what they see around them, where being a part of the union is merely a launching pad for some and where hooliganism and muscle power dominate the scene. Access to quality facilities is also a huge issue—students spend more time studying VAC/SEC courses like Swach Bharat and Yoga, as opposed to their course of interest; the entire semester is taken up by multiple assessments under the IA/CA model, and with almost 45 marks being solely in the hands of the faculty, the democratic nature of the classroom is slowly eroding. Therefore, there is hooliganism on one hand and the eroding nature of education on the other, while the students suffer in the middle.
S: What are some key points within your election manifesto?
A: Every student comes here with the aspiration of building a future for themselves, irrespective of their socio-economic background. Our first and foremost demand is access to quality education. Students come to Delhi University with the aim of studying their disciplines of choice, like History, English, Political Science, Economics etc in depth, but under NEP, in the name of “value addition” and “skill enhancement”, they are being made to study courses like The Art of Being Happy, Fit India, Yoga, etc., which are all subjects that they could have easily studied on YouTube, without coming into a “premier institution” like Delhi University. Moreover, issues like the surveillance of teachers within academic spaces and discrimination in the classroom further raise a huge question on the accessibility, affordability and quality of education in the university.
In the same Delhi University that was historically known for its diverse social fabric and witnessed students coming from a variety of backgrounds, the UGC (University Grants Commission) has been replaced by HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency), which has led to a 20-25 per cent fee hike every semester. These hikes seem to say, “Gareeb ghar ki aulad ho? Tumhare maa-baap rickshaw chalate hai, auto chalate hai? To bhool jaao ki Delhi Vishwavidyalaya mei tumhare liye koi jagah hai.” (You belong to a poor family? Do your parents drive an auto-rickshaw? Then forget that there is any space for you in Delhi University). So, fee hikes are another issue that we are and will continue to fight against.
This is the same University where Dhani Ram, a professor from Ramjas College, harasses a first-year student, enjoys impunity, and further threatens her by saying, “Tumhare sattar number kaat lunga.” (I will cut your 70 marks). I am a graduate from Indraprastha College for Women, and 2.5 years ago, in our college’s fest, 230 written complaints were filed with the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), despite which no action has been taken after the formation of a proctorial committee to date. We demand that all ICCs across colleges be functioning and democratic, with gender sensitisation workshops being made compulsory for the teaching faculty, non-teaching faculty, and the students.
Q. With increasing financial pressure on students, what steps would you advocate for better affordability?
Anjali: We strongly believe that the meaning of studying at Delhi University also means the ability to afford Delhi as a city, wherein the university itself is as big as a Lok Sabha constituency, consisting of North, South and Off-Campus colleges. Students from every corner of the country come to this university, but less than five per cent of students are able to get a hostel. The larger concerns about affordability and accessibility can only be addressed through the construction of more hostels.
In 2016 and 2017, the All India Students Association (AISA) launched a campaign titled “A Room of One’s Own”, showing higher authorities tracts of empty land which should have been, and can be, used for constructing hostels. In 2019, when a 39-storey building was constructed in front of the Vishwavidyala Metro Station, we protested and said, “McD, Pizza Hut ke bina zindagi chal jaayegi, Yaha hostel ka nirmaan kariye!” (We can live without McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. Make hostels here.)
A concessional metro pass is another demand. Travelling in a city like Delhi means that you have to spend around 100-120 rupees daily, and in this environment, just weeks ago, DMRC launched a notice increasing the token price in a range of Rs 1 to 4, depending on the distance. We are continuously fighting for concessional passes. We are from the student association that fought in 2017 to get concessional bus passes for students. Our model is that of resistance and continued struggle.
S: DU has a diverse student population across campuses, regions, and backgrounds. How will you ensure that voices from all corners of the university are included and represented?
A: If you look at the 2025 AISA-SFI panel and also the nature of politics that AISA represents, we have always fought for diversity and inclusion on the campus.
Even in this panel, Abhinandana hails from the northeast, Sohan worked as a security guard to pay his university fees, and Abhishek, whose parents came to Delhi in 2002, happened to fill out a form for the CRPF by chance and got a job through which he was able to get access to education. I hail from Gaya, Bihar, and in my village, most women have not studied beyond 12th. Even for my family, it is extremely difficult for them to understand why I am doing a master’s degree instead of focusing on marriage prospects. I feel that this resistance, the continued struggle for the education of all students of this university, is representative of its diversity.
Additionally, we are from the student association that stood against communal hatred when a Northeast shop was attacked in Vijayanagara. We are from the student association that, along with 200 other students, marched into the Principal’s cabin at SBSC, after he slapped a Dalit student, demanding an end to caste-based discrimination, demanding his resignation and demanding the implementation of the SC/ST act. From Dhani Ram to the IPCW protests, AISA has been there, bearing witness to incidents of police brutality and administrative proceedings. I think our collective resistance is living proof of the fact that elections will come and go, but it is forces like us who will continue to struggle and work.
S: What specific, achievable changes can you realistically deliver within your one-year term if elected, and how will you show that progress to students?
A: Definitely, as I said before, the very burning question right now is quality, affordability and inclusivity. We will work towards the reduction of IA weightage, the restoration of quality education, democratisation and proper functioning of ICCs, the conduction of regular elections and gender sensitisation workshops for the ICCs across every college, and the provision of concessional metro passes for each and every student of the university. We will also fight for the creation of more affordable hostels and resist the arbitrary rise in rents of PGs and flats, demanding the implementation of the Rent Control Act.
Read More: Interview with Abhinandana Pratyashi | SFI Candidate | DUSU Elections 2025
Interview by Sakshi Singh
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Image Credits: DU Beat
