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SRCC Professor alleges attack by DUSU President

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A physical education professor of SRCC on Monday alleged that he was attacked by DUSU president Satender Awana, a claim that has been refuted by the student leader. The professor, who’s been identified as Dr. Vineet Mehta, was on duty in the college when Awana, along with a group of students approached the department office to meet the teacher in charge of the college swimming pool.

Dr. Mehta claims that Awana came to meet Dr. Kuljeet Kaur, in charge of the pool committee, on the directions of the college principal, and when the group entered the office, Awana started using expletives against the professor. As Dr. Kaur was not in the office, the student leader asked for her phone number upon which the professor showed his denial and was consequently thrashed.

College authorities allege that the Police were initially reluctant to register an FIR for the fear of a possible backlash from the students. Only when roughly 70 teachers marched to the Maurice Nagar police station and a delegation met the DCP was the FIR registered on 14th afternoon. Copies were also sent to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Civil Lines, and the Commissioner of Police.

Awana claims that a group of students had approached him before to request a reduction in the swimming pool fee for non – SRCC students from Rs 200 to Rs 20, the standard fee for SRCC students, upon which he took up the issue with the principal. The principal directed him to the physical education department, where, denying allegations of physically assaulting the professor, he claims to have had just an ‘argument’.

The principal has assured prompt representation to the Vice Chancellor and the advisor to DUSU and has also sought legal advice on the issue. The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) has decided to stage a protest against the student leader today to demand action from the university authorities.

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Semester Exam evaluation stalled as DUTA protest continues

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In a recent press release, the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) has decided to continue its boycott of the recent semester exams evaluation till 16th June 2016, when the General Body (GB) will convene again to review the situation. The protest is in response to a notification by the UGC giving nod to the implementation of the  Academic Performance Indicators (API) system and other amendments that DUTA calls ‘retrogressive’ and an ‘attack’ on the higher education system of the country. This is a setback for the graduating students of the varsity as this has put on hold the post-graduate admissions to the varsity and might even stall the declaration of the semester exam results. Calling the gazette notification ‘draconian’, the DUTA has gone far to claim that if the government fails to roll back the notification, it might consider boycotting the admission process as well. The API system allows for teachers to be evaluated on the basis of students’ performance, a manoeuvre DUTA has called ‘unreasonable’.  Given the increase in the working hours of assistant professors from 16 hours to 24 cumulative hours and of associate professors from 14 to 22 cumulative hours, the DUTA claims that such a move will result in the loss of over 4,000 jobs and will work against the interests of both teachers and students. The Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in contrast to its previous position has demanded an immediate rollback of the notification and urged the teaching community to ‘resume evaluation work immediately’ to avoid compromise of the students. Agreeing to one of the demands of the protesting teachers, the UGC, on 10th June 2016, decided to set up a 5 member pay revision committee for academic staff. The committee will be chaired by UGC member Prof. V S Chauhan and will submit its report in six months. With no end in sight, the UGC has claimed that the system will bring ‘more flexibility’ to the academic environment and ruled out any claims of loss of jobs due to it. Image Credits: www.tribuneindia.com   Sidharth Yadav [email protected]]]>

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ABVP protests against Prof. Saibaba’s rejoining, DUTA condemns move

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Ram Lal Anand Professor G.N. Saibaba, who was suspended from the university, following his arrest by Maharashtra Police in 2014 for alleged maoist links, recently became a centre of attack after his visit to the college. The English professor, who is out on bail, went to the college to submit a letter where he allegedly became a target of anger and protest by members of ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad).

While Professor Saibaba might be hopeful of a fresh start, his request for reinstatement has invited mixed reactions. A group of students, led by the members of the ABVP, strongly oppose the professor’s rejoining unless he is cleared of all the charges by the court. Talking to us, ABVP’s Delhi State Secretary, Bharat Khatana, said, “Saibaba has been suspended by DU and despite that he is coming to the college and addressing students. We believe that unless he gets a clean chit from the court and the Governing Body (GB) of the college, he must not be allowed to enter the college premises.”

Despite the relentless protests and public bashing, DUTA strongly condemned the attack on Dr. Saibaba. DUTA President Nandita Narain, while emphasising on the lack of security for the professor, told us, “Had it not been for the protection given by some faculty members and hundreds of college students, Dr. Saibaba could have suffered grievous injury. The DUTA expresses grave concern that the college administration as well as the local police did not prevent this violent intrusion, even though similar incidents had taken place over the last few days. The DUTA appeals to the VC for his immediate intervention to prevent this breakdown of governance in this university maintained college.”

Sharing the same sentiment, Narendra Pande, Associate Professor from the Department of History and a colleague of Saibaba told us, ” There are two important things which we must keep in mind. One is that, rule of law must prevail and second that,any suspended employ has a right to approach his workplace. We met the chairman of the Governing Body of the college, Mr. R.M. Kohli today and he will soon foresee the situation himself. The Staff Association, which is the teacher’s collective body of the college, passed a resolution with consensus to expedite the functioning of the one—member committee which has been formed by the college to look into the issue.”

The Staff Association plan to impress upon the Chairman of the Governing Body as well as the Principal of the college to take steps in order to stop the breakdown of normal functioning of the college and the creation of a conducive and safe environment for teaching. The Supreme Court had earlier this month granted the professor bail on the pretext that Maharashtra government had been “extremely unfair” to him.

To recall the important twists and turns of the case, read our timeline of Saibaba’s case here. 

Image credits: www.thehindu.com 

Riya Chhibber

[email protected] 

 

 

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Woman files FIR, alleges DUSU President of dowry, molestation and attempt to murder

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Delhi University Students’ Union President Satender Awana’s name has been mentioned along with that of other family members in an FIR filed by a woman with the Noida police on March 12. The woman has accused the Awana family of harassment over dowry, molestation and attempt to murder and has filed the FIR against her husband, Mohit Awana, and her in laws. Satender Awana has been named in the FIR as one of her brothers-in-law. The accused have not been arrested and the case has been sent for mediation, as is customary in dowry disputes, according to The Hindu.

The complainant has alleged that, the Awana family had harassed and assaulted her over not complying with their additional dowry demands, though their initial demands for money and a car were met by her family.

Satender Awana, a leader of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarathi Parishad, informed the media that he is not related to the woman who filed the FIR, though he knows the family as members of his village in Noida. The family dispute has been raging since Mohit Awana was married to her in May last year. The police have also been unable to establish Satender as one of the brothers-in-law of the complainant.

Awana has said that he will file a defamation case against the complainant on grounds of trying to tarnish the image and reputation of himself and his family. In a statement to the media, Awana said, “People who know my family and myself are familiar with our character and lifestyle. These allegations are baseless and fictitious, and the truth of the matter will be proved in court.”

Students’ organisations like the All India Students’ Association have raised the demand for Awana’s resignation from the post of DUSU President. In retaliation, Awana questioned such a demand on the grounds that these demands were not raised against Kanhaiya Kumar who faced charges of sedition. However, he agreed to step down if the allegations were proved.

Awana has earlier made controversial statements, such as threatening to “shoot down the traitors in JNU” who allegedly raised anti-India slogans. He was also accused of misbehaving with two journalists who were conducting a survey on sexual consent on Delhi University’s North Campus.

Picture Credits: The Hindu 

Abhinaya Harigovind

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The Quint case: Are we still not ready for ‘sex waale’ questions?

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“If your partner is drunk and says yes to sex, but then passes out while you’re about to have sex– is it okay to proceed to have sex with them?”

2 journalists from the popular media house ‘The Quint’ were posing questions such as this to the students of DU on Wednesday as a part of their media house’s #MakeOutInIndia campaign. While two students got ready to answer their questions, a third party came in to raise doubts on the appropriateness of the topic and started falsely alleging the two journalists of instigating ‘innocent’ girls to answer their ‘immoral’ questions.

Yes, the third party was literally the party which won all the seats in the DUSU elections this time. Led by Satender Awana, DUSU president, supporters of ABVP (almost 20 in number) walked in and gheraoed the two female journalists and started asking them why they were asking ‘sex waale’ questions to ‘innocent by-standers’. ‘If these recordings are opened in public, no one will marry these girls’, one of the ABVP members proclaimed.

It would be a disgrace to even wonder whether what the journalists were doing was appropriate or not (the SHO of a police station in North Campus stated that the journalists were not committing any crime). The fundamental question that arises in this country every day, be it in this case or for the Dadri case or other matters of moral policing, is this: Is the opinion of the powerful equivalent to the law of the land? The occurrence raises a larger question and highlights the still naïve average mindset of our patriarchal country. At a time when we are seeing a sexual revolution which has grasped the young of this country to come out and talk about the subject, there are those who still want to hide this so called ‘taboo’ subject behind a pall.People still consider talking about sex in public as a sin and believe that it infringes upon their ‘traditional’ value structure.

According to several researches done in both India and abroad, it has been found out that the less we talk about sex, the more rampant are the crimes related to it, and that the more we educate people on sex, the rate of crime falls down significantly. Such scientifically-driven researches suffice to end the argument if it ever actually existed.

Another aspect which is appalling here is the fact that our country still shows abhorrent signs of a patriarchal mindset, highlighted by the recent incident mentioned above. While the ABVP members were not concerned about the marriage of the boy who answered the question, they felt ‘infuriated’ by the fact that such questions if let out in the open will hamper the marriage concerns of the girl who was answering them. How agonising is the fact that 15 years into the 21st century, some of us still think that a girl’s marriage depends on how ‘moral’ she has been in her life?

Brij Pahwa

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Campus Central

Voting concludes for DUSU elections, 44% turnout for morning colleges

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Amidst tight security provided by the Delhi Police, the season of campaigning finally came to an end as voting for the Delhi University Students’ Union concluded on Friday. The results of the elections will be declared on Saturday at noon.

The turnout was reported to be over 44% for morning colleges. The turnout for evening colleges will be confirmed later. Last year, the figure for morning colleges stood at 42.3%. Voting began at 8:30AM and went on till 12:30PM for morning colleges.

#Live: Voting has begun! Do go out and exercise your right and responsibility this year at the #DUSU #election 2015.By Shraman Ghosh for DU Beat

Posted by DU Beat on Thursday, 10 September 2015

Elections for college unions were also conducted on Friday. The results for the same were announced on the same day.

Major parties like ABVP, NSUI, CYSS and AISA halted campaigning on the 9th. AAP’s CYSS is the new entrant to DU’s politics this year. Last year, ABVP swept all 4 seats of the DUSU.

DUSU is one of the most influential students’ unions of the country; numerous past office-bearers, Arun Jaitley and Ajay Maken to name a few, have gone ahead to hold public offices in Central and State Governments.

Image credits: Jasmine Chahal

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Know your parties- DUSU Elections 2015

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Still haven’t decided your vote? Here’s a little insight into the parties contesting for Delhi Union Students’ Union election 2015.

ABVP – can they do another 2014?

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad is the only major right-wing representation in DU’s political pitch. ABVP is the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and shares nationalist ideologies with the Bharatiya Janata Party. ABVP has presided over DUSU 22 times since the establishment of the students’ union. Riding on the anti-Congress mood of the nation, ABVP clean swept the DUSU polls last year with a decisive margin.

Past activities and stands

The party took an offensive stand against the Four Year Undergraduate Programme in 2013 and in 2014, after the election of a BJP government in the centre and a full-blown tussle between the University Grants Commission and the University of Delhi, FYUP was rolled back by DU. ABVP is known to be anti-homosexuality and an opponent of live-in relationships. In October last year, ABVP formed a human chain in the University to “sensitise students about the menace of live-in relationships”. ABVP’s karyakartas also locked horns with rival party All India Students’ Association in November over Kiss of Love, a movement against moral-policing supported by AISA.

ABVP has raised several issues pertaining to DU students in the past, including reintroduction of the schemes of revaluation and ‘special chance’. After Arvind Kejriwal’s successful bid for Delhi’s Chief Ministerial post, ABVP office bearers met with the CM to discuss issues related to the University.
DU Beat’s DUSU Opinion Shows ABVP to be winning by a small margin. Read more here.

Candidates for 2015 

ABVP has fielded the Joint Secretary of its Delhi chapter, Satender Awana, for the post of the President. He is presently pursuing M.A. Buddhist Studies. Sunny Dedha, a student of the Faculty of Law, is contesting for the post of Vice President. Anjali Rana, a student of history at Lakshmi Bai College, is the party’s pick for the post of the Secretary of DUSU whereas for the post of Joint Secretary, Chhatar Pal Yadav has filed his nomination. The ballot numbers for the ABVP panel are 1, 1, 4 and 4.

AISA – Gunning for #1

The All India Students’ Association emerged as a galvanising force in 1990 grounding itself on the ideology of the Naxalbari peasant movement and the 1974 peoples’ movement in Bihar. The organisation believes that Marxism can liberate the society and can lead to human emancipation. Its critical stand towards ‘fascism’ and political forces that divide masses on religious lines is what inspires belief in its members.

Past Activities and Stands


 The organisation’s support for the labour rights and the working class has been both evident and lauded by many left scholars.It has also been at the forefront of the movement against criminalisation of politics.
AISA has voiced its dissent whenever instances of privatisation in the realm of education have germinated in the country. It has been vocal against the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS) and the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. The liberal nature of this organisation and its structure, which is devoid of communal elements, has attracted the attention of many civil society members. In the 2014 DUSU elections, the organisation came as the third force after both the parties.

Candidates for 2015

For 2015, Sheetal Bhopal of Hindu College is contesting for the post of President. Sudhanshu Shekhar of Sri Aurobindo College has been pitched for the Vice-Presidential post. Ravi Kumar of Ramjas College and Abhinav Kumar of Deshbandhu College are contesting for the positions of Secretary and Joint Secretary respectively.

CYSS- The Newbie to change it all?

The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the AAP supported student body, is all set to make its debut in the Delhi University elections scheduled to be held on September 11. With AAP and Arvind Kejriwal’s ideas in mind, CYSS is committed to ending money and muscle power in campus elections. CYSS claims a strong level of intra-party coordination and a firm adherence to clean and honest politics. They believe that the crippling problems of the nation like corruption and hunger can be solved if parties stand by clean politics. Focusing on student issues, they want to rid the election scenario of vulgar splashing of money and the intimidating presence of outsiders.

Past activities and stands

CYSS has made three issues the focus of its campaign as seen in their manifesto. Providing WiFi facilities in all public places and high footfall areas of North and South Campus, monthly job fairs in the 11 revenue districts of Delhi and implementing an education loan scheme and providing opportunities to help DU students become job creators and not just job seekers. However, CYSS had recently found itself amidst allegations of publicising ‘fake’ opinion polls and advertising on hundreds of billboards across the city. Their claims of being a ‘clean’ party and standing for honest politics got into more trouble when the party organised a star studded concert at Talkatora Stadium. The Chief Minister also addressed the students of Delhi University, promising them higher education loan schemes, one lakh jobs within a year and free WiFi in colleges, when endorsement of candidates by political parties is not permitted according to university norms. Lyngdoh Committee recommendations speak of a budget of Rs 5000 for campaigning. It would seem the actions of the party have been contradictory to their claims of ‘clean’ politics.

Candidates for 2015

Standing from the CYSS panel are Kuldeep Bidhuri, a second year B.A Programme student from PGDAV (morning) college, for the post of President, Garima Rana, a state-level badminton player from Hindu College, for the post of Vice President, Rahul Raj Aryan, a university gold medalist from Hindu college, for the post of Secretary and Hintanshi Chauhan from Satyawati College for the post of Joint Secretary.

NSUI- A Force to Reckon with?

A proud Centrist party, NSUI came into being on 9 April 1971, and boasts of 4 million members and around 1,30,000 office bearers and units in 14,500 colleges across the country.
Their mission is to “empower the student community, to create responsible citizens and leaders based on the values of democracy, secularism, liberty, quality & equality”.

Past Activities and Stands

In their 20-point manifesto for 2015, NSUI has focused on four main issues- rollback of the CBCS system, demand for atleast two hostels each in the North and South Campuses, proper water facilities in all colleges, and improvement of administrative management across the university for procedures like submission of the examination forms. In addition to these, they have also stressed on the importance of issues like lack of WiFi access in colleges and the tedious schedule of evening colleges.
Their campaign strategy works on ‘conventional is cool’. According to them, the glamorous and star-studded campaigns being run by other parties aren’t good tactics.

Candidates for 2015

For the 2015 DUSU elections, NSUI has fielded Pradeep Vijayran, a final year LLB student from the Faculty of Law, as their Presidential Candidate, Prerna Singh from Ram Lal Anand College as their Vice-Presidential candidate, Amit Sehrawat from the Faculty of Law for the post of the Secretary and Deepak Chaudhary from Hansraj College for the post of the Joint Secretary.

SFI- Aiming to Reform DU

“Curb money and muscle power in the University of Delhi,” said Prashant, a State Committee Member of the Students’ Federation of India. In the 2015 DUSU Elections, SFI is aiming for that and to stop mishaps in the University.

Past Activities and Stands

Unlike many other student political parties, SFI has a different manifesto, which includes removal of the Choice Based Credit System, better accommodation in hostels and rent-control for PGs and Flats, sorting out the matter of the LLB Course of the University not being recognised by the Bar Council and granting of the “MCM Scholarships”, which were started in 2002 by SFI.

SFI has continued to have an alliance with All India Students Organisation- the AIDSO Alliance. This is to stop the fractioning of the left votes in the university and to amalgamate the left force to defeat the predominant right wing of the university.

The Candidates for 2015


The candidates being fielded by SFI are Chand Mahal Ruby, a 3rd year Political Science student from Ramjas College, for the post of the President, Qasim Masumi, pursuing masters from School of Social Work, for the post of the Vice-President, Ashraf Ali standing, a student at Moti Lal Nehru College and the AIDSO Alliance candidate, for the post of the Secretary and Ashish Chauhan, a student at Zakir Hussain Evening College, for the post of the Joint Secretary.

Image Credits- youthkiawaaz.com

Sidhant R. Seth
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Riya Chhibber
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Arindam Goswami
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Sidharth Yadav
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Ishaan Gambhir
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DU Beat’s DUSU Opinion Poll- What we learnt

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DUSU Opinion Poll by Aditya Rathore

Delhi University goes to polls for the Student Union elections on Friday, September 11. With NSUI, AISA and the newcomer CYSS aiming to topple ABVP off the top, DU Beat attempted to gauge what is running through an average DU student’s mind.by conducting an online DUSU Opinion Poll which was taken by hundreds of students. Here are the key takeaways from the results:-

Fullscreen capture 982015 85614 PM.bmp
By Aditya Rathore for DU Beat

1) ABVP barely edging past CYSS

After a clean sweep in the DUSU elections last year with a clear margin, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) seems to be headed for another win this year too, with almost 35% of the respondents giving them their vote. Their decisive margin of victory might be in trouble because of Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of AAP that will be making its debut in the DUSU elections this year. CYSS takes the second position, with nearly 31% respondents saying they will vote for them. These are followed by All India Students’ Association (AISA), The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and other parties, who have 14.7%, 13.2% and 6.6% of the votes respectively.

Fullscreen capture 982015 92024 PM.bmp

2) Second consecutive term for ABVP after a “meh” year

ABVP’s lead in the polls is not surprising but definitely worth pondering over, given that most respondents-around 44% of them- rated the outgoing union (led by ABVP) as not up to the mark. Only a mere 20% of the respondents rated their performance as ‘Brilliant’, while 34% opted for ‘Poor’. The right-wing party has been criticised for its stand against homosexuality and live-in relationships, which might have led to a decrease in their approval in the progressive atmosphere of the University. Their push for important issues like the rollback of the FYUP, reintroduction of revaluation and ‘special chance’ may get them enough votes to secure another win.Fullscreen capture 982015 92033 PM.bmp

3) Rent regulation a hot topic yet again

Rent regulation for flats and PG accommodations as well as more hostels emerged as the most important agenda (31.6%), followed by the Curriculum (20%) which has been under fire because of the implementation of the hotly debated Choice Based Credit System (27.1%). These were followed by the ever-relevant demands for more colleges and seats as a way to counter the astronomically high cut-offs (20%), better Transportation facilities (6.7%) and calls for Gender Equality (6.7%). 

Related reading: What is rent regulation and why is it such a big deal

Fullscreen capture 982015 92029 PM.bmp

4) Parties’ national affiliations a major deciding factor- ‘Modi wave’ still doing the trick for ABVP?

Another notable result was the importance respondents gave to the national political alignment of student bodies. It’s common knowledge that all parties in DUSU are associated with some or the other National political party, like ABVP with BJP, and NSUI with Congress. According to the results, this association affects the voting decisions of more than 51% respondents. This might be due to the understanding that if the party reigning DUSU is in sync with the national or state government, it would ensure smooth functioning and better and faster implementation of changes.

Fullscreen capture 982015 92233 PM.bmp

5) Over half the respondents offered freebies

Ironically, with all the cacophony about ‘cleaning’ student politics and reducing muscle power, a whooping 57% respondents witnessed or were offered freebies in an attempt to woo them for their votes. Parties have been known to openly flout the rules by offering movie tickets and *ahem* organising concerts. 

Fullscreen capture 982015 92037 PM.bmp

 

As a follow up to the DUSU Opinion Poll and to ensure the parties get a structured platform to present their agendas to students and that students get to make an informed decision, DU Beat is organising Delhi University’s first Presidential Debate at 6 PM, 9 September at Press Club of India, Raisina Road. The debate will be streamed live. Read more about it here. Here’s hoping for clean polls and an effective and decisive Union that puts the interest of the students first!

 

 

Disclaimer: The results have been drawn solely from the responses we received. DU Beat does not claim for these to be the actual results of Delhi University Students’ Union election 2015.

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FIRs filed, claim-game intensifies as DUSU elections inch closer

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With the date of polling just 9 days away, the political arena of Delhi University is catching fire as contesting parties step up their campaign for DUSU elections. Parties including Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, National Students’ Union of India and All India Students’ Association are leaving no stone unturned in their pursuit of victory.

The week gone by had the Delhi Police register over twenty FIRs against various student parties for cases related to defacement of public property through promotional posters. Last week, we reported the move of the Chief Election Officer of DUSU elections, DS Rawat, to seek help from the Delhi Police in cracking down on defaulters of civic and election rules.

In another development, the launch of a University-special bus in the South Campus of DU took an ugly turn when CYSS and ABVP took to social media to claim the credit for the same. The bus was covered with posters of CYSS, one of which read, “Welcome freshers.” Saket Bahuguna, State Secretary of ABVP, referred to a meeting DUSU had had with the CM of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, earlier this year to demand similar amenities for DU students. He also went on to ask why action was not being taken by the police for the ‘act of defacing public property’.

The CEO of DUSU elections has also announced the availability of Delhi University Community Radio (DUCR) to candidates in order to promote paperless campaigning. Candidates will be allowed to record five-minute long speech which will be moderated and aired on the radio at 90.4Mhz.

The CEO also announced the doing away of allowing candidates to change their names by prefixing the letter ‘A ‘several times before their names. This practice enabled candidates to get their names enlisted higher on the EVM machines as names are placed in alphabetical order.  Last year, AISA had challenged the practice legally.

AISA organised a referendum dubbed as ‘Opinion Dhamaka’ in which 93% respondents reportedly voted against the Choice Based Credit System. Earlier, Students’ Federation of India conducted a similar referendum in which 92% respondents voted against CBCS.

Ishaan Gambhir

[email protected]

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Interviews

In conversation with Mohit Nagar, outgoing President of DUSU

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With the DUSU elections around the corner, parties are engaged in full blown campaigning. One cannot miss supporters rallying in the streets and engaged in promotion. We interviewed Mohit Nagar, who is the outgoing President of Delhi University Students’ Union, on his experience and future plans.

Q. Tell us about your greatest success so far.

Mohit: The union has lots of achievements to brag about. The FYUP rollback was a historic achievement for us. Revaluation has been restarted with the efforts of DUSU. Readmission has been restarted in DU. AICTE approval for all (28) DU colleges offering engineering has been attained. Shuttle bus service in South Campus and offline admission center in North Campus were also possible only because of DUSU. 

Related reading: Interview with Mohit Nagar midway his tenure by DUB

Q. In your manifesto you had talked about providing separate hostels for North Eastern students. By providing separate accommodation do you not think that you increasing their chances of being perceived as a separate community?

Mohit: There are always two sides of a coin. I believe in working for the unpredictable. Most people will believe it is an act of separatism but that is what we need to change. North Eastern students have always suffered the worst conditions and have been ignored in the society. North Eastern students feel unsafe, insecure and suffer bias in this community. Not all of them can afford an expensive lifestyle in a city like Delhi and a hostel will be a blessing for them. There is a deep fear among North Eastern students about losing their culture and sense of identity. Hostels will be welcome among them as there is a good percentage of students from the North East.

Related reading: Mohit Nagar in conversation with DUB when he was the presidential candidate

Q. What is ABVP’s election strategy?

Mohit: DUSU elections imply heavy campaigning. The whole point of campaigning is to uplift the ability of a candidate from zero to being the people’s choice. At the same time, paper campaigning turns out to be a major source of annoyance and disappointment for all the students. During the election season, you find roads, classrooms, college campuses and metro stations flooded with paper pamphlets and name cards of the DUSU candidates. Therefore, ABVP has decided to shun the use of paper to avoid littering college campuses. As huge supporters of Swacch Bharat Abhiyan, we have decided to preserve the beauty of the campus by keeping it clean.

Q. Your policies are more or less similar to those of NSUI and AISA. What makes ABVP stand out?

Mohit: As for what makes ABVP stand out, with great pride, I can say that ABVP is not just India’s but the world’s biggest independent student organisation. We are an organisation which lives by its word and makes sure it never leaves promises unfulfilled. We stay active throughout the year. Other organisations like NSUI and AISA are mostly seen around campus during the election time. ABVP, irrespective of its candidature in DUSU, works for student welfare and their rights. We have addressed all the major and minor issues of the University, some of which the other parties fail to even recognise.

Q. DUSU is often said to the stepping stone to national politics. What are your plans after DUSU?

Mohit: That’s true to some extent. As a student, I would like to work for students’ rights further.

Further reading: DUB also interviewed the incumbent VP of the students’ union, Parvesh Malik

 

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