Latest
DU Beat – Delhi University's Independent Student Newspaper
Tag

ABVP

Browsing
Campus Central

ABVP leader manhandles professor over derogatory comments on Modi

By

th of April. Raju Rawat, member of ABVP (the RSS-run students’ party), met Professor Umesh Rai in order to discuss the complaint of some FYUP students who had not received laptops. It is alleged that Prof. Rai behaved rudely and asked Rawat to leave. Rawat, in his statement to The Hindu, told the professor that “his attitude would not last long since the Modi government would come and get rid of FYUP”. To which Rai replied by saying, “chaiwallahs are not equipped to come and take university decisions”. Rawat and a group of a few more students also smeared black paint on the Professor’s face. The Joint Secretary said he lost his temper at these words and hit the professor. It is also alleged that he blackened the professor’s face. Prof. Rai has filed a complaint against Rawat, said the police. According to the latest report by Times of India, ABVP has condemned Rawat’s behaviour, and suspended him from the party. Professor Aditya Misra, confirming and condemning the act, said that “No student should be allowed to hit a teacher, no matter what the provocation”. DU officials, however, through an official statement, have said that Prof. Rai did not make any such provocative comment and the perpetrators fabricated  the anti-Modi statements. Both Prof. Rai and Rawat were unavailable for comments.]]>

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Student Wings go all out to support Parent Parties ahead of Lok Sabha elections

By

st March 2014 and the badge holders of this newly formed committee have been assigned their duties for the Lok Sabha elections campaigning. Ankit Dedha, the National Secretary of NSUI said “Parliamentary seats like Meerut, Bareilly and Agra have been selected with established universities and election campaigns and awareness meetings are held in these selected cities, wherein Congress’s manifesto is being read out and students are explained the benefits associated to them, mentioned in the manifesto” Chattra YUVA Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the students’ wing of AAP has also been effective in gathering support for its parent party. Avinash, member of CYSS, said, “We have been part of the road shows that have been conducted by AAP under Kejriwal’s leadership. The members of CYSS have been active in appealing people, especially students by creating awareness programs and distributing pamphlets, in support of various candidates of AAP.”  ]]>

Keep Reading
By
News

Students and teachers continue protests against FYUP

By

The Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) in association with various students’  groups conducted a Protest March to the Parliament demanding a roll-back of the FYUP on the 18th of February. The DUTA had organized this March along with various students’ organisations including All India Students’ Association (AISA), All India Democratic Students’ Organization (AIDSO), Democratic Students’ Union (DSU), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), All India Students’ Federation (AISF), and the students’ wing of Aam Aadmi Party – CYSS.

fyupprotest

In what was labelled as a March towards Parliament, students and teachers marched from outside Zakir Husain College to the Parliament Street where they were joined by MPs, leaders of political parties, trade unions, women’s organizations and civil society bodies. Political leaders including Manish Sisodia and Ashutosh (AAP), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), OP Kohli (BJP), Tarun Kumar Mandal (SUCI-Communist), Udit Raj (SC/ST Federation), DP Tripathi (NCP), Kavita Krishnan (CPI-ML and AIPWA), Jagmati Sangwan (AIDWA) and Iqbal Singh Sindhu (AIFUCTO), All India Forum for Right to Education (AIFRTE) joined the procession at Parliament Street. The March culminated in a massive Public Meeting next to the Parliament Street police Barricades.

The marchers not only demanded a roll-back of the FYUP but also a reversal of the education policies’ thrust towards commercialization and PPP model. Removal of VC Dinesh Singh and condemnation of the Government’s decision to award him with a Padma Shri after allowing him to destroy Delhi University were also put forward in the form of slogans and handbills distributed to the public.

Manish Sisodia addressed the issue of commercialization of education and large-scale contractualization in teaching jobs. He also criticized the DU VC’s disregard of all democratic norms and processes, as was recently evident in the controversy over the formation of Governing Bodies in the Delhi Government colleges. He underlined the need to build popular resistance against the Government’s commercialization agenda in Education and expressed the AAP’s commitment to fighting against FYUP.

dutakav

Women’s organization leaders Kavita Krishnan, Jagmati Sangwan and Ritu Kaushik (AIMSS) expressed their opposition to the FYUP by stating that it would keep the large majority of girls and young women from poorer families out of good jobs and higher studies that are the only guarantee against the conservative pressure of Khap Panchayats and the patriarchal family structures.

DUTA President Nandita Narain expressed the DUTA’s resolve to continue the struggle with greater intensity till the principal demands of the teachers and students are met. She warned the Government that its indifference to the plight of the Delhi University community would cost it heavily in the General Elections as the destruction of a Central university like DU is going to alienate the masses and turn them against any party in power that imposes anti-people measures under the garb of reforms. She attributed this indifference as a factor in the Congress Party’s heavy defeat in the last Assembly elections. She appealed to all sections of the public to join the struggle against FYUP and the policies which undermine the future of students and teachers in higher education.

In a similar protest, on 15th February, AISA led a march to UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi’s house to protest against the new format of UPSC exams and Delhi University’s four year undergraduate programme.

AISA has been condemning FYUP for a long time now and is demanding a full rollback. The student’s party had already made its stand clear on the same during the Delhi University union polls, adhering to which they have been carrying protest marches along with ABVP and DUTA in the recent past.

According to sources, due to the unavailability of UPA chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the party led its march to All India Congress Committee’s Office where they met Mr. Janardan Dwivedi, senior leader of Indian National Congress who further deputed the case to Mr. Shakeel Ahmed, senior spokesperson of INC. Mr. Dwivedi, though ensured the protesters that their demands would be looked into and action would be taken.

DUTA and students organisations also conducted protests against Antardhvani the previous week, condemning the nature of FYUP promotion embedded in all activities of the cultural fest.

Keep Reading
By
News

DUSU holds annual marathon in North Campus

By

Delhi University Stiudents Union (DUSU) organised a university wide marathon in North Campus, as a part of ABVP’s endeavor to create political awareness among university students. Organised every year since 2009 (barring 2012 and 2013- when ABVP wasn’t in power), the central theme of the marathon was Initiative 272: securing 272 seats for Mr. Narendra Modi in the fast approaching elections.

Among the Chief Guests were Mr. Suresh Thakur, owner and CEO of the media house- Aapka Faisla, Mr. Umesh Dutt, National General Secretary, ABVP and Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Assistant Professor, Aurobindo College.

IMG-20140209-00806

Organized by Raju Rawat (DUSU Treasurer), Dharmedre (Dhamu) and Avadh Nagpal, the marathon managed to get thousands of students out on the streets to support ABVP. The marathon started from Law Faculty, North Campus and circumferenced the entire campus region. Tens of policemen patrolled the region to make sure that the event progresses smoothly. The turnout was huge and the event took place in a highly orderly manner.

Avadh Nagpal, one of the main organisers of the event, had the following to say, ‘We faced a lot of problems. Some of our important sponsors backed out last minute. A lot of preparations were in jeopardy because of that. But we somehpw had to pull it off. We aimed to bring together 25,000 students and we managed around 11,000. So extremely satisfied.”

Keep Reading
By
News

DUSU and ABVP observe ‘bandh’ in Delhi University

By

The dissatisfaction against the First Year Undergraduation Programme (FYUP) was recently expressed as a ‘Delhi University Bandh’, organised under the leadership of DUSU and ABVP party members on the 17th of January, 2014. Apart from their major demand for the dissolution of the FYUP, the protest also included some other demands such as a restart to the recently scrapped off re-evaluation system, and an introduction of certain benefits for the economically weaker sections of the ‘general’ class. The dharna was staged in North Campus, propagating their agenda in several colleges, primarily including Kirori Mal, Hans Raj and Hindu.

Through banners and posters, a prior notice about the bandh had been given to the students and teachers of Delhi University. While the classes seemed to go about as usual in several colleges, some colleges including Lady Irwin College saw many classes get cancelled. The attendance drop was low in most colleges, with a 15% drop in KMC. Ramjas College already didn’t have any classes scheduled in lieu of the College Founder’s day. The protests started off from the Faculty Of Arts around 12 p.m., slowly gaining momentum as banners and chants of “Rollback FYUP” caught the attention of interested onlookers. However, as Kirori Mal and S.G.T.B Khalsa college indicate, this action was only restricted to a number of colleges as a tight security arrangement had been arranged for restricting and minimising the acts of hooliganism. Most off campus colleges including Motilal Nehru, Sri Venkateswara College and Lady Shri Ram College for Women were not effected by the bandh with classes continuing in a normal fashion.

The bandh is the part of a series of protests that ABVP is planning for the rollback of the FYUP. They have also followed a black ribbon day distributing fliers and black ribbons to students as a form of protest.

“FYUP has failed to live up to the expectations and the results prove that, it seems like the marks have been distributed to students for no reason other than the promotion of FYUP…like a lollipop being offered to a kid” says an ABVP member, Hindu College.

Akhil Goswami ([email protected]) and Isheeta Sharma ([email protected])

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Political parties set out to woo voters from Delhi University

By

With the state elections just around the corner, Delhi University happens to be a stage for political campaigning by different parties. In the university elections itself, many bigwigs come out in support of the students’ wing of their respective parties.

Besides, two of the most prominent politicians of Delhi happen to be DU alumni. The present Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, did her graduation in History Honours from Miranda House and Vijay Goel of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) is an alumnus of SRCC, who was also the Delhi University Student Union President in 1977-78. Congress has fielded Ragini Nayak and Amrita Dhawan for the upcoming elections, who have been former DUSU office bearers. Parties have been fielding young leaders to attract young voters.

Let’s have a look at the campaigning activities of major political parties in the University:

Aam Aadmi Party

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the most visible among all the political parties in its campaigning in Delhi University. Arvind Kejriwal visited St. Stephen’s College in August to interact with students. Many students from different colleges have joined AAP and are volunteering for the Delhi Assembly Elections. Yogendra Yadav addressed a rally on 30th October in the University. Recently, MTV VJ Raghu Ram could be seen campaigning for AAP in different colleges of DU and in IIT Delhi. Prashant Bhushan has also addressed students on various occasions.

Adding to this, in the party manifesto released on Wednesday, the party declared that if brought into power, they would open more colleges in the state and roll back the Four Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP).

Bhartiya Janata Party

1391529_10202372890313042_87270023_n

BJP has its share of young leaders who have been DUSU office-bearers. Nakul Bharadwaj, popular face of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of BJP, contested elections last year as well. ABVP has organised a bike rally to spread awareness about voting among the youth. ABVP has also initiated a campaign ‘Youth For Change’, to spread voting awareness. The emphasis on the youth is apparent in the campaigning by the party where it promises to open 15 new colleges and one university under the Atal Yuva Mission, if voted into power. They are also promising to exempt all taxes on computers, laptops, tablets and smart phones for college students.

Congress

National Students Union of India (NSUI) the students wing of Congress had organised a protest march against Vijay Goel. At least four ex office-bearers of NSUI are fighting elections from Congress ticket in the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. With the release of the party manifestos, the Congress promises to increase the number of evening colleges across the University, a new university for health sciences and 5 more medical colleges. Besides, the state government had also proposed 90% quota for Delhi students in the state funded colleges of DU in October.

The Election Commission is leaving no stones unturned in roping in the young voters. It has started campaign with many NGOs to rope in the young voters and enrol students of various colleges to vote in the upcoming elections.

]]>

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

ABVP’s Reaction to Defeat in Elections

By
Ritu Rana from ABVP who stood for the post of President giving an interview accusing NSUI of foul play soon after the results were out

“ABVP calls Delhi University to be closed on Monday, 17th September because of unfair means in calculation of votes in DUSU elections”. This is the message that was widely circulated on Sunday nights, causing wide absenteeism in colleges on Monday.

In what is being regarded as a highly imprudent move, the ABVP is busy garnering attention and public support because they feel that the DUSU elections vote counting process was rigged.

‘I think they are being too egoistic, they should just accept that they have lost and move on”, says Professor Prachi, of the English Department, Hansraj College.

As commonly known by now, ABVP lost the elections as NSUI sweeped the polls to victory. Subsequently, the former accused DU of using unfair means to calculate votes but strangely did not file an application requesting a re-counting of votes. “It’s stupid, if they so strongly believe that the elections were rigged, they should have filed an application immediately, rather than engaging in hooliganism”, says Vaishali, a student of Hansraj college.

This move by the ABVP was also not very successful as classes went on as usual in most colleges, where no reports of ABVP stalling classes was reported. However, the ABVP activists were able to make their presence felt in colleges like KMC and Ramjas, where the activists stormed into classrooms and demanded that the students leave the classrooms, thereby disrupting normal college routine.

“They just entered into our classes even when our professors protested. They did not let the class continue.”, says Nupur, a student of Ramjas college.

While no new move has been introduced on part of ABVP, speculations are that they will not raise this issue further, because of lack of evidence and also since they don’t want to spoil their party image.

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

Celebrations Result in Lathi Charge

By

Congress’ student wing NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) made a clean sweep at the DUSU polls on Saturday 15th September by winning all three top posts of President, Vice-President and Secretary. After the results were announced, the losing side (ABVP activists) started pelting stones at the ABVP office, broke through the tight security and barricades. Subsequently, Delhi Police had to lathi charge the gathered ABVP activists while they shouted anti-Congress slogans and demanded the recounting of votes. ABVP suspects something fishy behind the counting of votes.

ABVP isn’t satisfied behind the counting process as they alleged rigging in the elections and staged protest at the DUSU Office breaking the windows and destroying the DUSU Office property. “Everything was done with calculated planning and even the DUSU officials made sure that NSUI wins. Congress MPs Depender and Bhupender Singh Hooda were seen at 6 am on campus. We were even given a deaf ear and thrown out of the DUSU Office when we demanded recounting” said Rohit Chahal, regional leader, ABVP.

Some students who were injured were taken to Hindu Rao hospital while some students who were critically injured were taken to AIIMS Trauma Centre. “It’s not about winning or losing the polls. It’s about the way Delhi Police reacted when our students demanded recounting of votes. I hope DUSU officials look into the matter and do the needful.” said a disappointed Vijay Goyal, BJP Leader.

The ABVP has also called for a bandh across the University to protest against these alleged malpractices during  counting of votes.

 

Picture credits: Sawdha Singh and Aishwarya Chaurasia

Keep Reading
By
Campus Central

DUSU Elections 2012- NSUI beats ABVP

By

Saturday, September 15, 2012 Congress’ student wing NSUI swept the Delhi University Students Union polls, winning all three top posts of president, vice president and secretary. NSUI’s Arun Hooda defeated, a margin of 5,465 votes. As against Arun who got 17,621 votes Choudhry secured just 12,156 votes.

For the post of vice president NSUI’s Varun Khari defeated ABVP’s Gaurav Chaudhary, and Varun Choudhry won the post of secretary by defeating ABVP’s Ritu Rana. There was a tie between NSUI’s Raveena Choudhary and ABVP’s Vishu Basoya for the position of Joint Secretary.

“I am extremely happy, it was indeed a well deserved victory” says a supporter of the winning president Arun Hooda.

The DUSU elections were held yesterday in which 40% polling was reported. The ABVP is obviously not satisfied with the results and alleged rigging in the elections and staged protest at the Delhi Universitycampus, to control which the police had to resort to lathi charge. Since the morning, the area near the University Plaza and Dean Student welfare where the counting was taking place was cordoned off by the police and nobody, not even the media was allowed in.

 

Aishwarya
[email protected]

Picture credits: Swadha Singh

Keep Reading
By
News

ABVP, BSKS protest Kashmir documentary screening

By

In another act of right-wing protestation, members of the ABVP and BSKS threatened to disrupt the screening of Jashn-e-Azadi, a documentary on Kashmir earlier this Thursday over its alleged delineation of a pro Kashmir independence sentiment. The screening was organised by the Delhi School of Economics’ Sociology department.

In previous incidents, Pune’s Symbiosis University cancelled the screening of the film after protests from the RSS-aligned Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. ABVP even protested the teaching of the Ramanujan text in 2008 by vandalizing the office of Prof. S.Z.H.Jafri, the then history department head. The Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena (BSKS), infamous for one of its members attacking Prashant Bhushan over his statement on Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted “Bhagat Singh Kranti Sena & other Nationalist’s Groups will stop today Sanjay Kak’s Jashn-e-Azadi (anti Army & pro Kashmir azadi movie) screening at Delhi School of Economics, DU(sic).”

Rohit Chahal, Pradesh Mantri of ABVP Delhi, who was incarcerated temporarily in 2008 for his involvement in the violence outside Prof. S.Z.H. Jafri’s office in protest of the teaching of the Ramanujan text said, “The permission for the movie screening was cancelled by the University, also Jashn-e-Azadi hasn’t even got clearance from the Censor Board, so how can they show it. The movie hurts regional sentiments, depicts the Army to be responsible for the tribulations in Kashmir”

Denying reports of any ABVP protesters barging into the screening and breaking the police cordon, he further went on to say, “The police allowed us to go in. There were ABVP members who were already inside and we peacefully protested in the campus. We would have anyway been permitted to go in as the screening was organised by the All India Students’ Association”

Keep Reading
By