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Delhi Court Refuses Bail to DUSU Ex-President Baisoya

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Ankiv Baisoya, former leader from Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has been refused bail by a Delhi Court. Baisoya was elected as the president of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), shortly after which he tendered his resignations when the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) alleged that he had proffered fake certificates.

Former ABVP leader, Ankiv Baisoya’s bail application in the fake mark sheet case has been dismissed by a Delhi Court. They observed that this “custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the racket of making forged and fabricated mark sheets/degrees”, as reported by the Indian Express.

Baisoya acquired admission under the University of Delhi’s (DU) M.A. program in Buddhist Studies course in July and submitted mark sheets from Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvalluvar University (TU) for B.A. as his qualifying certification. The ABVP leader was elected DUSU president on 13th September 2018. Soon after the polls, the NSUI alleged he had submitted fake certificates, amidst these allegations the TU registrar wrote to the Tamil Nadu Department of Higher Education, stating that Baisoya was neither enrolled in the Varsity nor any of its constituents or affiliated institutions. Hence, Baisoya revoked his Presidency and was dismissed from ABVP. His candidature was taken by Shakti Singh, who remained President for DUSU 2018-19.

As reported by Indian Express, sessions Judge Mohammad Farrukh, in his order, said, “the investigation, in this case, is still going on and the applicant/accused is not cooperating in the investigation and has not disclosed the name of the person from whom the forged and fabricated mark sheet was obtained”. Reeta Sharma, the counsel for Delhi Police, told the court that Baisoya had not joined the investigation in the case, and asked the court to issue non-bailable warrants against him.

On the other hand, Baisoya’s advocates, Zeeshan Hashmi, and Salman Hashmi, revealed that he is busy appearing for another Court Case registered in 2017 where he is accused of entering Daulat Ram College in 2017 and damaging college property during a protest.

DU Beat contacted Mr. Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP for a response but but he was unavailable to comment on the same.

Feature Image Credits: The Print

Shreya Juyal
shreya.juyal72002@gmail.com

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Done and Dusted: DUSU Elections 2019

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The declaration of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) results on 13th September ended a month of hooliganism, ruckus, and violation of rules in the name of campaigning.

Every year, the months of August and September witness frenzy and chaos. The roads are littered with flyers and posters, a number of posters with misspelt names of the candidates are pasted on the walls in the Campus area, and rallies pave way for traffic jam. This year too, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) won three seats out of four, establishing their majority in the
DUSU.

The voter turnout was recorded at 39.9 percent this year, over four notches down from the last year voter turnout. One of the key points highlighted in this year’s manifestoes of various student political organisations was less wastage of paper. However, candidates contesting DUSU elections clearly violated this rule. The shocking thing here is, that even though the University has a regulatory authority to check these violations, no one comes forward to point these; not even the administration. It is easy to notice all the enthusiasm of the  newly elected office bearers slowly fade away as we inch closer to the end of the year.

I remember, during an interview with Sunny Chillar, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Presidential candidate for DUSU elections, 2018, the demand of a subsidised INR 10 thali (platter) was discussed. The students of the University were assured that no matter what the election results would be, the thali will be provided to them, since, over 70 percent of students are from the economically weaker sections of the society. A common agenda discussed by both the ABVP and the NSUI almost every year is concessional Metro and Delhi Transport Corporation bus passes for the students of the University of Delhi (DU). However, we, as students, are only able to see a few protest marches and letters written to different ministers and the Administration. On questioning about the same to our student leaders, they reply, “It will happen soon.” Will it be soon enough, for the next set of candidates, to put forward the same demand in next year’s manifesto?

In the race of winning the elections, what the student leaders forget is the reason they are running for the position. Is it for fame? Or, is it for representing and working for the student community? Attacks on opponents are not something new in the election season. The sad part here is, that most of the students of the University equate DUSU election season to violence in and around Campus. The manifestoes talk about the safety of students but, in reality, election season makes us, the student community, feel more unsafe than ever.

Did you know that the DUSU also has a constitution of its own? Yes, most of you do not. The official website of the University has a link to the Constitution. It is a 16-page document which roughly has eight chapters that broadly discuss the functioning, funding, and objectives of the Union. The Vice Chancellor of the University is the Patron, and takes all the necessary steps for the smooth  functioningof DUSU in accordance with the DUSU Constitution. The underlying fact is that, even though all this has been defined in the Constitution, our very own elected student leaders fail to abide by it. Or rather, they forget the ideals upon which the Constitution was established. It is sad to see them absent from the important student-related issues but they are present when a Bollywood celebrity visits a college.

Concluding in the words of Srivedant Kar, former Associate Editor of DU Beat, “It’s high time these elections stop referring to things that the Union cannot do and instead start becoming a fight about what the Union can, and should, do.”

Anoushka Sharma 

anoushkas@dubeat.com

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JNU Student’s Union Election Results Declared: All Four Seats Won by United Left

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JNUSU (Jawahar Lal Nehru University Students’ Union) results have finally been announced hours after Delhi High Court permitted them to do so.

The results of JNU Student’s Union were announced on 17th September when the Delhi High Court permitted the varsity to declare the results following the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Community. All the four central panel posts have been won by the United Front of Left students group.

The vote-share of United Front of Left student groups All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) and All India Students’ Federation (AISF) increased to 50.4 percent from 4 percent in the previous year.

Aishe Ghosh of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) won the post of the president by securing 2,313 votes. Manish Jangid from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) secured 1,128 votes. Ghosh belonging to SFI contested under the broader united Left panel. SFI got the post of the President after 13 years.

The post of Vice President has been won by United Left panel’s Saket Moon who secured 3,365 votes, while Shruti Agnihotri from ABVP came second with 1,335 votes. Satish Yadav from the United Left panel emerged as the winner for the post of General Secretary with 2,518 votes while the post of the Joint Secretary has been won by United Left panel’s Mohammad Danish who secured 3,295 votes.

In the previous year also, all the fours central panel positions were won by candidates of the united Left panel. A victory march was conducted within the University campus by the supporters of the United Left panel after the declaration of results.

JNU Student’s Union polls were conducted on September 6, 2019, with a voter turnout of 67.9 percent which was believed to be the highest in last 7 years. The results were to be declared on September 8, 2019, but were delayed till September 17 after petitions were filed in the Delhi High Court by two students alleging their nominations for the election of councillor in the JNUSU were illegally rejected.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat archives.

Priya Chauhan

priyac@dubeat.com 

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Campaigning: Ways and Waste

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The campaigning for Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) runs throughout August and September every year. However, these campaigns are not eco-friendly in the least, let us see how.

 

The student politics at the University of Delhi (DU) is a microcosm of our country’s political scenario. With examples like Arun Jaitley, former Union Finance Minister who was the DUSU President in 1973, student politicians at DU believe that they can be the ‘leaders of tomorrow’. Unfortunately, these ‘leaders of tomorrow’ are unaware of the amount of waste produced by them during political campaigning.
While walking through the streets of North Campus during campaigning months, one will come face-to-face with pamphlets, flyers, posters, brochures, and press invites littered on the roads. Students with political affiliations throw these posters out of their cars to ‘promote’ their leaders. Colleges like College of Vocational Studies, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, and Sri Venkateswara College in the South Campus, which are affiliated to the DUSU, also bear the brunt of such hooliganism.

During the 2015 DUSU elections, as reported by The Hindu, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a notice to the Centre, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the University Grants Commission (UGC) on the huge amount of paper being wasted in campaigning. Similarly in 2017, as reported by Firstpost, in an article titled “In North Campus, Student Bodies kick Swachh Bharat Abhiyan out of the Window”, Delhi High Court and the NGT expressed their shock over the massive misuse of pamphlets, flyers, and posters during the DUSU elections.
Since then, certain walls in the Campus were designated as the ‘Walls of Democracy’ where one was allowed to paste as many election-related posters as they wanted. But, even the 2018 elections saw the brunt of major exploitation of paper to an extent that the then sitting President, Rocky Tuseed, carried out a cleaning drive and removed the posters from near the Vishwavidyalaya metro station.

Despite being condemned over the years for their excessive use of paper in printing pamphlets, brochures, cards, and invites, the DUSU elections continue to be a hub of ecological hazard, producing extensive amounts of paper waste and littering the whole of North Campus by sticking posters on walls and littering flyers on the roads. Chhatra Marg still remains the most affected where a week before elections, we can see posters and pamphlets in every corner and niche.

As decoded by ScoopWhoop Unscripted in their video titled “How to Win a DUSU Election”, “the posters are simple and cheap; you can see it stuck on walls all over Delhi, that’s when you know that the Delhi University Elections are here.” One would believe that posters become a cheap method of promoting a campaign, inviting the masses to events organised by a particular party, and facilitate mobilisation. But, the aforementioned video revealed that INR five to six lakhs are spent in the printing process.
On the other hand, the Lyngdoh Committee, set up in 2006, only allows a small budget of INR 5,000 for campaigning and election-related activities. It also states that only handmade posters are to be used for canvassing and campaigning.

Hence, the huge waste of paper in DUSU elections is not only ethically and morally wrong, but it is also illegal.
Jaishree, a third-year student from Ramjas College pursuing B.A. (Honours) History, stated, “Nothing has changed here in the last three years, the walls are still decorated with multiple posters of the same candidate, underneath it lie decaying posters of yesteryear candidates. The heaps of garbage that the karamchaaris are made to clean every day is alarming. With climate change upon us, you’d really think that candidates would give a damn about the environment, but no.”

Feature Image Credits: Prabhanu Kumar Das

Sakshi Arora

sakshia@dubeat.com 

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DUSU Poll Turnout Clocked at 40 Percent: Less Voters, More Lags

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This year’s voter turnout for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls saw a considerable dip. The voting process in a few centres and colleges saw hiccups pertaining to a clash between the students and the Electric Voting Machines (EVMs).

The past month in the University of Delhi (DU) campuses and colleges saw a flurry of activities characterised by loud sloganeering, flashy SUVs and a lot of campaigning for the recently concluded DUSU polls.

The voting percentage in this year’s polls saw a considerable dip of four percentage points, this year. The overall voter turnout was recorded at 39.9%. The 43 morning colleges and departments which had conducted polling for independent posts as well, registered a voting percentage just below 40%, at 39.89%, which is over three percentage points less than last year’s 43.8%.

This year’s percentage turnout dipped below 2012’s 42.5% and came close to 2016’s lowest percentage of 36.9%.

Polling at nine centres, where voting went on till 7:30 p.m., as well as in the 43 colleges where voting concluded at 1:00 p.m., saw a footfall of close to 52,000 voters in all. Over 1.3 lakh students were eligible to vote in this year’s polls. This excludes the number of eligible voters in colleges of the varsity that are not associated with the DUSU such as Lady Shri Ram College, St. Stephen’s College, Daulat Ram College, etc.

Colleges also voted for their particular college union posts and even as the counting was underway, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) stated that it had won at least one post out of all, in each of the 35 colleges. “We have swept the entire panel in Bhaskaracharya College, Ramanujan College, Rajdhani College, and Shri Ram College of Commerce. We are finding out the numbers by and by,” claimed the ABVP’s media in-charge Ashutosh Singh, in conversation with the Indian Express. Meanwhile, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) claimed that it was leading the Union and was in the majority in 22 colleges. The ABVP has emerged victorious in the polls this year, yet again, with three of the main panel posts (those of President, Vice-President, and Joint Secretary) being bagged by them. Only one seat of the panel, that of the Secretary has gone to the candidate from the NSUI.

The day’s voting also saw a couple of hiccups along the way. The NSUI complained about police presence after their Joint Secretary candidate Abhishek Chaprana was detained by police from Dyal Singh College. He was later released after being questioned briefly, The NSUI also complained about EVM malfunctioning at Aryabhatta College. “…in Aryabhatta College, the EVM is malfunctioning against NSUI. When the ballot is pressed for NSUI candidate, the EVM does not light up to indicate the registration of vote… We say no to elections being hijacked by thugs and frauds,” said NSUI’s national in-charge Ruchi Gupta.

The University’s election office denied it to be a case of EVM malfunction, but replaced the machine nonetheless.

Feature Image Credits: Namrata Randhawa for DU Beat

Bhavya Pandey

bhavyapandey08@gmail.com

 

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Religious Politics: ABVP Members Seek Blessings, NSUI Files a Complaint

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National Students Union of India (NSUI) issued an official complaint against the candidates of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for visiting the Jhandewalan Mandir on Sunday, 8th September 2019 and posting about the same on social media.

The National Students Union of India (NSUI) recently condemned its opponent, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for adopting the practice of religion and religious symbols for the purpose of political campaigning which stands in direct violation of the Lyngdoh guidelines which all students contesting the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections are supposed to abide by, in order to not encounter direct disqualification.

In 2005, the Supreme Court decided to set up a committee to ensure measures that would hamper disruption caused by college elections. Following the order of the Supreme Court, a panel was set up by the ministry of Human Resource Development headed by the then Chief Election Commissioner, J.N Lyngdoh for the same, limiting the democratic functioning of the Student Unions and was called The Lyngdoh Committee.

The Lyngdoh guidelines clearly state that:

“No candidate shall indulge in, nor shall abet, any activity, which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic, or between any group(s) of students.”

According to the allegations made by NSUI, the following four candidates of Akhil Bhartiya Vidya Parishad (ABVP), Akshit Dahiya (President nominee), Pradeep Tanwar (Vice President nominee), Yogit Rathee (Secretary Nominee) and Shivangi Kharwal (Joint Secretary Nominee) along with Professor Manu Kataria of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Science (State President of ABVP Delhi) were sighted using religious symbols for their campaigning. Later, a Facebook post was uploaded by the Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya in which they visited a famous temple in Delhi wearing religious garments while making an appeal to vote for them, which disregards the Lyngdoh guidelines for social media campaigning as well.

Apart from this, under the Delhi University Act, any Professor under the paid role of Central Government is not allowed to display their political affiliation in public but sources have also proclaimed that Mr. Manu Kataria endorsed candidates for the DUSU election, hence violating the Delhi University Service Rules.

As per sources, NSUI has registered a formal complaint on the issue and made a request to the Election Officer to constitute a Grievance Redressal Hearing against the violators under the Lyngdoh guidelines and withdraw their nomination at the earliest as it is against the norms of free and fair elections.

Shri Akshay Lakhra, NSUI Delhi State President stated, “NSUI will ensure no polarisation of University takes place. ABVP already used cheap rhetoric this election by illegally putting up the statue of a highly controversial figure Damodardas Savarkar. When the move failed, they retorted to further downgrade cheap theatrics of using religion as a tool to safeguard their defeated campaign. Delhi University students are not going to be fooled by such rhetoric of ABVP again after the fake degree issue, and would give a sounding reply to them in upcoming student union elections.”

Following this news, the students of University of Delhi didn’t take it as a surprise that candidates do not follow the guidelines established for running a campaign, they believe that the Lyngdoh Committee is not a solution to strengthen or improve the prevailing conditions of student politics and DU stands as a classic example of its failure in limiting money and muscle power politics.

Feature Image Credit: ABVP Media

Avni Dhawan

avnidhawan09@gmail.com

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Pradeep Tanwar, Vice-Presidential Candidate, ABVP Interviewed Ahead of Elections

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On 5th September, 2019, DU Beat conducted an interview with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Vice Presidential candidate, Pradeep Tanwar to know him and his perspective regarding the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

Pradeep Tanwar, is a graduate in B.A. Programme from P.G.D.A.V College. He’s currently pursuing his masters in Hindi from Deshbandhu College. He has been a part of ABVP since 2015, and believes his true interest lies in politics and solving students’ problems.

What are the main issues you and your party will focus on for DUSU 2019? 

The main issues we will focus on are:

  1. Metro concession pass: it’s unfair to ask a student who comes from a middle-class family to spend so much on travelling. Our biggest fight is for metro concession passes.
  2. Hostels in South Campus: Except Venky (Sri Venkateswara College), there aren’t a lot of colleges that have hostels in south campus. We will work to establish these hostels.

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 University of Delhi?

I, along with other ABVP members, have went to each college to personally listen to the problems of students and solve them. Students get help from ABVP from the time they get their admission done to the date of their farewell. I will personally organise campaigns in each college to listen to students.

The incidents on Old Gupta Road and Hindu Rao Hospital highlight security concerns for those living in North Campus, what steps will you take to ensure safety and security on campus?

Of course, we’re working towards making campus safer. We’ve made a committee to look into this, and asses the cases to make campus student-friendly.

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?

These are how elections take place, it has become a method by all parties. ABVP doesn’t do littering as we’re always fighting for a clean campus.

University of Delhi (DU) was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to a 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?

It’s the staff and other people involved who are using this money for their own benefits. We’re working constantly towards fighting fee hikes. We protest or petition, but we always get success for students. Deshbandhu College had raised its fees, we had protested there with the students.

The Lyngdoh Committee lays down 5000 rupees as the maximum expenditure amount, how does your party maintain it?

We always manage our campaigning under the budget. We follow all rules of the committee. ABVP works all year round so we don’t require high campaigning.

Which element differentiates you from the other contenders for the post of Vice President?

What differentiates me, is my affiliation to ABVP. Students will vote for me as ABVP is the only party that works year-round for the students on a ground level, unlike other parties.

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 Commissions, how do you plan to make sure elections are held fairly?

You ask this question to us on every meeting. I would like to inform that ABVP follows the rules of Lyngdoh committee very well. At this point, all other parties are non-existent and then they use these dirty tactics making politics intimidating for all.

IMG_3775

ABVP Panel

President: Akshit Dahiya, Ballot No.1

Vice President: Pradeep Tanwar, Ballot No. 5

Secretary: Yogit Rathi, Ballot No. 3

Joint Secretary: Shivangi Kharwal, Ballot No. 4

Feature Image Credits : ABVP

Chhavi Bahmba

bahmbachhavi@gmail.com

 

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In Conversation with Akshit Dahiya, Presidential Candidate, ABVP for DUSU Elections 2019

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On 5th September, DU Beat conducted a telephonic interview with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Presidential candidate Akshit Dahiya ahead of Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections 2019, to shed light on his opinions and views.

Akshit Dahiya is currently a first year L.L.B. student at Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (DU). He’s also a graduate in B.Sc. Physical Sciences from Ramjas College, and a silver medallist in bodybuilding from University of Delhi (DU). He became a member of ABVP in 2016.

What are the main issues you will focus on as a presidential candidate? 

Being a sportsperson, I strongly feel about encouragement of sports in University of Delhi (DU). Outside if you notice, all the students who win medals are of universities. Hence, I have a dream that in 2024 Olympics, it should be DU students representing India. 

The other thing is DU special buses, I come from a very low metro connectivity area, so transportation from my home to the varsity became a task. That’s why, we would start these buses by making petitions. 

There have been recent cases like the one on Old Gupta road or near Hindu Rao Hospital that seriously question the safety of students. Have you done anything to ensure the safety of students studying and living there? 

We’ve already taken various steps. I did my entire campaigning on bi-cycles. I took 100 bi-cycles from college to college. I had two motives for it, one was of Green Delhi, it’s shameful for all, how we’re not contributing as individuals towards this issue. The other is, the scheme of closed campus. A lot of cars are driven in campus making students prone to accidents.

What are the few highlights of the ABVP manifesto for DUSU Elections, 2019? 

Even though we’ll have an entire manifesto announcement, few points are: 

  1. Metro Concession passes: Metro is raising their fares constantly making it very expensive for a normal middle-class student of DU to travel. 
  2. Scholarships in University: ABVP is the only group that allotted 50% of their entire budged towards giving scholarships to sportsmen, PWD candidates, and Economically weaker students.
  3. Holiday homework: All the students sit idle for the two months till 20th July until classes start. We’ve taken a target that will we provide 10,000 students with internships in summer vacation. 

How inclusive is ABVP towards LGBTQIA+ students? Will they receive adequate representation? 

It should be noted, that in our manifesto we have mentioned that we want free education for Transgender and the entire LGBT community. 

DUSU seems an unapproachable entity to the common DU student. Will you take any steps for making it more student friendly and less intimidating? 

I was never part of student politics earlier. I was a studious student. So, I’m well aware of the thought process of sports and study-oriented students and I will run a cycle of schemes and programmes to bring them to DUSU. Already ABVP-led-DUSU has done events like “She the Change” to increase the involvement of women and we will continue this even for cultural society members, and sports students as well. 

IMG_3773

Lyngdoh Committee has kept 5000 as maximum expenditure for campaigning. How do you and your party abide by it? 

Our entire party follows this thoroughly as ABVP works on ground level and each student gets affiliated naturally. We work under those INR 5000 per candidate very easily. 

Campaigning for DUSU often leads to littering in campus by all political parties. What steps have you taken to avoid this? 

Our motive this time is Clean Campus. We will follow it in depth and thoroughly till the end. There is no way ABVP supports this. We have ensured that the campus had cleanliness. It’s just the other parties that don’t work all year round and then need heavy campaigning to win, unlike ABVP. 

In 2017, many DU colleges proposed to be given autonomy, which could lead to privatisation of DU’s constituent colleges, are you for or against this, and why? 

My opinion and what steps ABVP will take regarding this will only be revealed in our press conference soon.

Last year, there were allegations of EVM tampering against ABVP, 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?

The issue of EVM tampering came because on the post of secretary there were only eight candidates and yet votes had been given on a ninth ballot as well. 

It shouldn’t be situated with us, as NSUI won the post of secretary making it evident as to who tampered EVMs. For us, democracy is above all. We have never engaged in undemocratic acts like these.

University of Delhi was recently declared an Institute of Eminence by the Union Government which entitles DU to a receipt of INR 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?

We have worked a lot against fee hikes for students. Citing a few examples, there was Rajiv Gandhi Girls’ hostel which had increased its fee manifold, ABVP went there to protest and accomplished the goal of reducing their fees for students. At Ramanujan College, after they increased their fee by 100%, we protested there for the same. 

In the end, I would just advise all the students to come and vote. We’ve struggled a lot in history to achieve voting rights for students. They should vote as this time elections will be held on the ideology of nationalism.

IMG_3774

ABVP Panel 

President: Akshit Dahiya, Ballot No.1

Vice President: Pradeep Tanwar, Ballot No. 5

Secretary: Yogit Rathi, Ballot No. 3

Joint Secretary: Shivangi Kharwal, Ballot No. 4

Feature Image credits : ABVP 

Chhavi Bahmba

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Miranda House Asks ABVP to ‘Go Back’

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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

satvikis@gmail.com

Priya Chauhan

priyac@dubeat.com 

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NSUI Alleges Attack on Vice-Presidential Candidate by ABVP

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The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) came under scrutiny as National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) blamed it for attacking their Vice-Presidential nominee Ankit Bharti, three days before the University goes for Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections.

On 9th September, in a violent turn of events that followed a campaign by NSUI in College of Vocational Studies (CVS), their nominee for the post of Vice-President, Ankit Bharti, was was badly beaten up allegedly by members of ABVP. He was immediately rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital for treatment.

NSUI has accused ABVP and its Vice-Presidential nominee Pradeep Tanwar for the attack. Whereas, ABVP denied any such charges. Ankit Bharti, in a video circulated, said, “I arrived at CVS in the morning to campaign where some AVBP goons thrashed me, deliberately entered my car and pulled me out and brawled with me.” showing the scars and wounds on his face and body.

ABVP’s spokesperson, on the other hand, claimed that ABVP was not involved in the incident. Monica Chaudhary, Media-in-Charge, ABVP said, “As far as we got information, the clash happened between Vice Presidential candidate Ankit Bharti and Secretary Candidate Aashish Lamba from NSUI.” The State Media Coordinator of ABVP, Ashutosh Singh, said that this is an attempt by NSUI to malign the image of ABVP because of the immense popularity and support it has been receiving from students of the University of Delhi (DU).

Siddharth Yadav, State Secretary, ABVP in the evening filed a formal complaint against NSUI in Maurice Nagar Police Station for defaming ABVP when only a few days remain for campaigning. The letter mentioned that no ABVP activist was involved in this case and if their party is further dragged in this case, a defamation lawsuit would be filed against NSUI.

Image Caption : The complain filed by ABVP against NSUI citing fake accusations. Image Credits: ABVP
Image Caption: The complaint filed by ABVP against NSUI citing fake accusations.
Image Credits: ABVP

This is the third case this election season when an official nominee has been attacked while campaigning. Previously on 7th September, Aftab Alam, the Vice Presidential candidate from All India Students’ Association (AISA) was injured amidst campaigning in Dyal Singh College, and on 6th September, Shivangi Kharwal, the Joint Secretary candidate from ABVP was injured in Zakir Hussain College. The left-wing student party had also blamed ABVP for the incident while ABVP had blamed NSUI for the alleged attack on their candidate.

Apart for this, the ABVP has also been accused of instigating violence on the last day of filing of nomination forms, due to which many members of All India Students’ Federation (AISF) and Students’ Federation of India (SFI) were unable to file their nomination forms.

In the garb of these accusations, it would be interesting to see how well the saffron-clad student party fares in the upcoming DUSU elections, which is scheduled for 12th September.

Video Credits: NSUI

Video Caption: Ankit Bharti explains the escalation at CVS, where he was allegedly attacked by the members of ABVP.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Priyanshu

priyanshus@dubeat.com

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