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The Perfect Protests Don’t Exist

By DU Beat October 13, 2026

Delhi’s autumn protests, from DU women’s safety marches to the ‘Cockroach’ movement, were called scattered, unserious and futile. But the actual question is whether an ‘ideal protest’ really exists, or if the question itself is flawed.

Protest is one of the biggest elements of the Spirit of Democracy, and this concept is not alien to our land, be it the British era or the Indira era. And naturally, protests follow every government. But in the end, every protest in India eventually meets the same three questions. Why was it so scattered? What did it actually stand for? And what exactly has changed?

In September and then early October this year, protests in Delhi got all three: They were called unserious, disjointed, ideologically vague and, because no minister resigned the next morning, pointless. It is a tidy verdict.

But at the same time, it is also built on quite an assumption: there is an “Ideal Protest” somewhere out there, organised, focused and victorious, against which the real ones fall short. Almost utopian. But before looking at what happened, it is worth asking whether that benchmark exists at all.

Case 1: The Marches

On 21st September, A 17-year-old girl was gang-raped by three men who posed as police personnel at Astha Kunj Park near Kalkaji Mandir. Women students from several Delhi University colleges held a march in solidarity with the victim. The march began at the gate of Kamala Nehru College and was open to all women and gender minorities. Students from Lady Shri Ram, Gargi, Miranda House and Kamala Nehru took part.

The charge of “no coherent ideology” is hard to sustain here. The slogan was Hum Auratein Azaad Hain, and the argument was specific: measures that restrict women’s mobility in the name of safety “cage” them rather than make public spaces safer. That is a position, and an old one in the Indian context of feminism. The collective Pinjra Tod, for example, has fought hostel curfews with written charters of demands and all-night sit-ins.

Female students and faculty members from across DU Colleges join the solidarity march (Credits: Nibedita for DU Beat)

The march also did something unglamorous that is easy to miss. Afterwards, students held open consultations on Siri Fort Road to draft a “Charter of Demands for Delhi Citizens”. A protest that builds a drafting process into its own aftermath is not improvising. Five days later, National Law University Delhi students and faculty held their own march, asking for better street lighting, police patrolling and accessibility around campus. Those are the most concrete, most winnable demands of the whole season.

Outcomes are harder to pin down. Three days after the march, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of a series of rape and sexual assault cases across Delhi-NCR, saying they underlined a systematic failure by authorities. Nothing in the coverage links the two events, and it would be dishonest to claim one caused the other. But the timing shows the issue had reached the highest court within a week. The charter’s final text and any official response were not reported in the coverage I reviewed, so that part of the story is still open.

Case 2: The Anti-CEC protests

The protests demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation look different. They are led by opposition parties alongside student groups tied to the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, over a revision of electoral rolls that has removed more than 130 million names, with millions appealing. The Election Commission and the government deny any political motive.

Here the “disjointed” charge has more bite, because the coalition is wide. Starting October 2, AISA led protests on the streets of Delhi. On 4 October, AISA’s national president Neha Bora was detained near Ashoka Road as marchers tried to reach Jantar Mantar without police permission. Days later, the INDIA bloc held its own protest at Rajghat. Student groups, party workers and a national opposition do not share a single script. Whether that is incoherence or simply what a coalition looks like is the question.

Scenes from the 4th October Protest (Credits: Mananya for DU Beat)

The state’s response is itself evidence. Ahead of the 10 October protests, Amnesty International India criticised the “lockdown-like” restrictions, including planned Metro closures, sealed borders, and thousands of additional armed personnel. Nobody deploys that much machinery against a protest they consider irrelevant.

And judging these protests by outcome so soon is premature. The same movement spent roughly two months and several rounds of tear gas and baton charges before Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on 25 July, which AP called the government’s first major concession to it. Delhi’s own history agrees. The 2012 protests produced a 71-point charter of demands from a DU-linked forum within days, and are now remembered as having led to several criminal law reforms. Reform arrived long after the crowds went home.

The Gen Z register

Part of the “unserious” charge is about form. These protests don’t look like the marches older critics remember, and they were not built to.

The clearest case is the Cockroach Janta Party. After a remark by Chief Justice Surya Kant that Newslaundry reports as likening unemployed youth to “parasites” and “cockroaches”, Abhijeet Dipke launched a satirical party on 16 May, its name a pun on the BJP. The movement then adopted the insult. Protesters carried “Main Bhi Cockroach” signs and wore cockroach masks, and Newslaundry described posters that were memes lifted off the screen and set on paper. When the party’s X account was withheld in India, a new one appeared within minutes, announced with a poster reading “Cockroach is back”.

Critics were quick. Newslaundry notes the old stereotype of this generation as apolitical, lazy and unserious, and opponents, many of them Modi supporters, dismissed the party as an online gimmick aligned with the opposition, citing Dipke’s past association with the Aam Aadmi Party. The scepticism was not only partisan: Newslaundry’s account of the movement’s debut sets older liberal cynics beside the hopeful.

But the jokes were a delivery system, not the demand. Foreign Policy reports that the movement mobilised through memes, Reels and humour, and one Delhi participant said social media made the protest feel like a conversation, not a lecture. The test of seriousness is the result, and reports that a movement that began as a call for education reform and grew into a broader protest over unemployment and accountability won its first major concession in July.

“Gen Z” is not one register, either. The DU marches ran on a different grammar: the Hum Auratein Azaad Hain banner, a rhyming chant about breaking apart the society that keeps women bound, open consultations and a charter. Students of the same age used satire in one protest and earnest verse in another, so tarring both as “unserious” lumps together two different strategies.

The trade-off is real. Humour spreads fast and is the easiest form to wave away, yet police evidently did not treat it as a joke: Al Jazeera reported that CJP members said they were detained as protests continued.

The slogans did the same work as the jokes. At the movement’s first Delhi protest on 6 June, supporters chanted “Cockroaches are coming, Dharmendra Pradhan is going!”, a rhyme, a name and a demand in one line, while another placard joked about waiting for an exam that doesn’t leak. Yet the offline playbook was conventional: AP described weeks of demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes before the July resignation. The memes were the recruiting poster; the hunger strike was the protest.

“Season 2” and a sealed city

The 10 October protest at Jantar Mantar was blunted before it began, and the way it was blunted is the story. The CJP’s founder had called it “Season 2”. Delhi Police refused permission, saying the application arrived on 7 October against a 10-day notice requirement and pointing to alleged violations at an earlier protest. The city was then locked down with about 25,000 police and paramilitary personnel, a notice of closure of 57 metro stations, which, after the Apex Court’s intervention, was later reduced to 45 Metro stations, and several trains were cancelled.

On the day, Abhijeet Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka and Sourav Das were detained as their plane landed. Former chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan and Manik Sarkar were also detained as they tried to join, and AISA president Neha Bora was picked up while leading a march from INA. Detention figures climbed through the day and conflict: about 1,500 by mid-morning, then a Tribune live-blog headline of 7,000 over a body text saying 3,000. Treat all of them as unconfirmed. The BJP called the protest a flop.

Protests and crowd at Jantar Mantar on 4th October — Protesting crowd at Jantar Mantar on 4th October (Credits: Aaratrika for DU Beat)

On Sunday, a court released Dipke and the two others on condition of no breach of peace for a year, and with central Delhi sealed, turnout stayed small and people who started slogans were detained. By crowd size, the BJP has a point. By every other measure it doesn’t: a party that began as a joke took a 25,000-strong deployment to contain and put four former chief ministers behind the same barricades. It also exposed the weak point of an online-first, leader-centred movement. Detain the leaders, seal the venue, and the street goes quiet. The CJP itself called the arrests an attempt to cripple its leadership.

A Domino Reaction

Read as separate events, these protests might look scattered. Read in order, they look like a chain reaction. An important point to note is that after the first CJP protests, multiple small protests also took place at the Jantar Mantar, with each one lowering the cost of the next. That is an interpretation, not a documented fact, and the sequence below is where it has to hold up.

Date (2026)	Protest
16 May	Dipke launches the Cockroach Janta Party online after the Chief Justice’s remark
25 July	Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigns, the first major concession to the movement
25 Sept	DU women’s colleges march after the Aastha Kunj park case
28 Sept	The Supreme Court takes suo motu cognisance of Delhi-NCR sexual assault cases
30 Sept	NLU Delhi students and faculty march for safer public spaces
4 Oct	AISA and other groups march towards Ashoka Road; leaders detained
7–8 Oct	Rahul Gandhi is detained repeatedly and the INDIA bloc protests, as CJP members report detentions
10 Oct	Jantar Mantar is sealed; opposition and CJP leaders are detained

Now, an important question—What links?

First, precedent. Noted that the government has rarely yielded to sustained public pressure, with the 2021 farm-law withdrawal the notable exception. The July resignation showed young protesters that a street campaign can extract a concession, and every later protest inherits that proof.

Second, the shared grievance: exam leaks, public space, and the electoral rolls are different issues carrying the same message: that institutions are not answering this generation.

Third, the state’s response. Heavy-handed policing, which Amnesty called lockdown-like, turns each crackdown into a reason for the next protest, and it draws in the opposition parties that now stand beside the students.

The limits matter. Nothing in the coverage reviewed for this piece shows the women’s-safety marches feeding into the CEC protests, and the Supreme Court’s notice doesn’t appear to respond to the marchers. The honest picture is closer to neighbouring fires fed by the same dry grass than to one line of dominoes. That still makes spillover a useful way to measure a protest, as the next section argues.

Ways to count scores of Protests

If “did it win?” is the only question, nearly every protest fails on the day. A fairer scorecard has more columns:

Concrete outcomes: were demands met, whether a policy change or a resignation?
Agenda-setting: did the issue enter public debate and the courts, and stay there?
Infrastructure: did it leave behind charters, coalitions or networks that can act again?
Participant formation: did it politicise the people who showed up? A first-year at her first march is an outcome too.
State response: what do bans, barricades and detentions reveal about how the protest was perceived?
Time horizon: judged after a week, a year, or a decade?
Spillover: did it make the next protest easier to start, for the same people or for others?

By these measures, the DU marches score well on agenda-setting, infrastructure, and formation, and are unproven on outcomes. The CJP protests score high on state response and agenda-setting, and it is too early to say on the rest. Neither is a failure. Both are mid-sentence.

Can there be ideal protests?

Short answer: NO! Because the virtues contradict each other. A tightly led protest is easy to message but at the same time easy to decapitate. A leaderless one is resilient enough but might be hard to negotiate with. A narrow demand might be achieved or fulfilled with easier efforts, while a broad one has the potential to change a country. Disruption gets attention but can lose public sympathy, and politeness does the reverse. Humour travels furthest and is the easiest to dismiss, while solemnity is taken seriously and reaches fewer people. In order for a protest to maximize one of these, the only way is by sacrificing another.

That is why “ideal” is the wrong word. A better question is whether a protest fits its purpose. A march meant to put an issue on the agenda and start a charter did its job if the issue got on the agenda and the charter got started. A campaign meant to force a resignation has to be judged on whether the resignation happens, and sometimes it does, after two long months.

The perfect protest is a retrospective fiction, tidied up by history in writing once the mess has been long gone to be witnessed by the readers. The real ones are loud, plural and unfinished. The honest critique is not that they failed to be perfect, but a more specific question: what were they trying to do, and can we see it working?

Image Credits: Aaratrika for DU Beat

Aridaman Singh
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When The Capital Shuts Down Over People Protesting, Where Does Azaadi Go?

By DU Beat October 10, 2026

As long as the slogans of resistance have echoed in the history of our nation, ‘Azaadi’ and ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ have remained at its core. Today, however, the same chants and the same spirit of protesting that had given rise to us as a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic, become the biggest threat to the ‘rulers’ (or in better terms, government) of our land.

The year is 2026, and it is only the second week of October; the year is yet to be over, and the people are yet to be heard. Some decades earlier it was 1975, and it was the early month of March; the Emergency had been declared, and the people were already enraged. About 79 years ago it was 1947, and the month of August; the colonial rule was soon to be over, the people were soon to be heard.

There is never a democracy, at least a true one, where there isn’t dissent. What fundamentally makes a nation a democracy is the existence of a thesis, an anti-thesis, and ultimately a synthesis, in the middle of which functions a government—one that must not only heed to its voters, but also its non-voters and dissenters. It is these dissenters, that often take shape of the opposition party, an Instagram/X page, or people marching on the streets with concrete demands that make the ruling government earn respect; not by brutally detaining the people who march with their voice and placards, but by letting people resist, dissent, and protest, while addressing them democratically.

The changing face of our democracy is probably reflected at its highest coverage in the capital city. For decades, the urban residents of Delhi have quietly witnessed the atrocities breaking across Manipur and Kashmir, along with the labouring and farming class of rural India who have by now learnt to live with internet shutdowns, gunfires, brutal detentions, complete lockdowns, and a long list of restrictions that could be debated as constitutionally wrong—the Delhites remained quiet for they never once believed the same atrocities could come knocking at their doorstep. They, just like all of us, were wrong.

Today is 10th October, 2026, and somehow it feels like the 1920s as a lot of the youth who’ve only heard of those days in the stories, histories, and documentaries of the yesteryears would say. Some have even gone to the extent of calling this a remembrance of Indira Gandhi’s 1975 Emergency, but possibly worse. Shashi Tharoor in his wordplay of affairs writes,

“Gen Z deserves better than an undeclared Emer-GenZ.”

Delhi is officially, on papers, locked down—45 metro stations have been closed, X numbers of individuals from across the city have been detained, leaders of opposition parties like CJP, CPI(M), AISA, and more have been detained, incoming trains have been cancelled, and roads have been closed throughout the city with the Delhi Police doing the best job they have ever done in making sure order, safety, and ruliness is maintained. If this isn’t a declaration of Internal Emergency, one is to wonder what truly is.

Irony remains here, that the citizens who leave the comfort of their homes to walk on the streets amidst the brutal sun and police, are here protesting for answers on the integrity of elections—the same medium through which the current government remains elected by a majority, as they continue to maintain.

Just like the Delhi Police, even the University of Delhi has tried its best to keep its students in the classroom. While Zakir Hussain College (Evening), Satyawati College (Evening), Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences, and SBSC have let its students stay at home and attend online classes, women’s colleges of Delhi that happen to be regarded as “apolitical spaces” have once again risen to the occasion—Maitreyi College assured double attendance for all students who came to classes while Lady Shri Ram College witnessed more discussion on cancelling its Garba Event than on addressing concerns of offline classes. The issue here is more than just students wanting to attend the protest—DU doesn’t just have hostellers or students occupying nearby PGs, it has a larger number of day scholars who commute from as far as Faridabad and Ghaziabad to the city. With roads closed, main metros restricted, buses a less than feasible option, and Rapidos unable to function without a massive fare hike, the concern is about reaching college on time before the teachers shut the door on your face for an 8:45 A.M. lecture.

Screenshot of a Maitreyi College Official Group Chat (Credits: AISA Maitreyi)

Yet, despite the fear of RAF and CAPF being called in, the attendance bribery offered to students, and the detention of leaders right from their residence or the airport the morning of the protests, people are on the streets. They, however, are confused.

If there’s one thing India should have learnt from its history of protesting, it is that a disorganised movement has no outcome. On the 4th of October, the protestors walking from India Gate to Jantar Mantar, after losing its leader, Neha Bora and her fellow AISA comrades to the detaining police force began to scramble—they ran after the detaining buses shouting and in a spur of confusion ended up getting detained themselves. 10th October, one can only hope, has been different.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of CJP—detained.

Neha Bora, AISA President—detained.

M.A. Baby, CPI(M) General Secretary—detained.

Ronak Khatri, Ex DUSU President—detained.

Arvind Kejriwal, Ex Delhi CM and National Convenor AAP—detained.

Lawyers and Journalists—detained.

Common People—detained.

While the leaders sit in buses at undisclosed locations, the public, that is, the ordinary people, many of whom have risked travelling from across the city if not other states, remain in a state of perplexity. From Jantar Mantar and ITO to Dilli Haat and Safdarjung Flyover, the people have taken to brainstorming new routes with the city’s auto bhaiyas and rickshawalas being the biggest supporters of the mass resistance. As disorganised as it may be, the people—both the ones sitting in detention vans since 11:30 AM and the ones running from the police and sitting down wherever the protest location next evolves—are angry. In fact, they are furious, tired, and hopeless. They demand a change, one that should be larger than simply a resignation but systematic, and shouldn’t vanish the minute one demand is met. In July it was for NEET. In October it is for Anti-CEC and SIR, and in the future, the right to protest shouldn’t be one that is met with brutality and disapproval, but one that is welcomed with peace, dialogue, resolution, and hopefully a Prime Minister’s Press Conference with media houses that are yet to be bought—a utopia, one day we hope our nation achieves.

As 10th October slowly closes and midnight approaches, one is to wonder, if at the stroke of midnight, Delhi will awaken to lesser restrictions and more freedom to dissent. If at every moment of dissent the government calls machinery of the state like the Police and Army to back it up at the cost of brutality towards its dissenting citizens, who will suffer—their non-dissenting citizens. If this is indeed the State’s ‘divide and rule’ policy: that they shall use the “inconvenience” caused by the protesting public to the non-protesting crowd, then one is to wonder about the success rates of it.

Today the protest may die down. Tomorrow it will rise again. Today might’ve been a Saturday with fewer offices and colleges open. Monday will be a weekday with more offices and colleges open.

One can only hope that the people stay, no matter the level of brutality, detention, and hiding away of leadership. One can only hope that this rage at being attacked, simply for being on the streets demanding accountability for a wrong, can be cultivated into a peaceful resistance that is met with systematic changes and not the sacrifice of only one member of the ruling party. It is through these hopes that protests like these sustain, and when a country finally awakens after years of being silent, one can expect the government to finally realise that its people will be exhausted, not by the protests, but by their lack of empathy, response, and accountability.

Image Credits: Aaratrika for DU Beat

Aaratrika Ghosh

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DUB News

NEET 2026 : AISA calls for Education Minister’s resignation amidst silence, protest at Jantar Mantar

By DU Beat May 15, 2026

All India Students’ Organisation (AISA) members held a protest at Jantar Mantar on Thursday against the NTA following the cancellation of NEET 2026. The National Testing Agency(NTA) has announced a re-examination in light of the paper leak.

Students of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) came together in protest against the National Testing Agency (NTA) at Jantar Mantar, Delhi today. This comes two days after the NTA officially cancelled NEET 2026 due to the paper leak, announcing a re-examination in the coming days.

Over 50 students gathered at the monument this Thursday, with many Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers present on site. Speaking on the paper leak, AISA-DU Secretary Anjali said that the “series of paper leaks over the years” were “manufactured and systemic”.

“NTA is an incompetent body. It outsources all its functions making it bound to corruption.” In conversation with DU Beat, she reasserted AISA’s demands for Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign and for the NTA to be scrapped.

Students across the country have slammed the NTA’s decision on May 12 to cancel the exam following the paper leak.

“The current system starts and concludes with profit, resulting in the systematic collapse of this education system—be it slashing public funding of educational institutions, or the coaching-NTA nexus. We demand the decentralisation of exams to respective states and educational institutions.”

shared AISA member Abhishek Kumar with DU Beat.

The agency has urged students to wait for a revised schedule for re-examination, along with hall tickets, which will be released on official platforms. The NEET exam, an entrance examination for medical aspirants, was written by over 22 lakh students this year on May 3.

Other student organisations have also taken to the streets. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest outside the NTA office in Delhi on Wednesday. They demanded action against the alleged irregularities within the system, with some students attempting to breach the security gates.

The student outfit of the Congress, the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) similarly organised a protest outside Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s residence. The protestors demanded his immediate resignation and carried placards deeming him ‘paper chor’.

AISA’s Ranchi outfit also held a protest against the agency on Wednesday, with placards asserting that ‘Re-examination is not the solution’. NSUI president Vijay Jakhar asserted that the NTA had “shattered the dreams of millions” in conversation with The Hindu.

The government-ordered CBI enquiry into the matter has led to the arrest of seven accused of involvement in the leak so far. Following the registration of the case with the CBI on May 12th, several locations have been searched as part of investigations.

Initial investigations revealed an elaborate conspiracy, involving scanning and distribution beginning in Nashik and spreading across the country. The medical entrance test’s question papers were leaked using sophisticated technology, including portable scanners, a complex Telegram network and a shadow server. A PDF containing large parts of the paper was circulated as reported by NDTV.

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has not responded to questions about the leak thus far. His silence has been met with frustration from students online and on ground. The NTA’s responses have also been discredited by student activists as ‘vague’ and unclear. Student agitation has only increased with many aspirants and their families expressing deep dissatisfaction with the cancellation of the exam.

A similar situation had taken place in 2024, where the NTA faced allegations of paper leaks owing to the unusual 720/720 score attained by multiple students. CBI inquiries then led to the arrest of 36 persons. However, the exam was not cancelled due to lack of evidence of a “systemic breach”, as stated by the Supreme Court. A repetition of paper leaks two years apart has been felt as lack of any improvement by many aspirants.

Image Source: Anjali (DU Secretary AISA)

Anjali Paruvu

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Violence Erupts at Arts Faculty Protest: Journalist, Students Allege Assault

By DU Beat February 15, 2026

A pro-UGC protest turned into a scuffle between journalist Ruchi Tiwari and AISA members, with both sides alleging assault, caste-based targeting and police inaction.

Footage of a scuffle between student protestors and journalist Ruchi Tiwari went viral on Friday following an incident near the Arts Faculty of Delhi University during a pro-UGC guidelines public meeting. Both sides have since offered sharply opposing narratives, alleging physical assault, verbal abuse, threats and police inaction.

All India Students Association (AISA) Secretary Anjali shared her version on Instagram, condemning what she described as national media “painting her as a villain” and circulating incomplete footage. According to her, she noticed a scuffle near the protest site and saw Tiwari allegedly choking a man identified as Naveen, a Dalit journalist, while holding his phone. Anjali said she attempted to retrieve the phone when she was assaulted and briefly knocked unconscious. She further stated that AISA members tried to take Tiwari to file a complaint. Later, when Anjali went to Maurice Nagar Police Station to file an FIR, she alleged that a large mob gathered outside, engaged in physical violence, ripped clothes, banged on the police booth and issued rape threats. She also reported that her personal details, including her parents’ names and apartment location, were leaked online, leading to cyber abuse.

Tiwari, speaking to ANI, rejected what she termed “false narratives.” She said she had arrived near the Arts Faculty to cover the protest when a man allegedly recognised her from her YouTube videos and repeatedly asked her name and caste. She claimed a crowd of around 500 people surrounded and attempted to choke her, and that footage of her being chased came after she faced rape threats and intimidation. Tiwari describes herself as a ground reporter running a YouTube channel and alleged she was targeted on the basis of caste, citing taunts such as “Iska nanga naach hoga.” She maintained that multiple police officers were present during the scuffle but did not intervene, remarking there was “no protection for General Category.”

In a statement, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) alleged that a woman journalist associated with a YouTube channel was attacked around 2 pm while covering the protest. ABVP Delhi state secretary Sarthak Sharma claimed left-wing student activists manhandled her after she questioned protestors, further alleging that several involved were not Delhi University students and demanding strict action from police and university authorities. Meanwhile, police told PTI that a medico-legal case (MLC) has been filed and that investigation is underway. Both parties have accused the police of inadequate intervention; Anjali also claimed officers took her and fellow members’ phones to “calm down the crowd” while she was attempting to file a complaint.

The incident unfolded amid protests over the University Grants Commission’s (UGC) newly notified Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions Regulations, 2026, which aim to curb caste-based discrimination in universities and colleges. The rules mandate that all Higher Education Institutions establish Equal Opportunity Centres (EOCs), equity committees, helplines and monitoring mechanisms to address complaints from SC, ST and OBC students, and fix accountability on institutional heads for compliance. The regulations are currently under consideration by the Supreme Court, which has put them on hold citing “vagueness” and potential misuse.

Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh urged students and teachers to maintain harmony and avoid activities that “increase mutual discord,” appealing to the university community to await the Supreme Court’s decision and maintain trust in the Government of India. The regulations have drawn criticism from sections of general category students, including a group identifying as the “Savarna Sena,” who argue that the framework lacks clear provisions for grievances from upper-caste students and could lead to misuse.

Image Sources

Ruchi Tiwari – https://share.google/images/UKDi9Fq5ddD5JCwlY. Shared by IANS network on Twitter

Anjali – NDTV website

Anjali P

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Campus Central

DU Students Protest Fee Hike; AISA Submits Memorandum Seeking Immediate Rollback

By DU Beat January 28, 2026

Students of Delhi University, led by AISA, protest against the recent fee hike and submit a memorandum demanding its rollback, warning that rising costs threaten access to affordable public education.

Students at Delhi University, led by the All India Students’ Association (AISA), staged a protest on Thursday against what they described as an “arbitrary and repeated” increase in university fees, asserting that the hike will marginalise economically vulnerable students and make higher education less accessible.

The demonstration took place outside university premises after a recent notification from DU revised the university’s share in the consolidated fee from Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,100, marking an increase of more than 17 per cent within six months. This was the latest in a series of upward revisions, following a 20 per cent hike announced last year, and has triggered widespread concern among student groups.

Students participating in the protest chanted slogans and carried placards demanding a reversal of the fee increase. They argued that repeated hikes reflect a shift towards treating education as a paid service rather than as a guaranteed social right.

A delegation of protesters later met with officials from the office of the Dean of Students’ Welfare, where they submitted a memorandum seeking an immediate rollback of the latest fee increase. While the administration offered assurances during discussions, student leaders said similar responses had been given previously without yielding any substantive relief.

Sanatan, Vice-President of AISA DU, told The Hindustan Times that the administration’s handling of the fee structure signals a lack of commitment to inclusive education. He accused the university authorities of adopting a market-driven approach at the expense of students’ academic rights and welfare.

The issue of fee increases has emerged as a recurring flashpoint in student politics at DU. Critics of the hikes argue that they disproportionately affect students from marginalised communities and low-income families. They contend that incremental increases, especially within short time spans, exacerbate financial barriers to higher education and may deter prospective applicants.

DU’s administration has not yet issued a formal public statement addressing the protest or the demands made by student groups, including AISA. However, university officials are expected to review the memorandum and engage with student representatives in the coming days. Observers indicate that the administration will likely seek to balance financial sustainability with student welfare as discussions continue.

The protest underscores the ongoing tensions within Indian higher education institutions between student bodies advocating for equitable access and administrative decisions aimed at operational and infrastructural funding. As deliberations over the fee structure persist, students and campus organisations are monitoring developments closely.

Featured Image source – Devesh for DU Beat

Madhav Choudhary

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Campus Central

Students Allege Harassment Amid Backlash Over Palestine Solidarity Meet at SVC

By DU Beat October 14, 2025

AISA and Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Study Circle’s Palestine solidarity event at Sri Venkateswara College faced administrative backlash, with organisers allegedly harassed, threatened, and forced to sign undertakings by college authorities.

On 10th October All India Student’s Association organised a session with Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Study Circle in Sri Venkateswara College’s Rock Garden on the theme of ‘Marking Two Years of The Ongoing Genocide in Palestine’. The event was supposed to be a group discussion as well as poetry recitation in solidarity with Palestine. The college authorities, before the commencement of the session, allegedly called two of the organisers to their office. This incident is what the AISA states to be “harassment and an attempt to terrorise students.”

Witnesses claim that the authorities including the Principal and the Proctor first publicly scolded and humiliated the students in front of the whole college. Mr. Chetan, who is a professor at the Statistics department forcibly took students’ phones and made them unlock it without their consent impinging on their right to privacy. The students were allegedly made to share their contact details extensively. He made remarks of “Main tumhe ghar mein ghus ke marunga, dekhna tum” (“I’ll beat you up in your own house, you’ll see”) and “If you say any of this in class, I will shoot you.”

The Principal, Vajala Ravi, in response to this situation further allegedly warned the students with suspension and forced them to sign a written note stating that such sort of event wont be held again.

Image Credits- Instagram handle of AISA VENKY

Divyanshi Dusad

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Uncategorized

Rethinking the Left in DUSU Politics

By Sakshi Singh October 2, 2025

The electoral landscape of Delhi University continues to be marked by a paradox that has persisted for more than a decade. Left organisations such as SFI, AISA, and more recently DISHA, gain marginal votes. The results of the 2025 elections reinforce this trend: the ABVP secured three of the four principal offices, the NSUI captured the remaining post, and Left candidates trailed far behind the dominant blocs.

“On paper, the manifestos of all parties appear strikingly similar,” says a student. “Whether from SFI, AISA, ABVP, or NSUI, promises of affordable hostels, grievance redressal mechanisms, campus Wi-Fi, and improved gender-safety structures recur with regularity,” adds another. The difference, thus, lies in framing and perception: Left organisations articulate these demands through the idiom of democratisation and anti-privatisation, whereas ABVP and NSUI frame them as pragmatic matters of service delivery. The convergence of manifestos places the burden on credibility and trust. In this respect, students, based on our conversations, often regard the Left as effective in critique but deficient in demonstrating administrative efficacy.

The numerical results from 2025 starkly illustrate the challenge. The ABVP presidential candidate, Aryan Maan, won with approximately 59,882 votes; the NSUI contender followed with 15,500, while Anjali, the joint SFI-AISA candidate, polled a mere 5,385. In the vice-presidential race, NSUI prevailed with 29,339 votes, ABVP followed at 20,547, and the joint SFI-AISA alliance again remained in the low thousands. Similar patterns held in the contests for Secretary and Joint Secretary. Turnout, hovering around 39–40 per cent, suggests that disengagement remains a significant feature of DU’s electoral culture, with NOTA itself garnering several thousand votes in some contests. “This not only underscores the marginality of the Left but also highlights a pool of disaffected voters whose dissatisfaction, if organised, could alter the electoral balance,” adds a student from Lady Shri Ram College.

The deeper problem, however, lies less in raw numbers and more in institutional culture. Over the past 10–15 years, DU has been characterised by what many students themselves describe as a “career-first” ethos, an emphasis on examinations, placements, and credential-building. In this environment, the Left’s reliance on protest, sit-ins, marches, and symbolic agitation generates moral capital but also fatigue. A master’s student remarked that “these protests often felt alienating, repetitive, and disruptive.” The protest per se is not rejected; rather, its frequency and abstraction, particularly when extended to global or national issues, like the Gazan genocide, for instance, are perceived as less directly relevant to the everyday student experience. In this sense, DU contrasts sharply with JNU, where protest is understood as integral to intellectual life and is woven into the rhythm of hostel meetings and general body debates.

The perception of elitism compounds these structural disadvantages. Several college sub-groups of left-leaning parties belong to debating clubs and circles where English-speaking and politically articulate students dominate. While these networks provide rhetorical sophistication, they alienate a larger, more diverse student body. As one student put it, “it always feels like the debating society kids tell the rest of us what to think.”

The paradox is thus reinforced. At DU, the Left embodies critique, but critique does not convert into electoral capital. Unless the Left in DU can transform its style, demonstrating delivery, it will remain what it has been for over a decade: an articulate counterpublic, but not a governing force.

Image Credits: Sharanya for DU Beat

Sakshi Singh
[email protected]

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Students of Jamia Milia Islamia University Detained during 17th Batla House Anniversary March

By DU Beat September 24, 2025

On Friday, September 19th, Delhi Police detained at least 12 students of Jamia Millia Islamia during a march being conducted to mark 17 years since the Batla House encounter. It is claimed that among those detained were AISA Delhi State President Saiyed Ishfaq, AISA Jamia Secretary Saurabh, and two other student leaders.

Students at Jamia stated that Friday’s march remained peaceful until it was disrupted near Gate No. 7 of the university. They alleged that police escorted them off campus and detained several participants. The All India Students’ Association (AISA) asserted that the detentions took place openly in the presence of the Jamia Nagar police station SHO. AISA further claimed that women students were among those held, and some were transported to locations far outside Delhi.

Police reported that the students were stopped only after the procession proceeded to move out of the college premises and raised what the requisite officers term “provocative slogans”.

The students said that the march has been organised every year, except during the COVID pandemic, in Jamia Nagar to demand a judicial inquiry into the 2008 encounter. “How ironic that when students even gather to remember one injustice, the state delivers another,“ AISA said.

The police, while denying these claims, stated that a student had tried to come off campus while shouting slogans, which is when 12 of them were detained. They were all released within two hours, the officer added, and no student is currently under detention.

Still, the incident has upset many on campus. Mishkat Tehrim, AISA President, said, “I thought we would be safe inside campus…” I have never seen something like this after the CAA-NRC protests.”

Saiyed Ishfaq, AISA’s Delhi State President, who was among those detained, also alleged that students were forcibly picked up and dropped far from the university.

The Jamia administration purposely left the gate open, creating confusion… I was detained on campus. Women students were dragged by guards…”

The Batla House encounter occurred on 19th September 2008, followed by numerous incidents of bomb explosions in Delhi, which resulted in the deaths of 39 individuals and injuries to 159. Delhi Police’s Special Cell, having received a tip-off, stormed into a flat in Jamia Nagar, where suspected terrorists had taken shelter. During the ensuing gunfight, Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma and Head Constable Balwant Singh were wounded; Sharma later died of his injuries. Two men in the flat, Atif Ameen and Mohammad Sajid, were also killed.

Twenty-four-year-old Atif Amin was a student of Jamia Millia Islamia, and 17-year-old Sajid was an aspirant of Jamia School. Atif Amin was the chief bomber of the terrorist outfit ‘Indian Mujahideen’, which was responsible for terror attacks between 2007 and 2009 in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Surat and Faizabad.

On the second anniversary of the encounter, a shooting took place at the gates of Jama Masjid, in which two foreign tourists were injured; a car bomb with a failed timer was also found in the vicinity.

Image Credits: Muslim Mirror

Divyanshi Dusad
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Interview with Anjali | AISA Candidate | DUSU Elections 2025

By DU Beat September 16, 2025

DU Beat in conversation with Anjali, contesting for the post of President for Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) 2025, from the All India Students’ Association (AISA), as a part of the AISA-SFI panel. This interview was originally taken in Hindi and has been translated into English.

S: What, according to you, is the biggest challenge that university students face, and how would you work on improving it?

A: The biggest challenge is that there is a lack of trust between the students’ union and the student body as a collective. Students tend to think that student politics is limited to what they see around them, where being a part of the union is merely a launching pad for some and where hooliganism and muscle power dominate the scene. Access to quality facilities is also a huge issue—students spend more time studying VAC/SEC courses like Swach Bharat and Yoga, as opposed to their course of interest; the entire semester is taken up by multiple assessments under the IA/CA model, and with almost 45 marks being solely in the hands of the faculty, the democratic nature of the classroom is slowly eroding. Therefore, there is hooliganism on one hand and the eroding nature of education on the other, while the students suffer in the middle.

S: What are some key points within your election manifesto?

A: Every student comes here with the aspiration of building a future for themselves, irrespective of their socio-economic background. Our first and foremost demand is access to quality education. Students come to Delhi University with the aim of studying their disciplines of choice, like History, English, Political Science, Economics etc in depth, but under NEP, in the name of “value addition” and “skill enhancement”, they are being made to study courses like The Art of Being Happy, Fit India, Yoga, etc., which are all subjects that they could have easily studied on YouTube, without coming into a “premier institution” like Delhi University. Moreover, issues like the surveillance of teachers within academic spaces and discrimination in the classroom further raise a huge question on the accessibility, affordability and quality of education in the university.

In the same Delhi University that was historically known for its diverse social fabric and witnessed students coming from a variety of backgrounds, the UGC (University Grants Commission) has been replaced by HEFA (Higher Education Financing Agency), which has led to a 20-25 per cent fee hike every semester. These hikes seem to say, “Gareeb ghar ki aulad ho? Tumhare maa-baap rickshaw chalate hai, auto chalate hai? To bhool jaao ki Delhi Vishwavidyalaya mei tumhare liye koi jagah hai.” (You belong to a poor family? Do your parents drive an auto-rickshaw? Then forget that there is any space for you in Delhi University). So, fee hikes are another issue that we are and will continue to fight against.

This is the same University where Dhani Ram, a professor from Ramjas College, harasses a first-year student, enjoys impunity, and further threatens her by saying, “Tumhare sattar number kaat lunga.” (I will cut your 70 marks). I am a graduate from Indraprastha College for Women, and 2.5 years ago, in our college’s fest, 230 written complaints were filed with the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), despite which no action has been taken after the formation of a proctorial committee to date. We demand that all ICCs across colleges be functioning and democratic, with gender sensitisation workshops being made compulsory for the teaching faculty, non-teaching faculty, and the students.

Q. With increasing financial pressure on students, what steps would you advocate for better affordability?

Anjali: We strongly believe that the meaning of studying at Delhi University also means the ability to afford Delhi as a city, wherein the university itself is as big as a Lok Sabha constituency, consisting of North, South and Off-Campus colleges. Students from every corner of the country come to this university, but less than five per cent of students are able to get a hostel. The larger concerns about affordability and accessibility can only be addressed through the construction of more hostels.

In 2016 and 2017, the All India Students Association (AISA) launched a campaign titled “A Room of One’s Own”, showing higher authorities tracts of empty land which should have been, and can be, used for constructing hostels. In 2019, when a 39-storey building was constructed in front of the Vishwavidyala Metro Station, we protested and said, “McD, Pizza Hut ke bina zindagi chal jaayegi, Yaha hostel ka nirmaan kariye!” (We can live without McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. Make hostels here.)

A concessional metro pass is another demand. Travelling in a city like Delhi means that you have to spend around 100-120 rupees daily, and in this environment, just weeks ago, DMRC launched a notice increasing the token price in a range of Rs 1 to 4, depending on the distance. We are continuously fighting for concessional passes. We are from the student association that fought in 2017 to get concessional bus passes for students. Our model is that of resistance and continued struggle.

S: DU has a diverse student population across campuses, regions, and backgrounds. How will you ensure that voices from all corners of the university are included and represented?

A: If you look at the 2025 AISA-SFI panel and also the nature of politics that AISA represents, we have always fought for diversity and inclusion on the campus.

Even in this panel, Abhinandana hails from the northeast, Sohan worked as a security guard to pay his university fees, and Abhishek, whose parents came to Delhi in 2002, happened to fill out a form for the CRPF by chance and got a job through which he was able to get access to education. I hail from Gaya, Bihar, and in my village, most women have not studied beyond 12th. Even for my family, it is extremely difficult for them to understand why I am doing a master’s degree instead of focusing on marriage prospects. I feel that this resistance, the continued struggle for the education of all students of this university, is representative of its diversity.

Additionally, we are from the student association that stood against communal hatred when a Northeast shop was attacked in Vijayanagara. We are from the student association that, along with 200 other students, marched into the Principal’s cabin at SBSC, after he slapped a Dalit student, demanding an end to caste-based discrimination, demanding his resignation and demanding the implementation of the SC/ST act. From Dhani Ram to the IPCW protests, AISA has been there, bearing witness to incidents of police brutality and administrative proceedings. I think our collective resistance is living proof of the fact that elections will come and go, but it is forces like us who will continue to struggle and work.

S: What specific, achievable changes can you realistically deliver within your one-year term if elected, and how will you show that progress to students?

A: Definitely, as I said before, the very burning question right now is quality, affordability and inclusivity. We will work towards the reduction of IA weightage, the restoration of quality education, democratisation and proper functioning of ICCs, the conduction of regular elections and gender sensitisation workshops for the ICCs across every college, and the provision of concessional metro passes for each and every student of the university. We will also fight for the creation of more affordable hostels and resist the arbitrary rise in rents of PGs and flats, demanding the implementation of the Rent Control Act.

Read More: Interview with Abhinandana Pratyashi | SFI Candidate | DUSU Elections 2025

Interview by Sakshi Singh

[email protected]

Image Credits: DU Beat

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Campus Promises: ABVP, NSUI, and SFI–AISA Manifestos 2025

By DU Beat September 15, 2025

With the Delhi University Students’ Union elections approaching, major student organisations have released their manifestos announcing promises, reflecting issues, and revealing both overlaps and contrasts in priorities.

There are significant variances as well as obvious parallels between the ABVP, NSUI, and SFI-AISA coalition manifestos. The goals of these three parties are to solve persistent problems in Delhi University politics, such as women’s safety, campus infrastructure, and affordability. However, each uniquely presents its strategy, answering critiques of earlier DUSU terms and reflecting its ideological foundations.

Student health and welfare have been foregrounded more strongly this year. ABVP explicitly promised, “subsidised health insurance schemes for students”, a measure that responds to recurring demands for affordable healthcare after years of rising living costs. NSUI brought the conversation into the gendered domain, with its women’s manifesto pledging, “helpline numbers, menstrual health awareness, sanitary pad vending machines, and proper gender sensitivity measures.” The SFI-AISA alliance combined health and gender justice, promising menstrual leave and insisting on institutional structures like, “elected Internal Complaints Committees and gender sensitisation cells in all colleges”.

The only organisation to make a specific commitment on digital access is ABVP, which has pledged “free Wi-Fi access for university students.” Although the Left alliance and NSUI did not use the same language to emphasise Wi-Fi, they both emphasised infrastructure and accessibility in more general terms, implying a move away from band-aid technological solutions and towards structural reforms.

The affordability debate remains central, carrying forward unresolved issues from past years, such as fee hikes and opposition to the National Education Policy (NEP). The SFI-AISA alliance has taken the clearest stance, stating that it has, “pledged to oppose fee hikes” and presenting its programme as ‘a true student-centric manifesto.’ NSUI echoed this with calls for, “public funding for equitable education” and a rejection of NEP-linked restructuring. ABVP, while not quoted as directly opposing fee hikes, emphasised subsidised schemes and improved facilities.

Women’s safety and inclusion, an issue repeatedly raised after incidents on campus in previous years, has again appeared prominently. NSUI’s separate women’s manifesto is notable in its detail, listing concrete measures like, “helpline numbers, menstrual health awareness, sanitary pad vending machines, and proper gender sensitivity measures.” The SFI-AISA alliance, in line with its activist tradition, focused on structural reform: “elected Internal Complaints Committees and gender sensitisation cells in all colleges.” ABVP’s framing was broader, with its candidate speeches highlighting campus safety and “accessibility audits for students with special needs.”

Finally, housing and hostels continue to be a major theme, reflecting perennial shortages and past protests by outstation students. ABVP’s manifesto directly included, “construction of new hostels to accommodate growing student needs.” NSUI’s broader call for inclusive infrastructure implicitly covered hostel provisions, while SFI-AISA explicitly folded hostel expansion into its demands for resisting privatisation.

While all parties echo recurring demands like safety, hostels, and digital access, their manifestos also respond to past gaps, some promising continuity, others pledging fresh reforms to long-standing student concerns.

Image Credits: Manan for DU Beat

Anjali Kumari Jha
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