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Members of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Delhi protested against the violence instigated in Delhi outside Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s residence.

On Tuesday, 25th February 2020, members of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) Delhi protested against the violence instigated outside Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s residence. Also, NSUI members raised slogans against Delhi violence at Lieutenant Governor’s residence in the wee hours of morning, around 1:30 a.m.  Following this, NSUI members were detained by Delhi Police, as per the Press Release released by them on the same day.

NSUI activists organised a peace march to protest against Delhi violence from Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) office at Faculty of Arts, North Campus. Delhi University students joined NSUI activists and participated in the peace march by holding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in hand.

Ashish Lamba , Secretary of Delhi University Student Union (DUSU) from NSUI said, “The NSUI activists protested at Lieutenant Governor’s house in Civil Lines regarding the violence which took place in Delhi and the Lieutenant Governor still did not respond and kept himself as a mute spectator. We were detained at Civil Lines Police Station. In the evening NSUI led DUSU also took out a Shanti candle march from DUSU office to Arts Faculty in order to appeal for peace.”

NSUI members stated, “It is a pre-planned conspiracy by BJP leaders. This violence and atrocities against minorities and Dalits has been raised and now we can see the riots on minorities and Dalits. NSUI will keep its fight against such violence and will spread Mahatma Gandhi ‘s Ahimsa Marg among the people of India.” NSUI demanded Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation and asked him to step down from the ministry.

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat

Paridhi Puri

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On 3rd January 2020, Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) led Delhi University’s Student Union (DUSU) met with foreign students of University of Delhi (DU) for establishing DU’s first foreign cell to cater to the needs of  foreign students studying in DU.

Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) led Delhi University’s Student Union (DUSU) held a meeting at DUSU office in University of Delhi (DU), North Campus on 3rd January 2020 to listen to the needs and difficulties of foreign students studying in DU.

In this discussion DUSU Vice President, Pradeep Tanwar along with DUSU Joint Secretary, Shivangi Khairwal were also present to extend full support to the students.

The motive of the meet was also to discuss the establishment of DU’s first-ever Foreign Cell. Approximately 25 students from 5 different nations put forward problems faced by them during their academic stay in Delhi. Some of the common problems discussed were fee structure, accommodation and linguistic barriers.

The foreign students in anonymity also stated, “We often feel isolated as we don’t belong to the same culture. However, events like this bring pressing issues like Regional Registry office procedure in the discussion.”

In response to their issues, a committee of 15 students from various countries will be launched to pertain to the needs of foreign students particularly and solve the current issues they are facing. A Panel to curb the most prominent communication barrier would also be established.

Selection of the working committee would be done through done Google search and advertisements and then a personal interview would be conducted to judge their merit. 

Akshit Dahiya, President, DUSU has invited all interested foreign students to fill the google form to constitute a committee and has offered a volunteering position with DUSU to rest, who are not selected.

Akshit Dahiya, in a conversation with DU Beat, said, “Much more can be expected from DUSU under the leadership of ABVP to uplift the students of DU. A new committee has also been established to promote sports in the Varsity. More than 12,00,000 lakhs have been allocated to give scholarships to students of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Persons with Disability (PWD) and of Extra-Circular Activities (ECA) and Sports quota.”

“This is an initiative taken to strengthen the relations between foreign students and ensure their warm stay in India as they pursue their study” Akshit Dahiya added.

Feature Image Credits:Akshit Dahiya

 

Chhavi Bahmba

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Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has called for renaming the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) Office after the progenitor of Hindutva – VD Savarkar.

“Our University has forgotten the heroes of our freedom struggle. The place where Bhagat Singh was kept doesn’t even have a statue of him in the entire complex. I don’t even think half of the students even know of the Bhagat Singh jail below Vice Regal Lodge. Same is with Veer Savarkar. If studied thoroughly, he is the true inspiration for youngsters,” says Siddharth Yadav, the ABVP Delhi State Secretary, explaining why the DUSU Office should be renamed after Savarkar.

As reported by Outlook, Shakti Singh, President of the ABVP-led DUSU, had demanded that the DUSU Office be named ‘Veer Savarkar Bhawan’. The demand was made during the staging of the play ‘Hey Mrityunjay’, which is ‘based on time spent by Savarkar in the Andaman jail’ on 12th August.

An atheist, Vinayak Damodar ‘Veer’ Savarkar is credited as being the father of the Hindutva thought. Even though he did not coin the term ‘Hindutva’ – or “Hinduness” as he explained it – he theorised it as a cultural and political ideology. An advocate of acquiring independence from the British through revolutionary means, he was imprisoned due to his anti-British activities. A failed attempt to escape from prison landed him at the Cellular Jail or Kala Pani  in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. During this time, Savarkar wrote ‘Hindutva’, laying out an ideology that is at centre stage of contemporary Indian politics.

Perhaps even the admirers of Savarkar would agree that he is not an uncontroversial figure. Not every party holds him in the same high regard as the Hindutva parties do. Asaduddin Owaisi in a speech had questioned the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) by alleging that Savarkar had claimed that the tricolour could never be India’s national flag. Rahul Gandhi had in Parliament contrasted the Congress and the BJP’s ideologies by evoking the contrast between MK Gandhi and Savarkar; a row had followed. Savarkar was also tried, though acquitted for involvement in Gandhi’s murder.

The legitimacy of numerous claims can be discussed separately. Similarly, debating Savarkar’s political philosophy here would be futile; quoting a phrase or two from a whole body of work does not do justice to the writer or their thought – both the critique and the approbation remain shallow in that case. Yet, the point remains that Savarkar is a polarising figure.

So is it justified for the ABVP to demand that a student union office be named after a figure so controversial, especially when many parties would probably not consent? Mr. Yadav comments, “It is a demand and we have all the right to do so. Surely if discussions are done the so-called controversy would also be cleared. That was also one of the purpose[s] of the play where this demand was raised, to bring out the truth.”

Perhaps Savarkar deserves more attention, as do many other Indian revolutionaries in the historiography of the colonial period. Hindutva is a fascinating read, despite its holes and problems. Given today’s reality, it would only be wise to better understand the fountainhead of this ideology.

Yet, why should a university student union office be named after a political figure? Why can’t the name of the office remain apolitical, in spite of all the student politics around it? Moreover, why only Savarkar? What will the ABVP’s reaction be if the Left parties demand that the Office be named after, say, M.N. Roy?

 

Feature Image Credits: DU Beat Archives

Prateek Pankaj

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Two videos showing people dancing and playing Ludo, respectively, in the DUSU office have gone viral on social media platforms. Baisoya and ABVP denied knowledge of the incident and of the people in the videos.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) has landed in a precarious position another time after Ankiv Baisoya has taken charge of the office as the President of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU). This time two videos are the cause behind the situation, where one has been doing rounds across social media platforms and the other was originally uploaded to Facebook- on the profile of an individual named ‘ViNii Nam Bardar Abvp’.

As per the videos, the setting has been recognised to be the DUSU Office, presided over by Ankiv Baisoya. The first video shows three men dancing to a song in a regional language in front of the board displaying the DUSU Presidents’ names. The person who shot the video remains unidentified. The second video has people playing the game Ludo in the DUSU Vice-Presidential Office, with conversations amongst the men continuing in Hindi. One person in the video is also shown to tell over a phone conversation to somebody, “Main yahin hoon abhi(I am here only right now)”. Baisoya himself is not present in any of the videos. One of the three men dancing around the Presidential chair has been identified as Vinit Bansal who, according to his profile on Facebook, affiliates himself as a member of the ABVP. The profile also claims him to be a student of BA Programme at Kirori Mal College of the University of Delhi.

As reported by The Quint, members of the ABVP have stated sternly against the knowledge of any such incident while it was ongoing. DU Beat contacted Ankiv Baisoya who went on record to state the following- “Jo log thee us video mein vo mere jankar nahi hai, nahi vo ABVP se belong karte hai (The people who were present in the video are not known to me, nor do they belong to ABVP). They were present in the office during my absence, and I have told my office staff that these things should not happen, and if someone is forcefully trying to do this then tell me, I will take strict actions against them. I am even planning to file a complaint against these people, who forcefully entered my room when I was not present.” When questioned further about the affiliations of Vinit Bansal with ABVP, Baisoya did not respond.

According to the report published in The Quint, there has been a consensus of disapproval by the student leaders in the university, who are sternly against the lack of appropriate conduct and an insult of the decorum expected in the office of the student leaders. Saimon Farooqui, the National Secretary and Media In-Charge of the majority opposition party- National Students’ Union of India, went on record to state, “Ankiv Baisoya and the ABVP have continuously been mocking the whole DUSU Elections by contesting election by means of fake documents, and then slowing down the investigation process through bigotry. NSUI demands action on these three students and on Ankiv Baisoya as well for letting down the prestige of the office.”

 

Feature Image Credits: Hindustan Times

Anushree Joshi
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