The administration of the University of Delhi (DU), on the 3rd September, has decided to make voting in the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections mandatory for all students in colleges affiliated to the DUSU.
The official announcement was made by the Dean of Student Welfare of DU, Dr. Surabhi, in a press conference held on Tuesday. In conversation with DU Beat, she said, “Those who don’t vote in the elections will not be give attendance for the rest of the academic year.” This decision has come at the wake of a mere43% voter turnout in last year’s DUSU elections. To differentiate between students who vote and those who do not, the left hand index finger of every student will be marked with black ink when they come to cast their vote. For the rest of the academic year, their attendance in class will not be registered if they do not get the electoral stain on their index finger on the day of polling.
This decision has been met with mixed reactions from the student and teacher community of DU. Sandeep Samal,
the presidential candidate of the Akhil Bharatiya Unnati Parishad (ABUP), told DU Beat, “This is a strong step to fight the belief that your vote does not matter, especially for those who wish to make a change.” On the other hand, this has been considered a gross manipulation of students’ concerns by many. A group of more than 60 students sat down in dharna against this decision in front of the DUSU office at North Campus, on 4th September. A student protester said, “The DU administration is playing a distasteful game with us. They know that attendance is an elementary need for survival in the University. If we do not have 67% attendance, we will not be allowed to sit for our semester examinations. They have, thus, targeted us at our weakest link.”
Professor Karan Singhania of the Faculty of Arts, who lent support to the protesters, remarked, “I understand that voting is important to maintain a healthy political environment in the varsity. However, how can you force the students to exercise this right when there are no politically healthy contenders to represent them?” While voting in the elections is imperative to retain the democratic spirit of student politics in the varsity, is compelling the students to vote by keeping their attendance at stake a democratic policy? This remains a bone of contention between the administration and the student community of DU today. To momentarily pacify the naysayers, the Dean of Student Welfare has decided to hold a high-level meeting of the Executive Council on 7th September.
Disclaimer: Bazinga is our weekly column of almost believable fake news. It is only to be appreciated and not accepted.
Even though each DU college has its own students’ union, the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) is the body that encompasses most of the colleges and faculties that are affiliated with it.
DUSU is a students’ organisation that handles politics at a university level. With the University of Delhi (DU) being
one of the biggest central universities of India, their position becomes all the more important and they go on
to decide the mood of the political environment of the country. They have a constitution with objectives
like ‘promoting the spirit of oneness among students’ and ‘service towards the state’. DUSU is also responsible for organising debates, meetings, and programmes for the students. DUSU’s most important function, however, is making representations to the University authorities on matters concerning the students.
Known to be one of India’s largest student elections, the DUSU elections happen every year in either the month of August or September. As announced by the University, the elections for this year will be held on 12th September. The elections for the Delhi University Students’ Union are by direct voting of the students of the colleges affiliated
with it. The panel consists of a duly elected President, Vice President, Secretary and Joint-Secretary. For the year 2017-18, Rocky Tuseed was the President of DUSU, Kunal Sehrawat was the Vice-President, both from the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), while Mahamedhaa Nagar was elected Secretary and Uma Shankar, the Joint Secretary, representing the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).
However, colleges like St. Stephen’s College, Lady Shri Ram College, and Jesus and Mary College are not affiliated with DUSU. In fact, most of the girls’ colleges don’t associate themselves with the Union. They have their own internal students’ unions to represent their issues in front of the college authorities. The manifestos of the parties remain focussed on women security, affordable hostel facilities, proper implementation of the Choice Based Credit System (CBCS), anti-ragging, and anti-discriminatory practices and so on.
The major parties contesting for the DUSU are the ABVP of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the NSUI of the Indian National Congress (INC). For the past few years, the presidents have been members of either of these two
parties. As they campaign vigorously, aggressive competition is witnessed between them.
Apart from these two giants, there are parties like the All India Students’ Association (AISA) of the Communist Party of India -MarxistLeninst, the Indian National Students’ Organisation, and Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of the Aam Aadmi Party. This year, CYSS and AISA have decided to contest DUSU elections together. They will raise issues like student passes in AC buses, decrease in metro fares, 24-hour library facility, and installation of CCTV cameras.
DUSU has been a gateway to real-world politics for many of its former members, and several of them now hold office at the local and central governments. Leaders like Arun Jaitley, Ajay Maken, Vijay Goel, Vijay Jolly, Alka Lamba, etc., have been union members of the DUSU in their time in DU as students.
With campuses littered with a sea of campaign posters and blaring voices on megaphones promising better infrastructure, the DUSU elections are worth all the hype they get. Because it is the voice of the youth that goes on to decide what the country will look like in the next few years.
The DUSU we recognise today has its roots in the power tussles, falls, and revolutions of the past. How much has it changed? Read on to find out.
As the capital of this democracy, Delhi has always experienced the uprising of revolutionary, sometimes unsettling, but always a realistic picture of the national politics. The student population of the University of Delhi (DU) comprises of 1.5 lakh diverse individuals today. But back in the time when the University was in its inception stages, the issues faced by the country were still concrete and significant although they were not enormous in number. It is not an unexpected predicament that the Delhi University Students’ Union has been addressing and even reflecting the politics of a much larger realm since 1954, when the first polls of the DUSU elections were held.
Paving a path for prominent positions in the national political parties of India, DUSU has had a history of producing leaders who proved their motivation. During the Emergency in the nation, the then General Secretary of DUSU was allegedly jailed and subjected to torture for raising a voice against the advent of fascism. Moulding, adjusting, and
treading the tightrope of similar ideals, the present day parties contesting in the DUSU elections draw a lot of
their narrative, structure, policies, and campaigning methodologies from their older counterparts.
Mirroring the hyped affairs of the contrasting politics of the two most popular political factions today- the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party on one hand and the Indian National Congress on the other- the DUSU elections of 2018 might create an illusion of a power struggle only between the student units of the said political bodies, namely the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the National Students’ Union of India, respectively. The truth is – like a national democracy cripples without the existence of real choice in its representatives, student governance too suffers a downfall. This is why, choices and political parties have come, gone, and changed through the course of DUSU’s journey.
For instance, the Indian National Students’ Organisation stemmed as the student wing of the Indian National Lok Dal and enjoys strong favorability in the state of Haryana at present. In the year 2008, INSO contributed to a seemingly radical initiative for that time by reportedly being the first party to field a male candidate from the Sikh community for one of the four office bearers in the central panel at the DUSU elections. This report published in The Hindu provides a clarity of thought to the understanding of numerous parties’ participation in bringing the University’s politics to the forefront.
Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti, a relatively nascent organisation, joining forces with the left-wing All India Students’ Association, may seem like an unprecedented move, for the politics at DU, but the very foundation of the much notable NSUI was laid by the then Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Saimon Farooqui, the National Secretary at NSUI, told DU Beat that the 2013 DUSU elections were a crutial determinant of the Vidhan Sabha and the Lok Sabha political upheaval and outcome. He believes that the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 too find a significant sway with the DUSU politics for this term.
Almost six decades later, DUSU has seen a plethora of political tussle, and a vision for the future of this University and the capital must not be forgetful of the history that changed its course in every way.
Kawalpreet Kaur, President of AISA was allegedly attacked on Friday in front of Kirori Mal College. DU Beat brings you a report on the incident.
In a Facebook post, Kawalpreet Kaur, the President of All India Student’s Association (AISA) at University of Delhi (DU) alleged that she had been attacked by the students of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in front of the hostel gate of the Kirori Mal College (KMC). She alleged that she, along with two of her friends, had gone to KMC for meeting a professor, where she was followed by a group of four people who “constantly abused” her. “It made me feel very humiliated and provoked me so much that my natural response was to slap him which I did. Immediately, without losing a second, the guy slapped me so tightly that I lost my balance for seconds and I had tears in my eyes,” Ms. Kaur said in her post. Her friend, Dhiraj Kumar, a Research Scholar at Ambedkar University, chased after the person who slapped her and was then assaulted by 12-15 people from the ABVP, the post mentioned.
DU Beat contacted Mr. Kumar, who had returned from the hospital after undergoing an X-ray test. “We were humiliated by two people from ABVP. When I saw that the guy who had slapped Kawal, was running away after slapping her, I started screaming that he had slapped a girl and ran away. The KMC guards who were there did not stop him and the guy escaped. I followed the guy and I saw around five ABVP people who accused me of chanting slogans like “Hindustan Murdabad”, when I denied them. They started beating me and they beat me a lot. They were trying to drag me outside the college but I tried to not come out. Around 15-20 people started to beat me up. Then, two people got hold of my legs and dragged me outside. The guards waiting did not even help me. In fact, they demanded I show them my ID,” Mr. Kumar told us.
“Finally, a teacher saw me from a rickshaw and controlled the people beating me. Then I quickly got into the college and the beating stopped. And I told the professor what happened. Later the police took me to the hospital and I was in the hospital for around 5-6 hours,” Mr. Kumar added.
Kawalpreet Kaur later filed a complaint against the incident in the Maurice Nagar Police station. In a Facebook post, she also named two people who she claimed were among the attackers, Sandeep Sharma, a first year B.A. honours student at KMC and Mohit Dahiya, the President of the KMC unit of ABVP.
Counter allegations from ABVP
When DU Beat contacted the Bharat Khatana, the Delhi State Secretary at ABVP for a statement, he said that Mohit Dahiya had been wrongfully implicated. “This is election propaganda by AISA. Whoever did this was wrong because one shouldn’t raise your hand on a girl. But Sandeep Sharma is not a part of ABVP. Mohit bhaiyya is a part of ABVP, but he is not involved in the incident at all…I just met them at the police station. The police questioned Mohit bhaiyya and Sandeep, checked the CCTV footage from the college and then released Mohit bhaiyya.”
Accusing Ms. Kaur for making wrong allegations, Mr. Khatana added, “Kawalpreet was the first to slap Sandeep Sharma. We have filed a counter-complaint against Kawalpreet Kaur for wrongfully implicating Mohit bhaiyya. Both Sandeep and Kawalpreet slapped each other. There is no involvement of ABVP here. This is just a plot to wrongfully accuse ABVP in anything (wrong) that happens in the college.”
DU Beat also talked to Mohit Dahiya who blamed Ms. Kaur for making a false accusation. “Me and my friend were simply going towards the parking. I saw Kawalpreet and her two friends were contesting, were fighting with Sandeep Sharma. One of her friends said that here are two goondas from ABVP (at us). Sandeep had been ragged by Kawalpreet and others. I was standing away and I ran away to complain to the Principal office. I had no role in this.”
Mr. Dahiya, in turn, shared a video of two people from AISA, Shreya and Tanmay, who came to “threaten” him about his alleged role in the incident. In the video, Tanmay is seen to be saying before walking away, “Tell us who those two people were.” Shreya joined in saying, “You are a student of the college. You should have some shame that girls come here and you slap them.”
When Shreya, an activist of AISA, was asked about her comments, she told DU Beat, “We know that Mohit Dahiya was not directly involved in the violence. But he was there the whole time, he provoked them (the mob) that these were people from AISA and he was involved completely. When me and Tanmay went there because we were so angry with what happened with Kawalpreet, we looked for Mohit Dahiya, and we obviously asked them that who were those people. Mohit Dahiya and Rajat Choudhury were there and they started to be disrespectful to us. Such people should be dealt in such a way. If they behave with us like us, as a woman I am not going to stay quiet. It’s enough that they think that the girls won’t say anything even if we are faced with violence.”
Kawalpreet Kaur was recently also allegedly assaulted by a mob at Satyawati College. She accused the ABVP for being responsible for the incident. In a recent post, she accused the ABVP for spreading “vicious hate propaganda” against her, and trying to “delegitimize the incidents of harassment” faced by her. Regardless of the allegations from both sides, it is increasingly clear that this is one of the most violent election seasons at DU.
Feature Image Credits: Kawalpreet Kaur on Facebook
The NSUI made a public declaration of policy and aims, especially one issued before an election by a political party or candidate on the 27th of August. Here’s all you need about their goals and promises.
On Monday, 27th August 2018, The National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) announced it’s manifesto with respect to the 2018 Delhi University Students’ Unions (DUSU) Elections. At the NSUI Office near Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, a panel of NSUI student leaders stood before a room packed with journalists and photographers, as they announced their goals and promises for the upcoming year, should NSUI win.
Ruchi Gupta, Joint Secretary, NSUI began by stating the core principles of NSUI; progress, freedom, diversity and empowerment. She emphasized five primary objectives, namely –
Demand for Institute of Eminence status for University of Delhi.
Owing to the substandard global rankings of even the best Indian academic institutions, the government decided that three private and three public universities will be declared as Institutes of Eminence. These Institutions of Eminence would be given significant autonomy in operations — from setting their curriculum and recruiting foreign faculty to entering academic tie-ups. The selected government institutions would also be given up to ?1,000 crore over five years to help them become world-class. The ultimate objective is for these Institutions of Eminence to acquire global standing in a few years.
The NSUI raised objections over UGC’s rejection of DU as an institute of eminence, and even brought up the controversy of DU being Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged alma-mater. They emphasised of the controversy of Jio Institute being names as an Institute of Eminence, but the central government has already addressed it, saying Jio comes under the ‘greenfield’ category- the status will only be given on evaluation of performance after three years.
A campaign to identify 100 young women leaders in DU, to be mentored by former Chief Minister of Delhi, Ms Sheila Dixit.
The Pehli-Pidi programme focuses on first generation college students, under which 100 women will be identified and trained.This is an extension of NSUI’s vision to inculcate women into leadership roles, that they have previously worked upon by releasing a Women’s Manifesto ahead of Elections and by enabling the installment of Sanitary Pad Vending Machines in 32 DU Colleges.
Demand for subsidized Meal Thali for Rs. 10/- each.
They highlighted that over 70% of students are from economically weaker sections of society, and claimed that since IITs and IIMs provide subsidized food to their students, it would only be fair for DU students to expectthe same.
Concessional Student passes in Delhi Metro and DTC Buses.
Bringing light to the metro rail concessions available to students in Kolkata, the panel highlighted why a similar concession is important to DU students. Mentioning a well known incident where NSUI members jumped on metro tracks as protest, the members claimed that NSUI has been successful putting a break to metro fare hikes till 2020.
Demand for distribution of free laptops among DU students.
This demand has infamously been opposed by the CBCS in the past, and the panel was vague regarding the logistics of implementation and funding of this idea.
Fairoz Khan, National President NSUI took the floor to highlight NSUI’s achievements in the previous year. He talked about 24*7 library services for students brought about, installation of sanitary pad Vending Machines in 32 colleges and the launch of D-Youth, the first ever DU magazine, which was infamously interrupted by several ABVP members.
The panel claimed that the entry of CYSS into the 2018 elections was with the underlying agenda of dividing up anti-ABVP votes and bring down the gap in the ratio of votes. The panel also expressed grievances regarding the paucity of campaigning time available to them, which leads to confusion, uncertainty and mistrust among young voters. They also addressed the low voting turnout, and claimed the underlying reason for the same is mere 4 hours voting time provided to colleges with strengths of 3000+ students, a majority of which are first time EVM users.
Budget cuts, lack of transparency, poor infrastructure for differently-abled, discriminatory hostel timings for women, women’s safety and security were a few miscellaneous issues brought forward by the panel.
The modus operandi of NSUI for 2018-19 is fairly promising and inclusive of the welfare of all DU students. Feature Image Credits – Adithya Khanna for DU Beat
The Chatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) is all set to make a comeback to the University of Delhi’s (DU) scene of student politics this year.
The Aam Aadmi Party’s student wing, the Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), will contest the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) polls, to be held in September 2018. The announcement was made by Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Monday, at an event at DU’s North Campus. CYSS President Sumit Yadav, along with AAP MLAs Ajesh Yadav and Pankaj Pushkar, was also present on the occasion.
Mr. Rai was the Chief Guest at the ‘Talk of the Country’ programme organised by the CYSS, where he reminisced about the revolutionary spirit of students and youth which played an integral part in bringing about positive change in Indian history. He advocated the aim of the CYSS to steer student politics in DU towards a positive direction.
After their infamous debut in 2015, the CYSS had decided to boycott the DUSU elections citing that the ‘Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations’ were not being followed at the University. These recommendations are a set of guidelines regarding eligibility criteria of candidates, transparency in expenditure during elections as well as the barring of candidates from re-contesting, irrespective of whether they’ve won or lost in the election.
Notably, many quarters of the varsity are apprehensive about the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) approach to politics and means of exerting influence. They are of the belief that the students at DU have grown accustomed to expecting freebies, such as free food coupons and movie tickets along with extensive traffic jams caused by party campaign vehicles, in the eve of the DUSU polls.
The entry of CYSS could either be a breath of fresh air in student politics at DU or it could simply remain as an instrument to which the people would attribute the success (or lack thereof) of the AAP in New Delhi. Regardless, the build-up to the 2018 DUSU elections is intense, and perhaps it holds promise for change.
A senior leader of the ABVP and DUSU Secretary Mahamedhaa Nagar accuses DUSU Vice-President and member of the NSUI Kunal Sehrawat of stealing credit in what appears to be a tussle over the installation of sanitary napkin vending machines in DU colleges.
In a recent move by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Student’s Union of India(NSUI)-led Delhi University Student’s Union (DUSU), 56 colleges of the University of Delhi (DU) have received sanitary napkin vending machines. Each of these machines can store up to 25 napkins and can be accessed by the students.
The journey of installing these machines in all of these colleges began on the 22nd of January 2018 when Mahamedhaa Nagar, Secretary of DUSU, had organised a women’s marathon in association with the Sky Touch Foundation. The aim of the marathon was to question the tax imposed on sanitary napkins and the stigma surrounding menstruation. The marathon was flagged off by Akshay Kumar who was invited as the Chief Guest of the event. He was there to promote his movie ‘PadMan’ which spoke on the same issue. On the same day, Mahamedhaa had made the announcement of setting up sanitary napkin vending machines in all colleges affiliated to DU. Akshay Kumar and the two ABVP members occupying the DUSU had also launched 10 sanitary napkin vending machines on the same day.
Mahamedhaa wrote a letter to the Vice Chancellor of DU on the 15th of January 2018 regarding her announcement. He had welcomed the move and had also circulated the letter to all DU college Principals to take necessary steps.
Image Credits: Mahamedhaa Nagar, Secretary of DUSU
But, in a recent letter signed by the Assistant Registrar of DU, DUSU’s Vice President Kunal Sehrawat has also been given permission to set up sanitary napkin vending machines in the premises of WUS Health Centre and the Utility Centre, both of which are situated in the North Campus of DU.
Image Credits: Kunal Sehrawat, Vice President of DUSU
In a conversation with DU Beat, Sehrawat said, “As per the research and data procured, we have found that 60% of the total students across DU are females. Also, 15 colleges are solely for girls. In addition to that, we also have females including teachers and administration staff. Our main aim of launching and installing sanitary napkin vending machines are affordability, to eradicate social taboo associated with it, easy accessibility and spreading awareness among the youth.”
To resolve this confusion, DU Beat contacted Mahamedhaa Nagar. She informed the DU Beat correspondent that she had written a letter to the VC for the installation of the machines in DU colleges in January. The VC had replied back in March by welcoming the initiative. However, by then, she had already contacted the Principals of various DU colleges and installed the sanitary napkin vending machines in 20 to 25 colleges. Nagar also informed that they have offered a year’s free maintenance of the machines installed in the DU colleges. She mentioned, “Before starting the process of installation, I did a small survey. I approached the Principals of different colleges and asked what features they are looking for in a sanitary napkin vending machine. I found, for instance, that Hindu College already had a vending machine, but the problem was the quality of sanitary napkins the machine provided.” She had also sent out a proposal to the Ministry of Women and Child Development to help her with the setting up of machines. The CSR Research Foundation had helped Mahamedhaa in getting the sponsors for the sanitary napkin vending machines. By now she has installed such machines in 56 colleges and 8 schools.
When Kunal Sehrawat was asked to comment on the same, he said, “Who gets the credit really doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is that some work should happen for a noble cause. The students and the society should benefit from the same.”
NSUI alleges that their magazine launch, which was slotted to be held earlier today, was cancelled due to ABVP involvement.
A magazine launch event organised by the NSUI-led DUSU which was to be held in the University Conference Center on 31st July, 2018 was abruptly cancelled and the organizing students were barred from entering the University Campus. The National Student’s Union of India (NSUI) alleged the involvement of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the cancellation and refused to budge, despite barricades being put in front of the Dean’s office by the police.
The event which was supposed to be attended by University of Delhi (DU) Professor of Hindi, Dr. Apoorvanand Jha, the founding Editor of The Wire, Siddharth Vardarajan and Member of Parliament (MP) Rajeev Gowda, was supposed to be on Freedom of Speech and Expression.
In a dramatic turn of events, the NSUI and the invited guests decided to launch the magazine in front of the police barricades under protest. The guests also delivered short speeches on the freedom of speech and expression while claiming that the spaces for creative freedom were increasingly lessening in the country.
Allegations of interference
Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat
The event was initially supposed to launch the first ever student magazine of DU named DYouth. The magazine which featured various articles by students of DU as well on-record interviews given by people like P. Chindambaram, Subramaniam Swamy, Yogendra Yadav, Sheila Dixit, Prashant Bhushan, Sunita Narain and Karan Thapar among others, was edited by a team of editors from the colleges of DU.
Ruchi Gupta, the NSUI’s National-in-charge, while speaking to DU Beat, claimed that the NSUI had obtained prior permission to launch the magazine in the Conference Center. “This permission has been cancelled at the last minute at the behest of a complaint by ABVP goons who are only able to understand the language of guns. They bring guns inside DUSU office and NSUI will not be allowed to launch a magazine.” she added. Ms. Gupta and several other members of the NSUI publicly condemned the cancellation after the magazine was launched under protest in front of the Dean’s office.
DU Beat spoke to several sources in the organising team of the event and they all alleged that the ABVP was putting pressure on the administration to cancel the event at the last moment. However, another source on the condition of anonymity, said that things were “too quiet for the ABVP to be involved.”
AISA’s Kawalpreet Kaur, who was also present, extended support to the NSUI in a public speech claiming that she was upset as a student of the University because of the condition of politics in the campus. “We remember last year when there was a programme held by RSS here in the presence of Subramaniam Swamy and the ABVP waved saffron flags here inside the campus, indulging in hooliganism. We didn’t throw stones at them at that time. Neither did we cancel that programme. We agreed that there should be dialogue within this University. We still remember the episode at Ramjas college where the teachers were brutally attacked by the ABVP. And today, at the eleventh hour, the launch of a magazine by NSUI, which should be a cause for celebration for every student, has been cancelled and bizarre arguments have been put forward in support,” Ms. Kaur added.
Perturbed dignitaries
Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat
The three dignitaries invited strongly criticised the sudden cancellation of the event. Mr. Vardarajan, speaking to DU Beat said, “I think it is very unfortunate that the DU administration did not allow this programme to happen. The irony is that we were going to discuss freedom of expression. And our own freedom of expression has been compromised in this way.”
When asked what he thought about the allegations of ABVP’s involvement in the same, he added, “I don’t know the facts because I am not from here. But the ABVP across the country has been well known to object to all acts of democratic expression that they don’t agree with. I was myself a victim of ABVP intolerance at Allahabad University when they wouldn’t let me speak. So if this has happened in Delhi University, it’s quite believable.”
DU Beat also asked Mr. Jha about the allegations of ABVP meddling in the cancellation of the event. While Mr. Jha denied knowing why the event was cancelled, he also added, “I can say from my experience that University spaces are being made inaccessible to people for open discussion and that is, in a way, dismantling this University. A simple release function is now being forced to be seen as protest, which is very telling.”
Rajeev Gowda, a professor of IIM-Banglore, claimed that the clamp down on NSUI’s launch was a symptom of events across the country. He attacked the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for all the instances under them where freedom of expression has been threatened claiming, “In a few miles away from where Prime Minister Modi rules the country, you are able to see that freedom of expression has no meaning but there are still people willing to stand up and fight for the fundamental right that we have enshrined in the Constitution.”
The other side of the story
Rishabh Gogoi for DU Beat
DU Beat spoke with several policemen on the scene who were all unwilling to answer our questions. They directed us towards the people in charge, including the Deputy Proctor, Dr. Anupam Jha. On speaking to DU Beat, Dr. Jha claimed that the NSUI was misleading the people and that proper permission for the event had not been taken. “We are just abiding by the High Court’s orders which have upheld the decision to disqualify Rocky Tuseed’s candidature as DUSU President,” he added. Mr. Tuseed’s candidature had been revoked by the Delhi High Court previously due to his inability to release the details of the disciplinary action taken against him during his undergraduate study.
In an attempt to know more, DU Beat also contacted Mahamedha Nagar, the secretary of DUSU, who denied allegations of ABVP’s interference. “Why should we allow a magazine which has been just spearheaded by a Vice-President or a Joint Secretary, under the banner of DUSU? Was the money that was used for the magazine, in the name of DUSU, only the right of a President, and that too, a President who is no more a President? There is nothing about DUSU in the magazine. No suggestions were taken. I don’t think it makes sense to launch such a magazine under any venue of DU.”
While both NSUI and AISA have issued several official statements condemning the ABVP for their alleged involvement, it remains to be seen where the discussion on freedom of speech and expression takes us.
Rocky Tuseed’s post as DUSU President has been held ineligible in a recent judgement by the Delhi High Court. His candidacy was being questioned for quite some time regarding criminal charges filed against him. Now finally, it seems some concrete rulings are going to be out.
Rocky Tuseed (or Rocky Tuseer according to campaign posters and graffiti) broke a dry spell of five decades by winning the President’s post with a margin of 1590 votes. However, since the very beginning, his records seemed to have grey areas which raised more than a few brows. Tuseed himself trumped several challenges to get elected and hold on to his post.
To begin with, the Delhi University’s Chief Election Officer initially rejected his presidential candidature, following the guidelines of the Lyngdoh committee, citing disciplinary action taken against him during his undergraduate days in Shivaji College. This was challenged in the High Court where he was backed by political hotshots like P. Chidambaram and Vivek Tankha. As a result, he managed to turn the tables in his favour, and even generated a “sympathy wave” for himself.
An application by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad’s (ABVP) Rajat Chaudhary, however, unleashed a new maelstrom, claiming that an FIR was lodged against Tuseed for an attempt to murder, which had caused him to remain in custody. The court took immediate action issuing notices to the DUSU President and Delhi University. Tuseed in his defence asserted that his name was unnecessarily dragged as he was politically active. Tuseed and the NSUI claim the matter has ended and it is unnecessarily being dragged now. Now finally when Tuseed has completed more than half of his first tenure as DUSU President, a 37-page final verdict by the Delhi High Court has become a barricade on the NSUI’s road to next DUSU election.
The ruling pointedly states, ““The issue raised in the petition goes to the root (of) whether the petitioner (Tuseed) could at all stand for election to the post of president. The answer to which is no.” As reported by the Indian Express, Tuseed’s counsel said they will appeal against the order before a larger bench.
ABVP members have seen this ruling as a major win as this judgement echoes their allegations against Rocky Tuseed aka “a leader who has hardly contributed to anything in the University”, as one of the ABVP media heads remarked.
With his nomination canceled, Rocky Tuseed would have to step down and resign, which might be a fatal blow NSUI’s reputation. The tarnished image of an NSUI leader so close to the 2018 elections might pave the way for ABVP’s victory
The Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) will hold a meeting in June with all stakeholders and volunteers to decide ways to beautify the 11 Delhi metro stations that were defaced during the election campaign of 2017.
As a follow-up to a petition filed in the Delhi High Court, the court had instructed the students and candidates of different student political units to work with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to restore its defaced property across the city, last month.
In a phone call conversation with the DU Beat correspondent, DUSU President Rocky Tusheed had said, “Responding to the petition filed in the Delhi High Court by Mr. Prashant Manchanda, the DMRC had called a meeting with us. As soon as exams are over, preferably in the first week of June, we will hold a meeting to decide on how to go about with the beautification process.”
When asked how he planned to beautify the metro stations, he said “We won’t be able to restore it exactly to the original state. But we will beautify it through paintings and decorated tiles and the like. We have recognised 76 sites as of now.”
When he was asked by this correspondent whether it will be a joint initiative by the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) and NSUI (National Students’ Union of India) since members of both currently occupy DUSU, he commented, “We have invited volunteers and all respondents of the petition. Since the defacing was done by almost all student units, the responsibility falls upon us to beautify it as well.”
The National Media Convener of the ABVP, Saket Bahuguna, told DU Beat, “Last year, many metro stations were defaced by different candidates and organisations. All 4 office bearers of DUSU have a responsibility to clean up the mess. So they were called by the court with this regard.”
Responding to a question on the uneasy nexus between the ABVP and NSUI office bearers within DUSU, Mr. Bahuguna said, “This is not about politics. This is an initiative taken by DUSU. But we extend our complete support to them, because we have a collective responsibility to keep our University and city clean.”
Making a unique recommendation on how this ‘politics of pamphlets and posters’ can be controlled, he remarked, “What can be done to counter this menace is, the University should mandate every college to earmark one ‘wall of democracy’ dedicated to election campaigning. It is virtually impossible for one candidate to reach out to 1.43 lakh students without posters, since the entire process of election campaign for DUSU takes place within a span of 4-5 days.”
NSUI in-charge Ruchi Gupta said her organisation would do away with posters during this year’s election campaign. “We will put up flexes and run a vigorous online campaign. Our campaign will be progressive and issue-based and thus will not need to fall back on posters.”
Notably, the DMRC has told the court that restoring the identified 76 sites would cost over INR 16 lakh and take six months’ time.
Some of the stations identified by the DMRC are R K Ashram, Kuhat Enclave, Vishwavidyalaya, Rajouri Garden, Vidhan Sabha, Shivaji Park, Civil Lines, and Pitampura.
