'Parties play petty politics, not concerned about us'
DU students say NSUI, ABVP don’t raise serious issues
Delhi University students are complaining about constant ‘petty politics’ that students parties, specially big players like ABVP and the NSUI, indulge in during DUSU elections instead of bringing out serious student concerns.
The students’ union elections in the varsity are scheduled for September 14.
“A girl was molested during a recent rally by the National Students’ Union of India. While Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad attacked NSUI, calling it irresponsible, NSUI members blamed ABVP saying the latter brought outsiders to damage NSUI’s reputation in front of students, especially during elections,” said Ritika Das, a Philosophy student of Maitereyi College.
She said the molestation issue has been buried in the blame game.
“What if allegations by NSUI members are true? Then it is a pretty bad situation of student politics,” she added.
Students complained about more serious issues like lapses in semester system, problems in checking examination papers and increase in revaluation fee every year, among others.
“Apart from the Left student union, which does not have much presence in DU, none of the visible parties are raising issues related to the semester system,” said Tanmay Singhal, Economics student of Sri Venkateswara College.
He said all parties take pride in telling about their achievements during campaigning and they take credit for the same issues. “The revaluation fee is around Rs 1,000. There are rumours that examination papers are checked by teachers of different subjects due to unavailability of teaching staff,” he added.
Claim, counter claim
Last week, ABVP members complained to the chief election officer about NSUI using printed posters during canvassing.
A similar complaint was filed by NSUI a day later. The Lyngdoh Committee guidelines do not allow use of printed posters during elections.
Ravish, a postgraduate student of History from the Faculty of Arts, said the guidelines are strict in some areas and student parties can use handmade posters without complaining about each other.
“The elections are in six days and parties are still using printed posters. Isn’t it time to stop such immature acts and start taking politics seriously, if they are really in it?” he said.
However, parties denied that they were fighting over petty issues.
