A day after Delhi University Students’ Union elections, which declared BJP students’ wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad as the winner, teachers and students are of the opinion that the majority supported the party opposing the newly implemented Four-Year Undergraduate Programme in the varsity.
“If a students’ union cannot take up students’ issues, then what is the point of becoming leaders. The students are repeatedly resisting against FYUP and the administration is turning a blind eye,” said Shraddha Mrig, a first-year student.
Review
“If the authorities feel that they are correct then why can’t FYUP be reviewed by an impartial party with members from both the sides? Last I remember, we still live in a democracy,” she said.
This year’s Delhi University teachers’ Association (DUTA) elections were also based on opposition to FYUP as one of the main agendas.
“The teachers and students have voted against FYUP. The voices of dissent is growing, the varsity is responsible to answer our questions,” said Heena Potaliya, first-year Mathematics student.
Third contender
This year’s DUSU elections also brought a strong third contender, left-leaning All India Students’ Association (AISA) which teachers think is the beginning of alternative politics in the campus dominated by National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) since last many years.
AISA has been campaigning against FYUP since long, with many students supporting it to scrap the programme.
AISA vote has increased by nearly three times. In 2012 they got about 2,800 votes (Presidential) and this time about 8,200.
Counting on in JNU
Meanwhile in Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ Union(JNUSU) elections, counting for the posts in the central panel of the union was still going on till past midnight.
“After counting of 2,955 votes (all schools completed except School of Languages AISA candidates are leading by comfortable margins in the posts of President, Vice President, General Secretary,” said Zico Dasgupta, member, DSF.
“Democratic Students’ Federation (DSF) is second in president and vice president, National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) is second in general secretary. In Joint Secretary post DSF is leading AISA by 226 votes. There are 301 blank votes in the joint secretary post,” he said.