DU in the grip of election fever

It’s action time not only in Delhi but across the country as temperatures rise and political activity becomes intense on account of the General Election, which is just a week away.

Political parties are busy with their campaigning, meeting and wooing people from their constituency, even as animated political debates on and off the small screen add to election-time hoopla. 

Keeping the action alive is Delhi University (DU), which apart from its academic credentials is also considered to be a stepping stone for those who want to make a career in politics.

The University these days is witnessing a lot of action-packed campaigning by the youth wings of the leading political parties – National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) of Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the recent entrant, Aam Aadmi Party, respectively.

Last year the Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate,  Narendra Modi addressed the students at the SRCC Business Conclave, urging the youth to be part of nation-building.

He spoke about India’s growth, importance of good governance and also on the quality of education.

Impressed, many a youngster decided to get into active politics.

Adding to the anti-Congress wave in the campus, the ABVP is leaving no stone unturned in their campaigning for Narendra Modi.  

Rohit Chahal from ABVP, said, “We have started a campaign ‘Vote for India 272’, where we have gone to more than 10 universities (both private and government) in Delhi and registered students as our volunteers.

We have been able to enrol 25, 000 volunteers for our campaigning.

We have also distributed T-shirts, badges and pamphlets at 100 Metro stations; have gone to more than 150 markets, including Lajpat Nagar, Sarojini Nagar and even the weekly markets for campaigning in which these volunteers have helped us a lot.

We are also organising nukkad nataks all across Delhi, focussing on the achievements of Narendra Modi, the corruption-ridden Congress, price rise, employment and security of women.

Other than door-to-door campaigning, we have three rock bands by the students of DU and two chariots – all working on one thing – campaigning for Narendra Modi.”

And that is quite a lot!
But, if the ABVP is doing so much, can NSUI lag behind?

Amrish Pandey from the NSUI, says, “We have taken an initiative wherein we have made a manifesto, taking ideas of students from all over India on what they want, what they expect from their leaders and have handed it over to the mother party, i.e., the Congress. We are also making the first-time voters aware about the importance of their votes and how exercising their franchise is important for this nation.”

Elaborating on NSUI’s  plans and talking about the new party on the block, AAP, Amrish, said, “They have run away from their responsibilities and have let down the people. We are not bothered about them, our only opposition is BJP and not AAP.”

No matter what other parties say, AAP did what no other party could do.

It has changed the whole game plan of the biggest parties in India, the way elections will be fought, especially with ‘corruption and probity’ as its theme song. 

Bhupinder Choudhary, a history professor in DU and an active member of AAP, said, “Why I support AAP is because they have raised issues that no other parties have raised ever before.
Like us (teachers) and students, even AAP is against the FYUP and wants the rollback of the current academic structure. We have our youth wing units in 54 colleges and are getting a great response from the students who equally want the betterment of our education system.”