DUSU polls: progressive politics or tokenism?

Some students’ groups vow equality, others bat for women’s safety; university-level reforms take a backseat

September 09, 2019 01:29 am | Updated 08:16 am IST - New Delhi

Ahead of DUSU elections on September 12, students seen campaigning on campus.

Ahead of DUSU elections on September 12, students seen campaigning on campus.

Signs of the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union elections can be seen at every corner of North Campus. Campaign posters and pamphlets urging students to “Join ABVP” or “Join NSUI” cover billboards, university walls, and litter the roads.

Ahead of polls on September 12, the students’ groups are making tall promises to remove inequality, fight for women’s safety, send students to the Olympics and procure concessional passes for the metro.

Post-poll scenario

“But as soon as all this is over, all these student leaders will disappear,” said Associate Professor of political science at Ramjas College Tanvir Aeijaz, who has written many articles on the DUSU elections. In public, these students raise issues with regard to infrastructure improvements and other university reforms but after the polls, their prime objective becomes running college-level festivals and solving problems like attendance requirements, he said, adding: “There is no real attention paid to university-level reforms like changes in the evaluation process or admissions reforms.”

Among the primary contenders are candidates of the RSS-backed Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and the Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI). The ABVP’s candidates for the post of president Pradeep Tanwar and secretary Yogith Rathe are both recent graduates of Ramjas College.

DUSU polls have long been a bipolar contest said Mr. Aeijaz. “Both groups act similarly with shows of money and muscle power. One can see this in the posters floating around campus, volunteers soliciting students, SUVs bearing names of candidates,” he said.

He said ideally a third left front should also be part of the contest. This time, both the All India Students’ Association [AISA] and the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) have put up presidential candidates. However, with the rise of a new crop of leaders among left groups, Mr. Aeijaz believes there is a resurgence on campus. Mr. Rathe is now campaigning to fight “anti-national” elements in North campus, he said.

Apart from this, there is also a larger growing interest in politics, perhaps a result of the polarised national discourse, he said.

Many promises

The ABVP, which was in power last year, has released several objectives related to reforms in campus, examinations, curriculum, results and admissions, better infrastructure, inclusivity for LGBTQ students, free education for transgender students, and remedial classes for SC/ST students.

The group has also released a “manifesto for female students”.

On the other hand, AISA has come out with 12 major objectives, including reforms in the functioning of the DUSU and the election procedures involved, concessional transport facilities, committees to look into harassment and provision of basic infrastructure.

The NSUI has given itself a broad mandate to “fight inequality” in all its forms. This is with regard to discrimination faced by people from marginalised communities as well as inequities between colleges of the university. The group said it has put up a woman candidate for the post of president and a Dalit for vice-president. It also said it would fight backdoor privatisation through self-financing courses, ensure timely distribution of scholarships and work towards rationalisation of fees.

“Factors like caste and regional groupings also play a role. These groupings are made in the hostels. When the list of new students enrolled in hostels is put up, it is quite an interesting sight. Groups already present identify individuals based on their names and they then approach them,” he said.

The ABVP, for instance, started its campaigning by meeting with students at hostels and PGs in the university, he added.

Once the campaigning ends, the voting will be governed by a host of statutes and court judgments. There are university-appointed officials, including a Chief Election Officer and Chief Returning Officer, who govern procedural aspects, an anti-defacement committee, a grievance redressal cell, and a law and order committee.

The rules are derived from a model code of conduct, the DUSU constitution, anti-defacement guidelines of the National Green Tribunal, rules dealing with student politics under the Lyngdoh reforms, as well as other court judgments.

Circumventing rules

But the students’ groups circumvent several guidelines such as to do with campaign spending, which is limited to ₹5,000 per candidate and the ban on use of printed posters, among others, said university sources.

For instance, by misspelling the name of a candidate on posters and pamphlets, he or she maintains culpable deniability in case they are hauled up, the sources added. “The Lyngdoh committee recommendations need to be revisited . They were made in 2006 and don’t really hold up now,” said Chief Returning Officer Rupam Kapoor. Since the time of these recommendations, there have been two Pay Commissions added, said Chief Election Officer Ashok Prasad.

“Already there have been at least 11 complaints regarding defacement of property at the Maurice Nagar police station,” he said.

At times, the groups don’t seek votes but simply ask a student to join them, a source said.

Mr. Aeijaz said many reforms on the university-level have come about because of efforts of the teachers’ association.

“Unlike in western countries where student politics tends to be a source of new ideas and is progressive, the politics here is mostly tokenism,” he added.

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