The Hindu : New Delhi News : Accusations mark Day I of DUSU polls run-up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 25, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Accusations mark Day I of DUSU polls run-up

By Our Staff Reporter

NSUI candidates for the DUSU polls (from left) Narendra Tokas (president), Ashok Basoya (vice-president), Amrita Dhawan (secretary) and Kapil Nagar (joint secretary), in New Delhi on Tuesday. Photo: R.V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI, AUG. 24. On the first day of campaigning, the Delhi University Students' Union (DUSU) elections slated for September 3 saw allegations and counter allegations flying thick and fast between the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday.

The first official press conference by the two student outfits had the presidential candidates of the opposite camp in the line of fire in the race for one-upmanship.

Making it rather open that despite their belief in the model code of conduct, they would have no option but to break it, both parties said the expenditure limit set by the DUSU election office was impossible to adhere to and that posters would be a part of these elections despite a warning from the Chief Election Officer, Rajiv Khanna.

While the NSUI accused the ABVP's presidential candidate, Dipti Rawat, of taking admission by breaking rules, the latter made sure that the police complaint against the NSUI's presidential candidate, A.A. Narendra Tokas, by the College of Vocational Studies was brought up as a case against the "clean image'' claimed by the NSUI.

"Dipti Rawat has taken admission in an undergraduate course despite a gap of five years that according to the University rules is not permissible. That is the extent to which they have gone to ensure a seat for her,'' senior members of the NSUI claimed at their first press conference here today. The ABVP, of course, countered it by saying that Dipti had a gap of only two years and had taken re-admission as per the guidelines issued by the University and not a fresh admission as was being claimed by the NSUI.

The ABVP on the other hand, accused Narendra Tokas of being involved in a fight with a college principal.

"Not only was the NSUI's presidential candidate involved in a fight, their vice-presidential candidate Ashok Basoya has criminal cases pending against him and spent two days in jail, so what are they really talking about,'' alleged the ABVP State secretary, Nakul Bharadwaj.

But the NSUI's Narendra Tokas had clearly been trained enough to tackle googlies from the media.

"There is a complaint against me but I did not indulge in any violence. I had gone there to fight for students and not myself. The issue was the inclusion of Physical education in the aggregate, something that the University rules allow. There were about 200 people with me and things got a little heated up, but beyond that nothing really happened,'' said Tokas.

The issues may have hardly changed over the years, but the day saw the ABVP criticising the NSUI for failing to live up to the expectations of students and calling their achievements their failures.

While the NSUI claimed that they had delivered on their promise of an insurance cover for students and a railway counter and organised career fairs to help freshers decide for their future, the ABVP accused the NSUI of turning the DUSU into an "event management company'' and indulging in gimmicks instead of working for the real issues concerning the students.

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