The Hindu : New Delhi News : Battle lines drawn for DUSU polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 25, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Battle lines drawn for DUSU polls

It happens to be an election that is usually fought in the name of issues but seldom won on them. And as Delhi University gets set for yet another round of one of the biggest and most important students' union elections in the country, the campaign shows little signs of deviating from the line adopted by parties for years now.

The National Students' Union of India (NSUI) believes it is the only party that can lead the young generation on the right path. Strange, considering outgoing DUSU president and NSUI member Narender Tokas managed a disappearing act right after winning the elections last year and seemed to have almost forgotten to take a stand on any issue concerning the student community in the last one year.

But NSUI still seems to have a long list of achievements, one that the student community is unable to recollect. For Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), it is a dilemma of a different kind. With two defeats in a row, it needs to act fast to get its house in order.

One of the biggest problems for ABVP these past couple of years has been the lack of good candidates. It may have done little work to turn itself into an effective opposition, but many feel the media-shy Sundar Dagar -- ABVP's presidential candidate -- has worked quietly to strengthen his support base and may pose a tough challenge to NSUI's favourite poster girl Ragini Nayak.

The Third Front has been seeing an increase in numbers, except every new party wants to project itself as the best new alternative for the emergence of what they believe will be a brave new world. But with DUSU requiring a much widely networked campaigning, lack of resources has left most of these smaller parties with little chance of making an impact.

Although NSUI has the advantage of having two winning candidates in its panel, the result will well depend on who makes the right moves in the coming one week.

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A new addition to the DUSU elections this year will be the Progressive Students' Organisation (PSO), an independent student outfit that believes it can provide the alternative the campus needs and wants. Formed by ABVP dissident Vijay Kumar Mishra who quit the party after differences emerged over ticket distribution, PSO has Hans Raj College student Harish Sharma as its presidential candidate, Prashant Kumar Jha for the post of vice-president, Vinay Kumar Mishra for the secretary's place and Urwashi Khanna for the joint secretary's seat.

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Academic credentials may never have seemed to matter in DUSU elections, but the one party that is rather proud of its presidential candidate's achievements and has no qualms announcing it is the United Students' Front (USF).

A member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the presidential candidate of the alliance, Harpreet Kaur, topped her college in her first year examination of B.A. (Honours) Political Science. "She got 67 per cent in her examinations,'' gushed an obviously impressed senior member of SFI. As for the candidate itself, the explanation was simple. "Academics has always been important for us. You may be involved in activism, but as in JNU most SFI members have always known how to balance studies and politics,'' was how Harpreet put it.

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Tailpiece: Heard among the many slogans that were being shouted outside the office of the DUSU Chief Election Officer on Tuesday, after the announcement of the final nominations: "Hamara neta kaisa ho? Jiske jeb mein paisa ho!'' Well, with an electorate like that, maybe you can't always blame aspiring student leaders for taking the greasy way to the top.

Lakshmi B. Ghosh

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