The Hindu : New Delhi News : Youth for Equality makes its debut in DUSU polls

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Wednesday, Aug 29, 2007
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New Delhi

Youth for Equality makes its debut in DUSU polls

Parul Sharma

Fields candidates for the posts of four office-bearers

“Greater appeal than NSUI, ABVP on the campus”
“We support right causes, don’t care for results”

NEW DELHI: From acting as a pressure group since March-May last year to contesting the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union elections last year, it was a natural progression for the Youth for Equality forum to make its debut in Delhi University this year.

Buoyed by its “moderate success” in the JNU students’ union elections in 2006 and the “solid work” it has done in the past year, Youth for Equality is fielding its candidates for the posts of four office-bearers in the Delhi University Students’ Union elections due on September 7.

“In terms of resources we might not be able to be at par with the National Students’ Union of India or Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, but we definitely have greater appeal than both of them on the campus,” claimed YFE coordinator for Delhi University Chapter Amit Kumar Singh.

Claiming that TFE’s appeal was much wider with post-graduate students than the undergraduate ones, he said: “Last year, when we contested the JNUSU elections for the first time, we stood second on the posts of general secretary and joint secretary and lost the president’s post by only 94 votes. We have been working on the campus and staged a lot of demonstrations on several issues where no other students’ organisation stepped in. The post-graduate students have seen our work and know us better as compared with those who have just joined the University.”

In the past, YFE has claimed that its coordinators facilitated admission of children of slum dwellers and the University’s employees to nearby Government schools and Sarvodaya Vidyalayas.

YFE also ran a campaign spreading general awareness on health, education and the Right to Information Act in about 200 villages of western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

“No promises”

“We are not making any promises to the electorate or else there will not be much difference between us and the others. We want to show the students what our work has been in the past. We will tell them that ours is an outfit that has only students’ representation without any political patronage and they can join us if they want to stand up for real issues,” says Shashank Shekhar, the presidential candidate for DUSU fielded by YFE.

“We support the right causes and don’t care for the results” is the motto of Disha Pannu, a student of Campus Law Centre who is contesting the post of secretary.

“I have spent five years in the University and I have never seen these big student organisations working. It is easy to sit in an air-conditioned room and criticise the Government. If we want to solve the problems faced by the students, we have to get up and take action on it. We want to reform the students’ union,” she declared.

It is the same enthusiasm that propelled Divyanshu Asopa, a student of the Delhi College of Engineering, to throw his hat into the ring. “I wanted to enter the system and change it. It is difficult to manage engineering along with campus politics, but where there is a will there is a way. I have participated in a lot of activities organised by YFE. Different colleges have different issues and we will be aiming at addressing all of them,” says the 20-year-old DUSU vice-presidential candidate.

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