The Aam Aadmi Party Students’ wing Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS) and the Left-wing All India Students’ Association (AISA) on Wednesday announced that they will join hands to present one student panel for the upcoming Delhi University Students’ Union polls to be held on September 12.
The AISA will contest the posts of president and vice-president, while the CYSS will contest the posts of secretary and joint secretary, said AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai at a press conference. The conference was also attended by national AISA incharge Ravi Rai, Delhi AISA secretary Niraj Kumar, CYSS Delhi convener Sumit Yadav and AISA’s DU president Kawalpreet Kaur.
Positive political culture
Mr. Rai said the two organisations were coming together to provide students of DU with an alternative to the “money and muscle” politics that the NSUI and ABVP have been practising in the university for a long time. “The AAP government has changed the face of school education in the city and we are now going to do the same in higher education. For that, we first need to construct a positive political culture in DU and free it from the violence and negative politics of the ABVP and NSUI,” he said.
Ms. Kaur said the coming together of the two student organisations was a natural alliance as it is based on popular demand of students and a history of shared struggle for interest of common students. “The NSUI and ABVP have completely neglected the issues of students, showing zero achievements every year,” she said.
Mr. Yadav said some of the key demands they will raise will be introduction of CCTV cameras and police booths for women’s safety. They will also address the demand for organising evening classes in DU to deal with increasing number of students in colleges.
The CYSS had fought the DUSU election in 2015 and had garnered between 10,000 and 12,000 votes. The AISA, over the past five years, has also built itself as the third alternative in DUSU elections. The two organisations hope to appeal to the several thousand DU students who have stopped voting in DUSU elections as they are “disillusioned” by the nature of politics practised by the NSUI and the ABVP. Poll rejection is evident as the number of votes cast for NOTA has gone up over the past few years.
