While the admission process at Delhi University is still on, student wings of national political parties have already started wooing admission seekers to join them.
Help desks of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), affiliated to the Congress, along with new entrant to university politics, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), affiliated to the Aam Aadmi Party, have been set-up at DU’s eight admission centres.
Besides helping students fill up forms, the volunteers are also seen encouraging aspirants to join them.
Admission seeker Sameera, who was at SGTB Khalsa College for registration, told The Hindu : “After helping me with my registration form, an ABVP volunteer asked me if I wanted to join them. He told me to contact the local party volunteers once I get admission, adding they prefer taking freshers in the union these days. I had no idea what to say because I have not even got admission in the University and union members were approaching me to join them.”
CYSS members were also prompt in advertising about themselves in the back-drop of the admission season.
“We will contest University elections this year and want more people with us. I don’t think this should be a problem for us, given that [AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister] Arvind ji has a great a following among youngsters. In fact, we don’t even have to tell students to join us. We just tell youngsters that we will be part of the University politics from this year and they ask how to become a member of the union,” added a volunteer.
The political scene at DU has traditionally been dominated by ABVP and NSUI. Though Left-oriented All India Students’ Association (AISA) has tried to make inroads in the past few years, it has not succeeded so far.
With the entry of CYSS in the political scene this year, the September University elections will be worth waiting for, given that it belongs to fledging party that stormed into Delhi with a resounding victory in the Assembly elections.
