Voting local, thinking national
Wed, Sep 10 12:15 AM
DUSU elections are over and while many see ABVP's victory as a major upset, nothing much has changed. Though several parties were in the fray during elections, ultimately the race was between the two bigwigs of students' politics in DU - NSUI and ABVP. In JNU, however, where elections are due in October/November, the scenario is different.
Students' unions like AISA and SFI, both affiliated to Left parties, tower over NSUI and ABVP. Here, we take a look at the reason behind the differences in the political climate of Delhi's two major universities. Rohit, secretary, SFI, Delhi State, says, "Students in JNU are more mature and politically conscious.
Plus, JNU has had a history of Left movement. The kind of studies that are pursued are more socially sensitive and there is no place for ideologies of parties like NSUI or ABVP. "DU, on the other hand, is a much bigger campus.
What matters there are not any specific issues, but rather how parties and contestants conduct themselves. Students there haven't seen real political struggles and thus cast their vote on [the basis of] frivolous things like who is more good-looking.
" Preeti Agarwal, SFI's presidential candidate in the DUSU elections this year, feels that DU is "all about money and muscle power". Big parties in DUSU polls, she says, "have a way of projecting candidates by showering money.
Students finally start thinking, 'Why vote for a party that will lose anyway.'" Agarwal points out that SFI, unlike other parties, stuck to the Lyngdoh committee rules, which put considerable restraints on what a party could do for publicity.
Anand Pandey, NSUI national spokesperson, feels that his party is more mass-based and so fails in situations like the one at JNU. "The teachers and the intellectuals [at JNU] are inclined towards the Left," he says. "It's the structure that matters and there is clear Left orientation in JNU. However, the scenario is changing and things will be different in next 2-3 years.
" Mukesh, an MA student in DU, has a different take: "It's like choosing between two evils. On one hand, there's DU, where the two big parties hardly do anything fruitful but make big promises during elections.
On the other hand is JNU, with its self-proclaimed intellectuals living in a cocoon of Marxism. I don't see how one is better than the other.
" Ankita, a sociology student from JNU, feels that her university has had a history of producing major Left leaders. "While DU has its mooring in the consumerist Delhi culture, JNU is a microcosm of national political issues," she says.
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