Creating a history after 18 years, BJP’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) swept Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections on Saturday grabbing “all four” seats.
The elections, which were billed as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity among the youth, have silenced Modi critics as the ABVP left the Congress-backed National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) nowhere near the winning mark. The results clearly indicate that the BJP is ahead of its potential rivals in the city and can be a threat to them during Assembly elections. Statements by BJP leaders point towards the growing enthusiasm that the results have generated.
The presidential seat was a close fight as Mohit Nagar defeated NSUI’s Gaurav Tushir by just 914 votes. However, for vice-president post, Parvesh Malik beat NSUI’s Mona Chaudhary by 7,859 votes, and Kanika Shekhawat beat NSUI’s Sikh candidate Ameet Sidhu Teema by 3,022 votes for the general secretary race. The highest victory margin is for joint-secretary Aashutosh Mathur, who beat NSUI’s Abhishek Chaudhary by 11,068 votes.
There are several reasons to credit this victory of the ABVP, but their year-long movement against the Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) and the BJP returning to power at the Centre have contributed tremendously to the ABVP’s win. last year, the ABVP held three out of four seats in the DUSU, which helped them take up the issue of FYUP actively.
The victory of ABVP is a clear indication that youth are still not with the Congress, despite active involvement by their senior leaders in the DUSU elections. Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh lovely, former Delhi Minister Haroon Yusuf, in-charge of Delhi Congress affairs Shakeel Ahmad and several other youth leaders of the party campaigned for NSUI candidates.
Even though the left-inclined All India Students Association (AISA) was the first to raise this issue of FYUP, the ABVP actively took it forward and converted it into a big movement eventually resulting in the course structure being rolled back.
The last time, the ABVP won all four seats in the DUSU elections was in 1997 when Kirari Anil Jha, who later became MlA, became the DUSU president. The NSUI won all four seats in DUSU in 2000, 2003 and 2007. The drubbing of the NSUI from DUSU after so many years was highly unexpected and is a legendary win for the ABVP.
Newly-elected president of DUSU Mohit Nagar said, “We have won because students have seen us fulfill our mandate of removing FYUP. They have seen us perform and that has resulted in our reinstatement in the union that too with full majority.”
BJP leaders feel that the loss of NSUI is a precursor of BJP’s good days ahead in the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections.
BJP president Amit Shah on Saturday congratulated the ABVP for sweeping the DUSU elections. “I congratulate ABVP for winning all 4 panels in DUSU elections. The students & Karyakartas of DU deserve the credit,” tweeted Shah.
BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri said, “The fact that the ABVP has won (all four seats) shows that there is immense support for Modi among the youth, which actually makes a majority of the voting population in Delhi. We have done door-to-door campaigning for the DUSU elections and have spoken to people in depth about the current political situation. Students know that the BJP had a big role to play in the rollback of FYUP.”
Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay termed PM Narendra Modi as the harbinger of this change in DUSU. “With the PM’s address to students of a college under DU last year, the entire atmosphere had become ‘Modified’. From that time itself it was taken for granted that next year the students of DU will fully support the ABVP and this has proved to be true,” he said.