After winning the Delhi University Students’ Union elections for the second consecutive year, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Saturday credited the “Modi wave”, schemes and performance of the Central Government and the party’s student activism for its spectacular victory for the second time in a row.
“The youth schemes such as Make in India and skill development launched by the Central Government to generate more employment opportunities have been welcomed by the youth as what we call as Modi wave, Delhi University voters belonging to the same age group voted for us,” said Rohit Chahal, ABVP national secretary.
“Student activism and fulfillment of the promises that ABVP had made last year, also helped us get this huge mandate. The BJP does its work, we follow the ideology and do the same at our level,” he added.
Criticising the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s students’ wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), for trying to influence and entice the students through rock concerts, newly-elected DUSU president Satender Awana said, “We banked on our last year performance. Our leaders didn’t organise gala events to seek votes for us, youth acknowledge the BJP Government. It acknowledged our work too.”
“CYSS’ efforts were confined to banners only. They were unaware of ground realities. We will remain among the students throughout the year and fulfil our promises,” he added.
Anjali Rana, the only girl in the new DUSU cabinet, said, “The security issues on campus have been raised by us frequently. The ABVP had campaigned strongly for the rollback of Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP). Our voter base has also conveyed the demand of more colleges to us. We will fulfil what we promised.”
The ABVP bagged the posts of president, vice-president, secretary and joint secretary defeating the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) candidates with a margin of over 4,500 votes each in the fiercely fought contest.
Candidates of CYSS, which made its debut at the campus polls this year, could not open its account and were at the third position as per the overall vote count.
Traditionally, the political slugfest at DU has been between ABVP and NSUI. The keenly contested polls have always been considered as a stepping stone to mainstream politics.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay, senior BJP leaders Vijay Goel and Vijay Jolly are among the politicians who began their political career at DUSU as ABVP leaders.