NEW DELHI: After conquering the Delhi Assembly, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may soon launch a fresh offensive to ‘take over’ control of Delhi’s various student unions. The Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), the student wing of AAP, is ‘actively considering’ to enter into the prestigious Delhi University (DU) for the student union elections in the second week of September. According to party strategists, the elections would not only connect it with the youth, but will also provide a nursery of young and fresh leadership to the two-year-old party.
Unfazed by the factional feud denting the party image, the AAP leadership is determined to contest the DU elections to create a new strong support base of young volunteers. Its campaigning ‘by youth for youth’ in the Assembly elections humbled the mighty political parties. AAP’s key election promises like building 20 new colleges and creating free Wi-Fi facilities have found resonance with the students.
The successful campaign of the party during the elections was the result of a lot of youngsters from Delhi and outside who worked tirelessly for the party, says AAP leaders. Now the party wants to capitalise its strong presence in Delhi by venturing into territory that has traditionally been held by the student wings closer to the Congress and the BJP.
AAP strategist Durgesh Pathak said, “Going to DU seems to be the next logical step. Whether we selectively contest polls in some colleges or in all will be decided soon.” Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has been strongly advocating that the party concentrates only in Delhi. This includes students unions elections and the Delhi Municipal Corporations. “We are definitely going to contest the elections. We will soon focus in this area,” said CYSS Delhi president and Rohtas Nagar MLA, Sarita Singh. The CYSS is preparing for the elections by starting special membership campaigns from next week in all the DU colleges. “We are ready. Our preparation is full. We also have a very strong support base in Jamia and JNU,” claimed DU CYSS president Anmol Pawar.
The main agenda would be the same as that of the party. “We want to bring drastic changes in the student politics. The campuses have to be free of muscle and money power that rule the student politics too. We will promote student leaders with clean image and good academic record. We do not want contractors in the garb of student leaders,” emphasised Pawar.
The debutant CYSS will have to face strong contenders in the university campuses also. The BJP-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad had handsomely won in the past two elections. The members of the student wing were also part of the B.Tech student protest regarding approval from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) earlier.
There has been no student elections in Jamia Millia Islamia University for the last two years after its former Vice Chancellor and present Lieutenant Governor of NCT Najeeb Jung objected to it. However, the party has a huge occurrence there. “Fighting elections is not our only objective behind this. Our motive is also to become a voice for clean student politics,” said Pawar. The students union election is important as it has been sending national level leaders to the two national parties BJP and Congress.
Promises Made at the Youth Dialogue
AAP will open 20 new colleges under the Delhi administration on the outskirts of the city in partnership with the villages of Delhi. It will double the existing seat capacity of the Delhi government.
The party will make Wi-Fi freely available in public spaces across Delhi. Citywide Wi-Fi can help in bridging the digital divide. It will also provide an impetus to education, entrepreneurship, business, employment, and will also tie up with women’s safety initiatives.
AAP promises to promote vocational education and skill development of Delhi’s youth in schools and colleges, to bridge the real skill gap in Delhi. It will create the first ever Delhi Skill Mission to train and enable one lakh youth per year for the first 2 years, ramping up to five lakh youth per year for the next three years.
The party also promises eight
lakh new jobs in the next five years. AAP will facilitate innovative and private startup accelerators to provide support to entrepreneurs. It will create an ecosystem that enables private industry to create more jobs.
Flashback 2014
Riding on the Movi wave, ABVP won all the four posts after 18 years
Eligible voters: 1,36,821
Students voted: 59,423
Voter turnout: 43.43%
Polling centres: 50