The AISA demanded on Saturday that the ABVP should not contest the president's post in the Delhi University students' union elections as repentance for its decision last year to field a candidate who had a fake certificate.
"The ABVP has not apologised for the Basoya fraud. The common students of Delhi University felt cheated," AISA Delhi president Kawalpreet Kaur said.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had fielded Ankiv Basoya for the DUSU president's post last year. Basoya was elected, but it later emerged that he had allegedly submitted a fake certificate to gain admission, following which he was expelled from the RSS-affiliated outfit.
"The question is, 'Will ABVP seek forgiveness?'" Kaur asked. "The outfit should apologise to the students and not contest the president's post as a way to seek the students' forgiveness."
The Left-backed All India Students' Association (AISA) released its manifesto for the DUSU polls and promised to ensure metro concession passes to students.
"The party will also ensure that the next DUSU elections are held on ballot papers," Kaur said, adding that it would ensure hostels for all the outstation and differently-abled students.
The manifesto talked about reforming the DUSU election system by creating effective forums of debate like general body meetings and presidential debates in clusters of colleges.
It said the move would ensure informed choice so that the existing practice of money, muscle power, glamour, DJ parties among others do not dominate the election process.
The manifesto includes the demand to form a committee against racial discrimination in every college.
The party proposed to work towards making the committees on sexual harassment active and accountable in all colleges. It will also demand students' representation in them.
Kaur said the AISA had appealed to all parties, including the National Students' Union of India, to come together to defeat the ABVP, but she added that it did not materialise.
She said the Aam Aadmi Party's student wing, Chhatra Yuva Sangharsh Samiti (CYSS), might not contest elections and support the AISA in the polls.
Kaur accused the ABVP of making hollow promises and using muscle and money power to win elections.
"They got a mandate in DUSU but they did not do anything to ensure (that) new hostels or colleges were built, despite their party (BJP) also being in power at the Centre," the AISA leader said.
"The university has been facing the issues of fund cuts and fee hike under the Centre, but the ABVP has kept quiet," she said.
Kaur said the reign of "terror and hooliganism" perpetrated by the right-wing outfit should end.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
