Lavish to rubbish!

 

 

Guess who’s likely to make the most money in the coming elections for the Delhi University Students Union? Airtel, Reliance, MTNL and cybercafés! Telecom and IT are pushing the pedal of students’ politics, thanks to the JM Lyngdoh Committee restrictions imposed on students’ organisations so far as poll campaigning is concerned. So when the aspiring leaders of the Congress-affiliated National Students Union of India (NSUI) were asked to fill their forms, they were startled to find the question: “Can you ride a bicycle?” And their rival candidates of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) were queuing up to procure students’ concessional bus passes.

Ask why. Because the restrictions, which students’ organisations across the country have vehemently opposed, say that no longer will candidates be allowed to move about for the campaigns in flashy sedans and SUVs. The worst affected is the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) elections, which over the past few years had become the most glamorous in the country, the most expensive and the most watched. Television channels scored massive TRPs as the poll campaigns rolled across 50 odd colleges, and even 10 Janpath stayed clued on for weeks. But that sheen has been ‘robbed’ by the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations, and though students’ organisations have challenged it in the Supreme Court, it is operational under an injunction from the court.

The recommendations fix the maximum age for candidates: 23 for under graduates; 25 for post grads; 28 years for research scholars. Each candidate can spend a maximum of Rs 5,000. Besides, any one student can hold one post only in student-life, and failed students, or those with criminal records are disallowed. And flags, posters and banners being banned, unconventional methods like SMS and Internet are coming in handy, hence the happy days for telecom service providers and cybercafés. And social networking sites are giving the students their true value, as Orkut scrapbooks become the best way to implore friends and connect through a friendship chain. But all such accruals to telecom players and cybercafés would still not touch the astronomical figure spent last year for the DUSU polls, which when last speculated, stood at Rs two crore, through the actual figures – way higher will never come out. No wonder, then that ABVP Delhi state secretary Niharika Sharma laments: “This year we have to move about in DTC buses for the campaign. There is no way that in four days we can visit all the 50 colleges individually, and reach out to about 80,000 students, but what to do?” and rival leader NSUI national general secretary Poonam Chaudhury says: “The new situation calls for changed strategies, and since it is impossible to visit all the colleges, this year on, the college units would be absolutely crucial and make all the difference between victory and defeat. In fact, the organisations had nominated many beauties, who they felt would be sure shot winners, but it seems that only some others qualify, ugly or otherwise! And thus, many sure-to-win candidates that the organisations had selected already have to be dropped as most of them fail to meet this or that criterion.

Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha national president Sanjay Lathra spits fire: “The recommendations will finish off students politics totally. In UP, students win elections only after working with the community for three or four years, but now they will be age-barred! ” And though the more controlled Leftist students’ organisaitions like All India Students Association are unhappy. Says AISA national secretary Ravi Rai, “Yes, the new system will end the muscle-money nexus and debar criminal elements from contesting, but there are other clauses that are damaging that will completely end students’ activism.” "Uncles to campaign?"

What are the problems your organisation is facing due to the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations?

Many of the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations are not practical, so we may not be able to fight fair elections. We have had to drop about half of our nominees. In future, candidates would have to secure 75 per cent attendance, and then will their uncles or brothers have to do the campaiging for them?

Will these recommendations affect the selection of candidates?

See, the committee says students can take only one single post in their entire career. But most students in politics have a desire to contest again and again, for which they labour a lot. So, if a student sits at home after winning one post, because he has achieved the most he could, we shall have to blame not him but his organisation. Thus, now the stress is nominating committed students, rather than those who would surely win.

What will now be your changed poll camnpaign strategy?

We have to completely discard traditional methods like postering and banners and loudspeakers mounted on vehicles – which have been banned – and use Internet and mobile phones for SMS campaigns. We also have permission for using handmade posters,.

Interview by Anil Pandey