Ahead of the Delhi University polls, the Congress-affiliated National Student Union of India (NSUI) announced the launch of its campaign ‘awaaz uthao, seeti bajao’ on August 27.
The campaign is aimed at highlighting multiple instances of inequality which NSUI says pervades the campus.
In a press meet, NSUI spoke about different kinds of inequality and urged people to “blow the whistle” and take a stand.
“There is pervasive inequality in DU – between campuses, between colleges, between students (caste, region, linguistic, rural vs urban etc), between morning and evening colleges, between certain streams (science and commerce),” said a press release.
At the press meet, AICC joint secretary and in-charge of the NSUI Ruchi Gupta spoke about how the campaign will address the issues faced by students who come from a lower socio-economic strata.
“The NSUI is going to blow the whistle on inequality in Delhi University. Though our campaign we want to take on both the injustice of denying equal educational opportunity for the very youth who need education the most for socio-economic mobility and also the ideology and politics of the RSS which is built on inequality: upper caste over lower caste, one religion over another, rich over poor, powerful over weak; cultural hegemony over diversity and students,” she said.
Gupta added that attempts are being made at the university to establish a dominant narrative through coercion, violence and falsehood.
Last year, NSUI had based their election campaign around demanding the status of ‘Institute of Eminence’ for Delhi University.
“NSUI fought for Delhi University to be accorded Institute of Eminence status, which will bring Rs 1,000 crores extra for DU. We want this extra money to go towards ensuring equal educational opportunity for all DU campuses, colleges and students,” said Neeraj Kundan, NSUI president.
Under the current campaign, the NSUI is also promising free movie tickets to students who will use #AwaazUthaoSeetiBajao on social media and share their views on equal opportunity.
When asked whether the student outfit is using its “money power” to bag votes, a charge they level against the RSS-affiliated outfit Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, Gupta replied, “How is it money and muscle power? We are incentivising their feedback. Why are questions being raised on a few hundred rupees that are being spent for movie tickets? At least we are not beating up people like ABVP.”
The NSUI’s demands primarily fall under economic inequality, women’s security, social justice, linguistic and regional inequality, LGBTQIA+ rights, disability rights and inequality between colleges.
The polls are scheduled to take place on September 12.
(With inputs from PTI)
Featured image credit: NSUI