The Miranda House Students’ Union on Wednesday said a group of male students affiliated to the Congress-backed National Students Union of India (NSUI) tried to enter the college.
The incident took place when NSUI supporters were campaigning for the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections, scheduled for Friday.
Principal Bijayalaxmi Nanda said, “There was a fight at the gate, but the situation was brought under control by police and guards. In the end, four students were allowed to enter (campaign for elections).
While the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) described the incident as “shameful”, the NSUI alleged that the incident occurred when ABVP supporters tried to prevent them from entering the college.
However, in a similar incident that happened last year, students of Miranda House accused nearly 30 men of entering the campus during the DUSU election campaign. For the August 2023 incident, the students blamed ABVP supporters, who called the allegations “propaganda by Left-wing students”.
‘false assurance’
Although the student outfit distributed ‘pink pamphlets’, with promises to women voters, assurances of safer campuses, more active internal complaints committees (ICCs), and menstrual leaves, female students called the assurances “hypocritical” and “tokenistic”, said they feel insecure during the election season with male campaigners throwing pamphlets at them, bursting firecrackers, and trying to force them to enter colleges in the garb of canvassing for votes. Some say hooliganism is the reason for not voting during the DUSU Election.
In 2023, the number of voters recorded in the student body poll was 42%. However, the university did not disclose the gender-wise breakdown of the figure.
‘Money and Muscle’
A group of first-year female students who marched through the streets of Chhatra Marg covered with pamphlets said they were not sure if they would vote in the polls.
Khushi Pal, 21, said, “How does our voice matter when only the candidates with the most money and power? They talk about women’s safety, but their actions are contradictory. A few days ago, I was in a rickshaw, and a group of people were campaigning from the big car kept honking, hoping that I would pay attention.
Manvi Chaudhary of Motilal Nehru College said, “Complaints about harassment are common, but no one listens when something happens.” He added that even when female candidates strive for election, they are often surrounded by men.
A DU College principal said “male gaze” is prevalent throughout the election season.
Former female head
Since 2008, the university has never seen a single female DUSU president.
Alka Lamba, who served as the head of the student body as NSUI leader in 1995-1996, said, “When we fought and our voices were heard, there was a change, which encouraged more women to participate.”
Amrita Dhawan, another former NSUI leader who served as DUSU president in 2006-2007, said the student party was not pushing for women candidates, but women’s participation in polls had declined.
‘A broken system’
“This may be because the political system has not contributed much to women in the past few years. There is still cruelty against female students. When society progresses and positive changes occur through policies, women feel they can contribute positively,” he said.
All the three major players in the polls — the ABVP, the NSUI, and the Left panel comprising the All India Students’ Union and the Students’ Federation of India — have announced separate manifestos for female students.
NSUI, which issued three male and female students for four central panel posts, issued ‘Her Manifesto’ with four points, including up to 12 days of menstrual leaves per semester and functional ICC.
The ABVP, which has also nominated three men and a woman candidate, made several promises under the subhead titled ‘Women’s Empowerment’ in its main manifesto, including providing self-defense training for women.
The Left panel, which has constituted three women and one man, has talked about providing gender neutral toilets and conducting gender sensitization workshops in DU.
Published – September 26, 2024 01:14 IST
