DUSU: Suddenly,everyone’s a favourite

Disha Students’ Organisation
Perhaps the least known among the groups fighting the university polls,Disha,refuses to be compartmentalised. “We have socialists,nihilists and Vivekandists among us,” convenor Abhinav says. “It is probably easier to say what we are not: we are definitely not capitalists.”

Founded in the late 1980s in eastern Uttar Pradesh,Disha is contesting in DU for the first time after nearly a decade of groundwork,Abhinav says. Disha has strong opposition to the “fascist” forces and has taken a unique stand on the reservation debate: they argue for free and quality universal education,and say reservation becomes inconsequential if that is implemented.

Another demand is for a “closed” North Campus. Disha’s presidential candidate is Shivarth Pandey,an MA-final year student of Political Science in Satyawati College.

Ambedkar Students’ Organisation of India
Founded in 2000,Ambedkar Students’ Organisation of India looks at students from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes categories for a victory but,like seasoned politicians,its leaders say people of all communities are welcome. Ideologically left-of-centre,it had contested last year’s union elections in alliance with SFI,the CPI(M)’s student wing. The organisaiton is powerful in the Hindi belt.

As if to emphasise its inclusiveness,ASOI has put up a Kashmiri Pandit woman as its presidential candidate: Deepika Kaul,a first-year BA Hindi student at ARSD.

Indian National Students’ Organisation
The students’ wing of Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal,the organisation is eyeing this election to replicate in DU the success it has found in Haryana. INSO was formed on August 5,2002,under the patronage of Ajay Singh Chautala,whose Janpath office functions as the organisation’s headquarters.

INSO has fielded Chetan Arya,a first-year BA Sanskrit (Hons) student from Kirori Mal,as its presidential candidate.

Students’ Federation of India
SFI claims to represent the principal Left. The largest student movement in the country,it was founded in 1970 and is particularly strong in West Bengal and Kerala,the bastions of the CPI(M).

All India Students’ Association
AISA,says the organisation’s presidential candidate Sunny Kumar,is “a product of the disillusionment with the mainstream Left parties”. Formed as a loose association of student organisations in 1990,AISA is more hardline Left than the SFI.