SFI And AISA Declare Alliance For DUSU Polls

Left-affiliated Students' Federation of India (SFI) and the All India Students' Association (AISA) on Wednesday announced an alliance for the upcoming Delhi University Students' Union elections, saying they would fight against the "domination of money and muscle power" in campus politics.

At a press conference held at the Press Club of India, the two outfits said AISA will field candidates for the posts of president and joint secretary, while SFI will contest the vice president and secretary positions.

The SFI's Delhi State Secretary Aishe Ghosh said, "SFI and AISA have been the frontal forces against the domination of money and muscle in DU politics."

"Last year too, our panel polled nearly 9,000 votes, asserting a strong third pole in DUSU. This time as well, fighting for accessible and quality education, the AISA and SFI will contest on a joint platform of student struggles."

AISA's DU president Saavy alleged that universities were facing "an all-out attack" under the current dispensation.

"The four-year undergraduate programme has diluted the content and quality of education. There are rabid fee hikes across courses and colleges. The recent metro fare hike will hit students the hardest. Both organisations (SFI and AISA) have come together to make this election a struggle for affordability and quality in the university," she said.

The alliance announced a "DU Mahapanchayat" on September 2 to press for their demands, which include rollback of fee hikes, concessional metro passes for students, hostel facilities for all, functioning internal complaints committees in every college, and an end to what they termed "bogus SEC and VAC courses" and the internal assessment scheme.

Accusing the RSS and ABVP of turning Delhi University into a "laboratory" over the past decade, the SFI-AISA leaders said the alliance would work to defeat the "RSS-ABVP-administration nexus of privatisation and saffronisation of education".