New Delhi: With Lok Sabha elections in Delhi less than two weeks away, the student wings of various political parties in the national capital have started pitching in with street plays, debates, rock shows and door-to-door campaigning.
The Delhi University unit of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of BJP, has drawn up a detail campaigning plan to seek votes for Narendra Modi, which includes holding around 1,200 street plays.
"We have around 600 volunteers in DU, JNU, IIT and IP University who are campaigning for Modi. We have also printed T-shirts with 'I want Modi as PM' slogan," said ABVP National Secretary, Rohit Chahal. Chahal said they were not campaigning directly for BJP, but only mobilising support for party's Prime Ministerial candidate.
Wearing Modi T-shirts, the ABVP volunteers have already covered around 100 Metro stations where they distributed pamphlets to mobilise support for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. "Besides Metro stations, we have covered around 150 small and big markets such as Lajpat Nagar, Chandi Chowk, etc. to garner support for him (Modi)," Chahal said, adding that ABVP has already organised around 700 street plays across Delhi.
"Our target is to do 1,200 nukkad nataks. We've also gone from door-to-door to spread awareness about Modi," Chahal said. Chahal attacked policies of UPA government and said besides campaigning for Modi, ABVP's aim was also to make people aware about the "misdeeds" of the Congress-led dispensation.
The JNU unit of National Students' Union of India (NSUI), the youth wing of Congress, said it will go all out to spread the message about the UPA government's achievements. "We will go to people individually and in teams to highlight what the UPA government has done for the country in the last 10 years. We will also go with the party's Lok Sabha candidates when they go for campaigning," said NSUI General Secretary Rajeev.
The ABVP unit at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), the varsity which is a Left bastion, is also campaigning for Modi. Its members have especially targeted those areas where BJP had a poor showing in the Delhi Assembly elections. "We have targeted those areas where BJP's vote share was less than 10 per cent in the Delhi Assembly polls... Besides, we have organised nukkad nataks in JNU and have covered Metro stations as well.
"On Facebook, we have our outfit's page which we are also using for campaigning," said JNU ABVP's Organisation Secretary, Anand Srivastava. Other student outfits in JNU are also gearing up to mobilise support for their parent parties.
The Left-leaning All India Students' Association (AISA), affiliated to CPI(M-L), plans to go for door-to-door campaigning to expose Modi. "We will try to expose Modi. Our target is Modi. Through our campaigning, we will make people aware of the nexus between corporates and him," said JNUSU President and AISA member Akbar Choudhary.
Choudhary said they would go to different colleges and universities in Delhi to make people aware about their parent party's policies.
"We will go to Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia and, of course, campaign in JNU. We will distribute pamphlets and hold public meetings to convey our message," he said. AISA also plans to organise film screenings, debates, seminars, etc. to reach out to voters.
"Through seminars, debates, films, meetings, public discussions, write-ups in social media, we will try to make people aware about the false claims of development in Modi's Gujarat," Choudhary added. The JNU unit of All India Students' Federation (AISF), the CPI's students' wing which was the first national union of students in India, is strongly backing its parent party. "We will go with party candidates to places where they are campaigning and support them wholeheartedly because our issues are the same. We have already distributed the appeals that came from the South Delhi candidate," said AISF's Delhi Joint Secretary, Amrita Pathak.
However, members of another Left organisation in JNU, Students' Federation of India (SFI), said they are not campaigning for any candidate as they have not received orders from higher-ups in the party. "As of now, we are not campaigning for any party in Lok Sabha elections. It is not open to SFI to campaign for any candidate affiliated to a political outfit unless our Delhi Higher Committee decides on it," said SFI president, Vishwanathan.
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