The rivalry might be so intense that violence sometimes becomes a norm, but, for many years now, there has been one common factor that almost never fails to make an appearance every Delhi University Students’ Union elections – M.A Buddhist Studies.
Dating back to the 1980’s, almost every year there is at least one candidate fielded by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the National Students' Union of India, who invariably belongs to M.A. Buddhist Studies.
The course is a regular MA programme at the Delhi University and comes under the Buddhist Studies department. It offers M. Phil, Ph.D, certificate and diploma courses and has around 11 faculty members listed on its website. However, none of this explains the reasons as to why so many DUSU panellists must belong to this department.
“There is nothing illegal in the course or programme; it is certified by the University Grants Commission. There are entrance exams and it accepts around 100 students a year. However, people who have passed from this course say all you need to do is take photocopies of some study material from the local shop and study for about 15 days and you qualify for the course,” says Sunny Kumar from the All India Students’ Association, adding that it was common knowledge that not many students from that department were “devoted” to studies.
The Lyngdoh Committee recommendations had prescribed minimum qualifications that every student wanting to run for the students' union elections must have, and this includes 75 per cent attendance and minimum marks.
However, the recommendations specifically state that the candidate must have the attendance in the “preceding” year. Many of the Buddhist Studies candidates who contest elections – including this year's newly-elected president and vice-president– all belong to the first-year of Buddhist Studies, where obviously there is no question of attendance during the “preceding” year.
