Birthday boy who won DUSU secretary post for NSUI wants 'One Course, One Fee'

New Delhi, Sep 13: There could not have been a better birthday gift for Ashish Lamba, the sole NSUI candidate to win a post in the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) polls. He bagged the post of the secretary, defeating ABVP's Yogit Rathi by a margin of 2,053 votes.

Lamba, who turned 24 on Friday, said he will reach out to students to ensure that the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India wins all four seats next year. "We had released our manifesto after talking to students and understanding their problems.

The ABVP has been making false promises for the last two years. "Last year, they had fielded Ankiv Basoya for president and he had won but he was found to have submitted a fake degree," he said. It is the first time that a "common student" like himself has won in the Delhi University Student's Union polls, Lamba claimed.

Lamba is a third-year law student and has represented the university at the World University Games. As the secretary, he said he will take up the agenda of 'One Course, One Fee'. "Students studying in different colleges are paying different fees for the same course. For instance, one student is paying Rs 25,000 while another is paying Rs 5,000 for studying the same course," Lamba claimed.

"I will ensure that there is parity. I will go among students and interact with them and ensure that we win all the seats next year," he said. Asked why he thinks the party failed to win other seats, Lamba said, "We gave a strong fight on the joint secretary post. But students were influenced by a certain ideology. I will interact with them more."

The NSUI issued a statement saying it fought against the money and muscle power of the RSS-BJP combine and will continue to do so. "The ABVP fielded Yogit Rathi who was college president of Ramjas College when the violence took place in 2017. The students have given a clear mandate against violence by voting for Lamba. We had an issue-based campaign and not a statue-based campaign like ABVP," NSUI's Delhi president Akshay Lakra said.