Hyderabad: Twenty-four-year-old Dilshada Raihan created history on Wednesday by becoming the first Muslim woman in 25 years to contest and win the presidency of a student union of a major Indian university.The Students’ Federation of India (SFI) candidate defeated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) candidate Naresh P by a margin of 451 votes to become president of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) student union.Before Dilshada, Albeena Shakil, who contested as a candidate of the SFI-AISA coalition, had won the student union presidency at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in 2001.ABVP had previously fielded Shaik Aayesha, a PhD student, as its presidential candidate in the 2023 UoH student union elections, but she lost the contest. Similarly, Sadiya Mumtaz, who contested as the Azad United Students Federation (AUSF) candidate for the student union presidency at Maulana Azad National Urdu University in 2018, also lost the election.A native of Kannur in Kerala, Dilshada secured 2,178 votes in Wednesday’s closely fought election. She contested as the presidential candidate of the AISA-ASA-DSU-SFI-TSF alliance.Speaking to TOI after her victory, Dilshada said the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)’s Jantar Mantar protest had played a significant role in the Left alliance’s victory at UoH.“Two things worked in our favour: the unity of Left organisations and the anti-BJP and anti-ABVP sentiment, which only increased after the Jantar Mantar protest,” said Dilshada, a research scholar at the School of Humanities.A BA graduate from Govt Brennen College, Thalassery, where she served as joint secretary of the student union, Dilshada said the alliance’s election campaign had focused on addressing basic issues faced by students.Its promises included menstrual leave for female students, rolling back the increased mess fee and scrapping the fee currently being levied for the use of laboratories.“Menstrual leave, lab charges and fellowship increases are policy-level issues, for which we will fight in the academic council. On mess fees, we will ensure hostel elections are held on time and set up separate mess committees with students, workers, the chief warden’s office and vendors,” she said.Speaking about her decision to align with Left organisations, Dilshada said she chose to work with them because “they are more visible on the ground and work for change”.“They also give women a place at the forefront, unlike other organisations where there is only token representation,” she said.Dilshada’s father, who never received formal education, runs a small provision store in Kannur. When she told him that she planned to contest the student union elections, he offered her a simple but pointed piece of advice: she should be prepared to face the consequences.“Not just now, even when I contested during my BA, he asked me to remember that I am a strong individual but also be ready to bear the consequences, especially since I am aligning with Left ideology amid the country’s current political scenario,” she said.Dilshada said her exposure to books and articles about atrocities against minorities drew her towards Left literature.“I remember I was asked to wear a parda at college by some seniors. I refused and told them nobody had the right to dictate what I wear,” said the newly-elected student union president.Despite her victory, Dilshada said she has no long-term political ambitions.“The situation on campus was such that I was forced to contest. My friends were getting beaten up. We were all suffering due to anti-student policies and fee hikes. So, we felt ABVP had to be voted out of power to ensure justice to students,” she said.Dilshada added that, despite her new position, she would continue to focus on her academics.
Source link
