At only 17 years of age, Chetna, a first-year Political Science student from Miranda House, is the youngest candidate in this year's Delhi University Students' Union Elections 2019. A native of Sirohi, a village in Rajasthan, Chetna is the first woman from her village to attend college as a regular student. She will be contesting for the Joint Secretary's post this election.
The young woman had to cross various hurdles to get where she is today and the road was not easy. Her family could not deny her the chance to come to Delhi for her higher education since she had excelled in academics throughout her career. "No girl from my village has ever as far as Delhi to study and my family was not very supportive of my decision to come here initially. Even if they wanted to attend college they used to study as non-collegiate students and only went to college for the exams. My brother was already studying in DU but I don't think that mattered. I came here on my own merit," said the confident young comrade.
The young student is full of passion and hope. She has broken barriers to be here and plans to take a brave stand against injustice. "I had only heard stories of how politics can help bring change, of the struggles and hardships that you had to go through to get justice and always dreamt of fighting for others. When I came to attend college in Delhi I realised that struggled start at things as basic as library hours," said Chetna, who saw AISA members being physically assaulted, allegedly, by anti-social elements. This strengthened her resolve to fight. "I felt the need to stand my ground and raise my voice against what is not right," she added.
She had been campaigning for AISA for a couple of days but the fact that she would be contesting for the office of Joint Secretary was only revealed to her on Thursday, September 5. And she is ecstatic. "I am very happy. We had no opportunity to bring change or be part of a movement that would bring a change in society when we were in school. College gives you that opportunity. When I met the AISA comrades the first time I stepped inside the Arts Faculty, I felt a connection with them. They wanted to bring about change," said the young Leftist. "We need to have dissent in campuses. We need to discuss and debate issues. Only then the discrepancies will come to light. The faults will surface. And this culture of dissent is very important in an university campus this is what makes it a hub of varying ideas. It makes it beautiful," she added.
The thought of trying out their luck for Civil Services is in all her batchmates' minds, she thinks. "Considering the current state of the country it is hard not to think about getting into IAS and bring some changes from the inside. But I have not decided anything yet. I don't know where life will take me and I do not want to fixate on something just right now," she added.
