Higher education minister Dhan Singh Rawat’s idea to introduce dress code in the state colleges has not gone down well with the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP.
Rawat had announced to hold a common voting in DAV (PG) College, the state’s biggest postgraduate college that has more than 12,000 students, over the issue in the first week of October.
Shubham Simalti, the newly-elected student union president of the college, said he does not support the minister’s idea. “ABVP does not support dress code and so do I. Our college union will conduct meeting to convince students not to vote in favour of dress code,” said Simalti, who belongs to the ABVP.
ABVP has been winning the president’s post in DAV (PG) College for the past 11 years.
Rawat, who himself had been an active member of ABVP, claimed that all colleges in the state, except DAV College, have agreed to follow the dress code. The minister said he will go ahead with the idea of holding voting in the college. “I will go by the decision of students. With the help of local administration, I will organise common voting and if 51% students of the college favour dress code, then it will be enforced,” he said.
However, the issue has created ripples among the saffron party members, who understand the power of youth in deciding the government’s fate in the hill state. “I don’t understand why Rawatji has made dress code such a big issue. There are more pressing problems such as better infrastructure, facilities and employment to students. Many party leaders aren’t happy over this tussle, as they don’t want to lose the support of youths,” said a youth leader of the city BJP, who was once part of the ABVP, requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}However, the issue has created ripples among the saffron party members, who understand the power of youth in deciding the government’s fate in the hill state. “I don’t understand why Rawatji has made dress code such a big issue. There are more pressing problems such as better infrastructure, facilities and employment to students. Many party leaders aren’t happy over this tussle, as they don’t want to lose the support of youths,” said a youth leader of the city BJP, who was once part of the ABVP, requesting anonymity.
{{/usCountry}}State ABVP president Ramakant Srivastava also said that dress code won’t be accepted “at any cost”.
When HT talked to some senior BJP leaders over the issue, they tried to water down the issue. “If ABVP is opposing dress code, then I am sure they have their own reasons. But I am also sure that the minister will discuss all their issues and resolve them to introduce dress code in every college of the state,” said Ajay Bhatt, the state BJP president.