[Rvrw Tungon Dugi]
The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) stands at a critical crossroads. At a time when demands for age limitation in leadership are gaining momentum, the future of the AAPSU’s cadre-based system is also being questioned. Beneath this debate lies a deeper concern about the growing risk of monetary dominance in student politics.
For decades, the AAPSU has functioned as the apex democratic platform representing the collective voice of students across Arunachal. Its strength lies not merely in numbers but in its carefully structured constitution, evolved to balance representation, inclusivity, experience, and harmony among the diverse tribal and institutional landscape of the state.
The AAPSU functions through a well-defined federal structure. District students’ unions (DSU), branch students’ unions (BSU), university and college students’ unions, and community-based students’ unions (CBSU) all fall under its umbrella. In addition, higher education students, particularly postgraduate students and research scholars, are granted special consideration. As per the AAPSU constitution, all PG and PhD scholars of selected premier institutions such as Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal University Pasighat, NERIST, and NIT Jote are fully eligible to cast their votes without any numerical cap. This provision recognises their academic maturity and intellectual stake in student politics.
For other affiliated units, voter strength is fixed and clearly defined. DSUs are allotted 30 delegates, government colleges 15, and community-based students’ unions only 2, namely the president and general secretary. This system ensures proportional representation while preventing domination by any single organisation. The constitution also grants voting rights to outgoing central executive members and select advisory members, thereby maintaining institutional continuity.
Eligibility criteria to contest the AAPSU elections are equally structured. While there is no age restriction, the constitution emphasises student status, educational qualification, moral integrity, non-political affiliation, and leadership experience within recognised student bodies.
For the posts of president and general secretary, a candidate must have served as a central executive member of the AAPSU or as president or general secretary of a DSU. This cadre-based system exists to ensure experienced leadership and institutional understanding at the apex level.
Recent developments, however, have generated serious concern. In some quarters, student unionism is increasingly treated as a means of earning easy money rather than serving collective student interests. Leaders, after completing their tenure in various organisations, often accumulate monetary power and political networks and then seek entry into the apex body (AAPSU).
Recently, a collective platform of certain community-based student organisations has advocated changes to the existing eligibility framework, particularly for the posts of president and general secretary. While the proposal to introduce an age restriction may be debated constructively, the demand to abolish the cadre-based system raises serious concerns.
Abolishing experience-based safeguards would open the electoral process to the unchecked influence of money. Financially strong individuals, regardless of their understanding of the AAPSU, its constitution, or its history, could then dominate elections. This would undermine the foundation of student democracy.
Arunachal, with 26 major tribes and over 100 sub-tribes, requires sensitive and balanced student leadership. The AAPSU has historically played a vital role in maintaining unity, peace, and mutual understanding among communities. Diluting its constitutional safeguards risks disturbing this equilibrium and weakening an institution built on discipline, service, and collective trust. (The contributor is a research scholar at NIT Jote)
