Editor,
The All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) has historically been the vanguard of our youths. However, a critical look at its current trajectory suggests an institution in decline, moving away from intellectual advocacy towards a culture of monetary influence.
1. The need for inclusive leadership
There is a troubling contradiction in our student politics. The Nyishi community already possesses a formidable platform in the All Nyishi Students’ Union (ANSU), which has arguably been more vocal for student causes recently than AAPSU itself. If the ANSU already serves as a powerful voice for that region, why must AAPSU leadership be treated as a localised stronghold? By centralising power, we effectively tell students from the east, the west, and the border belts that their leadership potential is secondary. To restore balance, the AAPSU should adopt a tenure-based rotation system to ensure that every community has a fair shot at the presidency.
2. Exploitative activism vs student welfare
For years, AAPSU candidates have used the Chakma-Hajong issue as a convenient political shield. While it remains a significant socio-political concern, it has become a predictable campaign tool used to bypass more immediate student grievances. Meanwhile, actual issues, such as scholarship delays, paper leaks, and crumbling educational infrastructure are met with silence. A union that habitually prioritizes ‘safe’ political grandstanding while ignoring the classroom is failing its primary mandate.
3. The ‘crore culture’ and the death of merit
The most alarming trend is the astronomical cost of AAPSU elections. When candidates spend crores of rupees to secure a win, the union is no longer an intellectual forum; it becomes a business investment.
4. Return on investment: A leader who ‘buys’ an election is naturally incentivised to recover their expenditure, leading to the misuse of their position for personal gain.
5. The intellectual gap: We are witnessing a shift where a good orator is sidelined by a leader who cannot even utter a word properly in public. Some may argue that a leader doesn’t necessarily need to be a good orator as long as they have leadership qualities. However, if that is the case, one must ask what these ‘leaders’ have actually achieved for the students in the past many years. When a leader wins by buying voters, the least they can do is represent the student body in the media with basic clarity and correct speech.
4. A call for institutional reform
If AAPSU cannot self-regulate, the government must intervene with a framework based on the Lyngdoh Committee recommendations. We need strict spending caps and academic eligibility criteria to ensure that leadership is won by merit, not by the highest bidder.
It is time to return the AAPSU to the students. We need a platform that reflects the diverse potential of all Arunachal tribes and prioritises the pen over the purse.
A concerned student