Shubham Gupta was on time to meet us,
complete with his campaigner and his sheaf of
proofs. Pleasant, polite and friendly, he sticks to
diplomacy as his modus operandi, and
laughingly declares that he has no guesses as to
who his strongest opponent for the upcoming
General Secretary elections could be.
We started off the interview by requesting
clarification on a few points of the candidate’s
manifesto.
First among these was the issue of the vote
percentage required to call for a referendum that
the candidate wished to have modified from a
hefty eighty percent of the Union Council to a
simple majority of fifty. When there is a need to
rethink a passed motion, a referendum is called,
which currently requires eighty percent majority.
Gupta defended his stand on the point by
arguing that eighty percent was nearly
impossible to achieve in actuality, and that fifty
percent was a much more reasonable number.
According to his proposed amendment, a
referendum once called by the President or the
General Secretary shall require fifty percent
majority of the UC because they have been
elected by the entire student populace and thus,
can claim to have a holistic perspective.
Shubham Gupta claims to have no pet projects,
and asserts with enthusiasm, time and again, that
every point on his manifesto is implementable.
One may argue, however, that the prime spot is
taken by the standardisation of auto fares in
Pilani. He claims to have obtained the necessary
permissions from the Traffic Police department,
as well as the Nagar Palika of Jhunjhunu. He
also claims that all auto wallahs have been
instructed to wear a uniform, as well as a badge,
proof of the fact that the process of
standardisation has begun. From this, it is
obvious that good days have come for all the
lazy BITSians who loathe walking on their way
to class or meets.
Another point
of interest is
the promised
internship fair,
which presents
the image of a
direct, easy-touse
link
between employers and likely candidates.
However, what the candidate intends to do is to
call private companies to Pilani that provide a
link between students and employ ers. This
might seem like something that can be achieved
by any student with a laptop and an internet
connection with access to EduInfo or
Twenty19. However, the effort involved in the
process would be considerably higher when
compared to the manifesto proposition. This
point also manages to avoid violation of PU
regulations on a technicality, by calling the
intermediaries instead of the employers directly.
Another manifesto point declares that colour
and glossy printing shall be made available
during Oasis and APOGEE. However, the
point faced tough questions from the EC Panel,
who were unsure of its feasibility. Gupta argued
that the machines already exist at S9 and were
currently unused due to low customer response.
According to him, these shall be put to use for
all printing matters related to the fests if S9
manages to win the tender released by the CRC
for printing. In the case of failure to win the
tender, the colour printing shall only be an
emergency alternative during fests. Still, for the
believers in the age old adage, something is
better than nothing, and this solution,
incomplete as it is, may make us less dependent
on options outside campus.
Signing off, Gupta states that he is a down-toearth individual who will do his best to make life
better on campus and bring more power to the
electorate. Here’s wishing him the very best for
these elections!