Contestants: Foes for polls, friends forever

NEW DELHI: They may be arch-rivals on the battle field, but off it, they are back-slapping friends.
We are hinting at those who contested against each other in this DUSU election and those who helped the contestants as well.
These friendships may be rarely visible, but they definitely exist. Anyone who saw Akhila Singh, SFI''s presidential candidate congratulate and demand a treat from Gaurav Khari of ABVP, after he won the seat for joint-secretary, wouldn''t be able to guess that they are from opposing groups.
Or for that matter, the scene between NSUI''s Narinder Tokas and Ragini Nayak, sitting along with the ABVP panel and SFI members just before the poll result was announced, seemed a perfect college canteen setting.
Busy cracking jokes, pulling each others'' legs and taking naughty digs, they gave no trace of being bitter opponents who slam each other at every opportunity.
"We may be from opposing camps, but we are good friends. When he was DUSU president, I would keep him up-to-date with what was being taught and help him maintain a decent attendance. He did the same while I was president," said Rohit Chaudhary, former DUSU president, who took over the reins from Nakul Bhardwaj of the ABVP in 2003.
Rajiv Khanna, the chief election officer for the DUSU polls admitted at there was more to members of student groups than rivalry. "At the end of the day, they are students of the same university. Some are from the same college and even the same classes. Two years ago, the rivals for the president''s posts had been together since kindergarten. It''s the political allegiance that makes them take strong sides," he added. Khanna was a part of the poll process for the fourth time in a row this year.
Prasanjeet Bose, the SFI state secretary in-charge of SFI''s DU unit believes that it is impossible to be at logger-heads with other groups at all the time.
"We meet members of other parties so regularly that there is familiarity. Being members of a democracy, we all are entitled to our opinions but that doesn''t mean we don''t respect the opinions of others," he elaborated.
Freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right. Afterall, even best friends don''t agree on every point. Why should friends from different political groups?