Day after Delhi building collapse, ABVP steps up protests, seeks accountability from MCD

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Monday stepped up its protest over the collapse of a student paying guest accommodation in South West Delhi’s Satya Niketan, holding demonstrations and sit-ins across several Delhi University (DU) campuses and demanding accountability from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), including the suspension of MCD Commissioner Sanjeev Khirwar.

The protests came a day after a five-storey building housing a boys’ PG in Satya Niketan, near DU’s South Campus, collapsed, killing at least seven people and injuring several others. Rescue operations continued on Monday as teams searched the debris for those still feared trapped.

The building, known as Hostel Daze, was a decades-old structure and construction work was reportedly underway in its basement when it collapsed. Preliminary reports have also pointed to unauthorised construction and the absence of a sanctioned building plan and fire NOC (no-objection certificate).

On Monday, its activists held demonstrations at Hansraj College, Hindu College, Kirori Mal College, Lakshmibai College, Shyam Lal College, Zakir Husain College, Sri Aurobindo College, College of Vocational Studies, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Ramjas College, Shivaji College and Sri Venkateswara College, among others.

The organisation has demanded a high-level and impartial probe into the collapse and action against PG operators, building owners and officials found responsible for violations or negligence. It has also sought immediate structural and safety audits of PGs and rented accommodation in and around Delhi University and other student-dominated areas.

Calling the campaign “No More Satya Niketan”, ABVP national general secretary Virendra Singh Solanki said, “Following the tragic incident at Satya Niketan, ABVP karyakartas have remained on the ground, assisting affected students and demanding action against those responsible.” “Accountability must be fixed for everyone responsible for this tragedy arising from negligence on the part of the MCD administration.

Our resolve of ‘No More Satya Niketan’ is clear: no student in Delhi should ever be forced to risk their life by living in an unsafe building,” he said. ABVP Delhi state secretary Sarthak Sharma said the incident had exposed “serious negligence of the system” and demanded that the Delhi government identify those responsible and implement safety measures in student-dominated areas.

The mobilisation comes at a politically significant time on Delhi University campuses, with the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) elections scheduled for September 18. The deadline for filing nominations is September 10, with the final list of candidates to be published on September 11 and counting scheduled for September 19.

The ABVP has already begun its DUSU campaign, including a “My DU, My Manifesto” initiative inviting students to put forward their concerns and suggestions. The organisation has also constituted an election committee to select its candidates for the central panel.

The protests also come against the backdrop of renewed efforts by the BJP and RSS to engage with younger voters following the Gen Z-led protests in Delhi earlier this year. The Delhi BJP has been working on a youth outreach programme involving its state unit, ministers, BJP’s youth wing and ABVP, with the party acknowledging the need for greater engagement with first-time voters and university students.

The RSS, meanwhile, has itself stepped up its engagement with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat held an interaction with around 2,000 teenagers in Mumbai last month, an outreach that came weeks after the youth-led protests and was seen within the Sangh and BJP ecosystem as an important effort to engage a generation whose political concerns and modes of mobilisation have been different from those of earlier youth constituencies.

Against that backdrop, the Satya Niketan issue gives the ABVP an opportunity to foreground a directly felt campus concern — the safety and affordability of student accommodation — as it mobilises across DU colleges ahead of the DUSU polls.

The organisation, however, has framed the protests primarily as a demand for accountability and safer accommodation, rather than as an electoral campaign.