Student council polls: SOPU makes comeback at DAV College after 10 years

The once prominent student wing Students’ Organisation of Panjab University (SOPU) has made a comeback at DAV College, Sector 10, after almost 10 years.

The student wing is contesting for the college student council elections this year for the single seat of joint secretary. With the party’s main leadership joining mainstream political parties, SOPU had not been contesting elections for close to a decade.

This year, for the party’s return, Simranjeet Singh Sandhu, a BA third-semester student, is vying for the joint secretary’s post with two more candidates. “We will manage a good victory as a majority of students on the college campus are ready to support us,” claimed Sandhu.

SOPU came into being at Panjab University (PU) in 1997, going on to win the election in its maiden fight the same year.

Along with the Panjab University Student Union (PUSU), another home-grown party, SOPU had dominated the PU campus politics for years.

However, SOPU completely lost its existence after 2014-15, when its leaders, including Dalvir Singh Goldy, who shifted from the Congress to AAP recently, Kuljeet Singh Nagra, who is now a leader of the Congress, and many more, joined the mainstream parties.

Goldy, who has made a few visits to the university recently, is among the key figures behind the revival of the party. He is actively sharing posts on his social media handles about SOPU with captions like “SOPU is back”. During his visits to PU, he said, “I may be affiliated with a political party but my strings will stay attached to my roots.”

Balraj Singh, former president of SOPU at PU, said, “We are contesting on one each seat at DAV College as well as at PU. Due to earlier leadership’s shift to mainstream politics, the party was not contesting at DAV for years.”

DAV College, founded in 1958, now boasts of a strength of over 8,000 students. The college has produced many big names, including Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh, Neeraj Chopra, Partap Singh Bajwa, Manish Tewari and many more.

Lawrence Bishnoi and his connection to DAV, SOPU

Gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is currently in the spotlight for his jail interviews and is accused of orchestrating the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala, was a student of DAV College before venturing into the world of crime.

In 2011, he was named the president of the SOPU at the college, with the announcement made in the presence of Vicky Middukhera, a Youth Akali Dal leader, who was killed in August 2021.

A video showing SOPU leaders announcing Bishnoi as president outside the college canteen is one of the few glimpses into his social life before he became a notorious gangster.

Bishnoi aimed to establish a strong presence in student politics at DAV College and later moved to PU, which is known for producing future leaders. After dropping out of the college and not completing his graduation, Bishnoi’s gang has continued to grow even from behind the bars.