To Forge a Collective: In Conversation with United Ashoka

Monsoon 2026 saw the largest cohort of students ever accepted at Ashoka University - a whopping 1000+ students compose the Batch of 2030. Little surprise then that, when the AUEC (Ashoka University Election Commission) opened nominations for the Monsoon electoral cycle,  a total of 16 students filed to contest the First Year Council (FYC) elections. Two of those sixteen were Sohraab Singh (UG’30) and Sarayu Adepu (UG’30). They are contesting under the banner of the most recent collective on campus - United Ashoka (UA). What is UA, and what do they stand for? The Edict spoke with the collective’s founding members to find out.

It was “strange”, said Adepu, that Ashoka had only two collectives, despite its size and diverse composition, explaining that United Ashoka was started “as a means to provide the student body with more options.” But what makes them different from USF and Horizon, the existing collectives on campus? Singh, who is currently serving as UA’s president, said that the collective believes that “policy making needs a more practical approach, rather than an ideologically charged one.” 

From the beginning, the collective members were clear that this was not about an “us-versus-them” approach, or any rivalry with the other collectives. “We actually share some values [with the other collectives], especially with Horizon,” Singh said, “in the sense that we all want to form student-centric policies. We feel we’ll be able to cooperate with other collectives and student bodies on campus.” 

However, the push from UA to be less ideological in their agenda-setting raises other questions. Many issues, particularly those of inclusivity and empowerment involve personal stakes, and are consequently driven by strong student opinions. We asked UA whether their “practical approach” would be adequately effective in addressing these issues and accommodating the varied opinions. Both Singh and Adepu made it clear that they have made a stand on these issues. Adepu noted that UA had formed an ‘equality cell’ specifically for this purpose. One of the early realizations that birthed the cell was when the secretariat realized that the collective was “very male dominated”, but it also aims to support internal diversity and gender parity. The cell is currently headed by Sabhyasanchi Singh (UG 30’).  Singh said that the purpose of the Equality Cell is to give a structure to an otherwise ‘informal’ process and it would consistently raise awareness on major issues such as inclusivity, minority and queer rights.  

However, collective members continue to plan for the realities of accommodating differing voices. Apurv Sikaria (UG 30’), a General Secretariat member within UA, pointed out that they might face early problems “such as accommodating diverse ideologies and diverse perspectives” from the student body and collective members. “We just hope that we do not find ourselves in such a situation where we have directly contradictory opinions between two members of the collective,” Sikaria said. He also noted that they had set up redressal mechanisms, respecting their “basic values”, such as “belief in democracy.”

It is worth bearing in mind that much of UA is composed of first year students. Speaking about their lack of experience, and on the decision not to include members from senior cohorts immediately, Singh said: “It all boils down to expanding at a pace with which everyone can keep up with. We tried to talk to as many people as possible who are engaged in the politics of Ashoka and get their advice, but we think experience isn't really a problem for us.” Singh also explained their organisational structure, which comprises an executive (elected via secret ballot by the Secretary and Vice Secretary), and who supports the formation of multiple offices such as the heads of the Treasury, Equality cell, Planning Office and Outreach Office. 

Sabhyasanchi, also a member of the General Secretariat, summarised the collective’s goal. “People sometimes mistake college politics with the actual real life politics,” she said. “I feel like generally it's not that complex. Our purpose is to make this campus a better place for everybody.”