People's Democracy

 

TAMILNADU

 

DYFI: A Conference of the "Real Youth"!

Ganesh

 

 

THE 13th state conference of  DYFI Tamilnadu was held from September 25-27 at Coimbatore. Young faces, strong voices, punching slogans, purposeful resolutions, sharp discussions marked the youthful conference. Last year, the largest youth movement in the country had its strength of 9,46,566 members in the state. It is poised to cross the million mark in the present year. 

 

In a convention held on September 24, noted agricultural scientist Nammalvar spoke on the topic of ‘Youth and Nature’ He charged that it is the US, that is responsible for the present worst agricultural situation in our country. S P Jananathan, film director, spoke on ‘Youth and Cinema’. He took pride on being felicitated by the Leftists. He exhorted the youth to make the cinema, a movement.  Former DYFI leaders K C Karunakaran and A Packiam also spoke on the occasion.

      

Many eminent persons were felicitated during the convention. For creating organ donation awareness Asokan was felicitated. When his son was in deathbed, he came forward to donate his son's organs. This had created awareness among the people. Natarajan(Carrom), Selvaraj(Eye donation), J Vasanthakumar(Silambattam), Gokul(Karate), Amirthalingam and Govindaraj(against untouchability) were also felicitated. Few books that were written by A Packiam, S G Ramesh Babu and a compilation of Lenin and Bhagat Singh’s writings were also released. The songs by Duraiarasan from Udumalpet enthralled the audience. 

 

The delegates session was inaugurated by Sriramakrishnan, president, DYFI. Before that the flag post and torches were received. The flag was brought from Villupuram. This was in the memory of Cuddalore Kumar and Anandan who lost their lives in fighting against illicit liquor mafia. The flag post was brought from Chinniyampalam(in the memory of Chinniyampalama martyrs). Jyotis were brought in the memory of martyrs who lost their lives in fighting against anti-social elements. A jyoti was brought from Arumanai(Kanyakumari) in the memory of Babu and Chellaiyan(Kanyakumari), Amalraj(Kovilpatti), Chandru(Virudhunagar), Kutti Jayaprakash, Somu, Sembu and Leelavathi(Madurai). This jyoti represented the fight against the political violence.

     

The jyoti that was taken from Tiruppur was named after Seeranampalayam Palanichamy, Iduvai Rathinasamy and Paneer Selvam. This jyoti represented the demand for education for all and jobs for all. Another jyoti was taken in memory of Pallipalayam Veluchamy who was murdered by the henchmen of usurers in Pallipalayam of Namakkal district. The conference hall was also named in his memory. The entrance of the conference hall was named after P Mohan, former state president of DYFI. S G Ramesh Babu hoisted the flag.

 

The martyrs column was designed as Phoenix bird. The delegates saluted the column before entering the conference hall. The delegate session was presided over by S G Ramesh Babu, president, DYFI Tamilnadu. In his rousing speech, he outlined the landmark achievements during the period since the last conference. He complemented the cadres for being ever-ready whenever a call was given or whenever a need arises in their area. He further stated that the work  has not yet completed and they will have to continue their work immediately after the conference.

      

A notable feature about the delegate session is that, among the 578 delegates, 84 were young women. They took active part in the discussion on the report and the group discussion. Elaborate discussion was done on the report. It took nine hours for the delegates to complete that included group discussion for two hours. 71 delegates spoke on the report and among them 12 were young women.

     

 The report which was placed by S Kannan, state secretary, itself was different in approach. It had two parts. The first part was about the organisation and its work. The second part was organized under ten headings. They were: 

      1. Employment

      2. Education

      3. Health

      4. Right to Information and local issues

      5. House Patta and Ration Cards

      6. Drinking Water

      7. Drug Addiction

      8. Free Tuition Centres/Night Schools

      9. Environment

      10. Migration and related issues. 

      

Every issue is a burning one in the state. A threadbare discussion was held on these issues. The delegates agreed on the need to take these issues in an urgent manner. In the last conference, it was decided to concentrate on untouchability that prevails in every nook and corner of the state. Many struggles were conducted on this issue. In the present conference, it has been decided to make health an important issue. In the recent past, people are being affected by the waterborne diseases very often. This has put the poor in disadvantageous position. DYFI state conference has decided to take the struggle by combining various factors. Hence, the ten point agenda was discussed in the conference. The delegates were briefed about the welfare schemes that are in vogue. A booklet was given to them which explains the way to avail the schemes. With this, the cadre of DYFI can make sure that the benefits of the schemes reach the people.

      

On 26th morning, a convention was organised on Education at the conference hall itself. Dr S Muthukumaran, former vice chancellor, Bharathi Dasan University and Prince Gajendra Babu were the main speakers in the convention. They tore apart the arguments in favour of the commercialisation of education in the state. The delegate session continued that day and carried over to  September 27 too. 23 resolutions were passed that included, demanding immediate solution to the power cut in the state, issuing the question papers in Tamil during the central government recruitment examinations, to stop eve-teasing and ragging in the educational institutions, for a true uniform education, improving the lives of tribal people in Tamilnadu, free pattas and houses to the poor, strongly demand on completion of Sethusamudram Project, to enact new employment policy, against the police atrocities in Tamilnadu, against the anti-dalit government policies and attitude and finally calling upon the youth to teach a lesson to anti-people DMK government’s policies.

      

On the 27th, new office bearers were elected. S Muthukannan was elected as president, R Velmurugan as secretary and S Bala as treasurer. Ela Shanmuga sundaram, M Senthil, K Sriram, N Kalpana and A R Babu were elected as vice presidents. T V Meenakshi, S Lenin, N S Asokan, V Stalin and K Prabhakaran were elected as assistant secretaries. 23 secretariat members and 81 state committee members were also elected.

     

Being true to the organisation's spirit, four young women figured in the list of state secretariat members and 15 were there in state committee members’ list. N Kalpana and T V Meenakshi were elected as state officebearers too. The concluding speech of the conference was given by Tapas Sinha, general secretary, DYFI.

     

In a fitting finale, a rally with new, bright and youngest faces raising slogans for them, for others and for the country, was held. A remarkable feature about the participants in the rally was that almost 90 per cent of the rallyists were below 25 years of age. Many in the public have raised their eyebrows. It was a different scenario for them. One had said this, "It seems that this organisation has real youth. Generally, other parties bring their cadres to show the strength. Here, that is not the case". The rally was inaugurated by M  B Rajesh, MP and joint secretary, DYFI. Placards on various issues were carried in the rally. The slogans exposed the anti-people policies of the governments. A dummy of Govindarajan Committee that had given a report on the fees structure for private schools in the state, was carried by the rallyists. Police took exception to this depiction. But the leaders and the cadres of DYFI insisted on carrying the dummy. Despite the interruption of police, the dummy was carried. Police have filed cases against the leading cadres of DYFI.

     

White clad volunteers' march with the strength of 1,200 was the highlight of the rally. More than thousand white clad volunteers took the lead in the rally. At the conclusion of the rally, a public meeting was held at Sivananda Colony. Sitaram Yechury, MP and Politburo member of CPI (M) delivered a special address. DYFI all India president Sriramakrishnan, general secretary Tapas Sinha, state leaders S Kannan, S G Ramesh Babu, S Muthukannan, R Velmurugan, S Bala also spoke on the occasion.