People's Democracy

DYFI Holds First Young Women’s Convention

Tikender Singh Panwar

Ladenge, ladenge; jeetenge, jeetenge; kal jo hare the, aaj bhi voh harenge; kal bhi hum jeete the, aaj bi hum jeetenge.

(We shall fight, we shall win; those who were defeated yesterday will suffer the same fate today; we had won yesterday and we shall win again today.)

THIS was the panegyric voice raised by Captain Dr Laxmi Sehgal in the trendsetter city of Kolkata, at the open rally that concluded the first all-India young women’s convention. The venue of the rally --- Ahiritola Dolna Park in north Kolkata --- was filled all over with the white flags of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). It was the same place where Jab Charnok has arrived about 313 years ago, in 1690, and had established the city of Kolkata that was destined to become a revolutionary city later.

Others to address the rally included the former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu, former student leader and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, state DYFI secretary Asitango Ganguly, DYFI’s all-India general secretary Tapas Sinha, its all-India vice president Balagopal and many local leaders.

The two-day convention took place on March 15 and 16 in this erstwhile capital of British India. More than 225 delegates from different parts of the country attended the convention. The convention got off to a flamboyant start with its inauguration by the legendary Dr Laxmi Sehgal. The lady, who in her youth led the Rani Laxmibai Regiment of the Indian National Army, is still, in her 90s, able to inspire many a gathering with her revolutionary ideas and perspective. In her short but to-the-point speech, she dealt with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s vision of India and the role of women in it, because of which he created the first women’s regiment in the world, thus giving women a prominent role in the country’s struggle for independence.

Dr Sehgal also told the audience about Netaji’s strong opposition to all sorts of communal forces and how he used to ridicule the Manusmriti. While dealing with the threat looming large before Iraq’s sovereignty, she also recalled how Netaji was in full opposition to imperialist powers and their respective designs of hegemony. She was categorical about the slur on our country, cast by the happenings in Gujarat. She said young men and women were the treasure of this nation and great responsibility devolved on their shoulders. It is in discharging this responsibility that the DYFI and other such organisations have to play a leading role. In this way she was able to touch the hearts of the audience and got a standing ovation from the delegates.

DYFI president N N Krishnadas placed a report before the convention, very critically elaborating the shortcomings of the organisation in bringing young women to leadership positions, both at the unit and at higher levels. He stressed upon the importance of sensitising the DYFI’s male members about bringing young women to leadership positions and assigning them specific and commensurate responsibilities.

In all, 33 delegates from 22 states participated in the discussion, stressing among other things the necessity of inducting young women into the leadership and developing a common understanding down to the unit level for the same purpose. Delegates from West Bengal, Kerala and many other states brought to the fore their practical ideas about inducting young women into the movement and developing them. The other major issues that were pointed out, included that of organising state and district level conventions of a similar nature so that the entire organisation could be geared up for the task. There were also suggestions that self-help groups should be raised, ideological campaign intensified, and young women politicised and involved in day to day work. Some of the delegates also pointed out that the idea that only women must organise young women is a wrong one and must not be subscribed to. The DYFI general secretary replied to all these concrete proposals on March 16.

Mohammed Salim, former general secretary of the organisation, also made an informative presentation at the convention. He pointed out the importance and necessity of the convention and reminded of the categorical decisions taken by DYFI conferences that special efforts must be made in this direction. He said that, even before the inception of the DYFI, there were social reformers in the country who championed the cause of women’s education and gave it the shape of a movement. Now it is not a question of women’s education only; there is also the question of their burning demands. Besides, there is the issue of women’s empowerment, both socially and economically, and this needs to be understood thoroughly. He said that many women are economically not linked with the production process and hence their labour is not valued in the market. For instance, if women fetch wood from the jungle, make cow dung cakes or perform many similar activities, these are not included in the process of calculating the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The fact that is generally ignored is that if women do not perform such activities, a household would have to spend a lot of hard cash in order to make both ends meet. In even lakhs of affluent families, hard household jobs are generally done by womenfolk. Yet, Mohammed Salim lamented, it is menfolk who hold the reins of the family affairs in their hands because of the centuries old and still prevalent patriarchal form of society.

Addressing the convention, Sitaram Yechury reminded the delegates that so long as the forces of feudalism are present in our society, just modernism could not take us towards the goals of equality. The DYFI shall have to build a social reform movement and counter all the obscurantist practices and decadent values. The beginning is to be made from our own houses. He was also categorical to say that not only there is negative growth of employment in our country and not only the reactionary forces are making use of our backwardness that is being continually reproduces, an equally noteworthy fact is that women are the main group to bear the brunt of all such attacks. It is they who are, for example, the first to be retrenched or ‘retired’ whenever a factory or an office is to be closed down or downsized. Yechury reminded that the spate of suicides that is taking place, are not being committed so much by older people as by younger generations because of the system’s outright failure to provide the fruits of development to the people.

In all, the convention adopted 8 resolutions. Through a specific resolution that was moved by the steering committee, the delegates thanked the West Bengal state committee of the DYFI for the immense effort it had put in for the success of the conference and for the hospitality extended to the delegates. Such hard work and such hospitality have always been the hallmark of West Bengal unit of the DYFI, the resolution pointed out.

Ishita Das presented the credentials committee’s report. Mita Ghosh was elected as the all-India convenor of Young Women Coordination Committee, which has a total of 25 members.