People's Democracy

Revolt Against Exploitation

Impressive Rally’s Call To Youth

AT AN impressive rally marking the conclusion of the 7th All India Conference of the DYFI, speakers called upon the youth to arise and revolt against the exploitative order prevailing in the country. They stressed that it is the responsibility of the youth to fight against those looting the nation and that this battle would be a long-drawn one.

Held at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Maidan (Goal Bagh) in Amritsar, thousands of youth, students and also a few kisans, workers and other toiling sections from the surrounding districts attended this rally, which was addressed among others by the former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet,  CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, West Bengal minister Mohd. Salim and DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha.

Deve Gowda in his speech asserted that the decade long implementation of the new economic policies by the Congress and the BJP led governments have brought the country to absolute ruin and that they resulted in filling the coffers of a few corporate and big business houses while smashing the lives of millions of toiling masses. He disputed the prime minister Vajpayee’s tall claims about Indian economy being in a healthy position and that the GDP growth rate would be around 6-7 per cent in the coming years. “There is such a vast social unrest in the country. Farmers are distressed and in many states, including in prosperous Punjab, they were committing suicides or were dying of starvation. The working class is hard hit with these policies with many industrial units closing down”, said Deve Gowda. He explained that he staunchly opposes these economic policies and that this is the main ideological ground for his close relations with the Left parties, particularly the CPI(M). He recounted how during his tenure, under the guidance of the Left, he took so many measures helping the farmers and the downtrodden.

Harkishen Singh Surjeet in his speech called upon the youth to vigorously fight the communal forces reigning in our country. Dwelling at length on the situation in Punjab, Surjeet criticised both the Congress and the Akali Dal for neglecting people’s issues and indulging in superficial agenda. Saying that there is a political vacuum in the state, Surjeet called upon the forces fighting the communal forces to fill up the space. He particularly faulted the Akalis for aligning with communal forces. He said this was even against the Sikh religioous tenets, which it supposedly champions. Surjeet wanted the DYFI to develop in Punjab as a premier fighting organisation of youth like it is in West Bengal and Kerala.

Sitaram Yechury in his enlivening speech brought out how the Vajpayee government was furthering bhay, bhook and brashtachar (fear, hunger and corruption) among people – the exact opposite of what it promised to remove before elections. He said that the only stability the Vajpayee government brought was to that of the Prime Ministerial chair while the people were destabilised and burdened with huge burdens.

Referring to the holding of the DYFI 7th Conference in Amritsar, Sitaram said that for revolutionaries Punjab is a pilgrimage centre due to its heroic role in the national independence movement, especially that of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. He said that DYFI is such an organisation whose cadres are willing to sacrifice themselves in order to safeguard the unity of our country. He recalled the sacrifices of Sohan Singh Desi and Gurnam Singh Uppal in Punjab and many others in Assam, J&K and other states.

DYFI General Secretary Tapas Sinha also spoke.

The fraternal delegates were introduced to the gathering by the new DYFI president K N Balagopal while Punjab DYFI general secretary Asha Nand invited the guests onto the dias.