'Youth Must Fight For Pro-People Policies'

Biswanath Sinha

THE youth of the country must take up as their patriotic duty the task of protecting the country from the imperialist forces efforts to gain stranglehold on the nation’s economy through their institutions of World Bank-IMF-WTO. The youth must also undertake struggles for the betterment of the lives of the vast majority of the poor living in our country.

Sitaram Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) gave this call from a seminar organised by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) at Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal on July 23. He was the main speaker in the seminar “India in 21st Century: Role of Left-oriented Democratic Youth Movement” organised on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of publication of Yuva Shakti, DYFI Bengal state committee’s magazine.

Yechury termed WB-IMF-WTO as the three weapons of globalisation used for making all developing countries serve the imperial interests. He said the BJP-led government with full concurrence of the RSS had been patronising these institutions to the detriment of our people’s interests. The people, by defeating these forces in the recent elections, have given their clear mandate against the liberal economic reforms being implemented in the name of globalisation, said Yechury.  Stressing that the new UPA government must be conscious of this fact while framing policies, he told the audience how the Left parties role would be as a watchdog to oversee the implementation of the common minimum programme. Criticising the new government’s decision to hike the foreing direct investment (FDI) limits in the key sectors of insurance, telecom and civil aviation as also the decision to disinvest 5 per cent of government equity in the NTPC, Yechury said there would be no alternative to the Left but to go among the people to fight against such retrograde measures. He asserted that the Left will strongly oppose the attempts by the UPA government to continue the policies rejected by the people. He said the respon-sibility for ensuring the stability of the government lies with the Congress and not with the Left. However, he pointed to the consistent record of the Left in providing stable support to various secular governments at the centre.

Yechury said the Left was not averse to foreign investment per se. If it was aimed at increasing production with the help of advanced technology and generate employment, the Left would welcome it. But if it is aimed to rob the nation’s wealth and make the country dependent on foreign capital, the Left would stoutly oppose it, he said. One of the significant aspects of the recent verdict was that wherever the people had a choice between the Congress and the Left – particularly in the states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura – they clearly opted for the Left. This indicated that the people are keen that the Left must wield influence over the central government to see that it follows pro-people policies. He also warned against any complacency regarding the RSS following the BJP’s defeat in the elections as they were very much capable of creating communal disturbances and thereby pose danger to the national integrity of the country.

Tapas Sinha, DYFI all India general secretary in his speech said the youth will not hesitate to agitate against the new government if it failed to deliver on the basic demands of the youth.

The DYFI state secretary, Asitange Ganguly stated that over 25 crore youth voters have played a key role in defeating the-BJP led NDA government. Shomsuvra Gupta, editor of Yuva Shakti reported that the circulation of the magazine has now reached more than 1,20,000.

The seminar was presided over by DYFI state president Abdul Hye. Despite inclement weather and rains, the venue of the meeting, Raiganj Bidhan Mancha, was overcrowded with people, many of whom had to stand outside the auditorium and watch the proceedings through closed circuit TV.