People's Democracy

Enthusiastic Rally Marks Beginning

Of 9th All India Conference of DYFI

From N S Arjun

in Bangalore

THERE was frenzied drumming all around with intermittent bouts of joyous dancing and full throated slogans proclaiming Independence, Democracy and Socialism. This was the scene in Bangalore on September 11, 2012 as thousands of youth marched in an impressive rally marking the beginning of the 9th all India conference of DYFI.

The rally began around noon from the Bangalore Central Railway Station in the heart of the city and culminated in Freedom Park, around 2 km away. Nine huge flags of DYFI were carried at the front of the rally symbolising the 9th conference. The rally was led by the central leaders of DYFI and saw participation of youth from various districts of Karnataka and Kerala. Some came dressed in traditional gear while some others had masks of animals. With many drummers spread in the rally, the entire stretch was marked by groups of youth dancing to the beats of drums. The 70 delegates and observers to the conference from across the country were also at the front of the rally. The police cordoned off traffic on the busy roads, including on a flyover.

In a gesture of solidarity with the marching youth, auto rickshaw drivers belonging to CITU affiliated union greeted them with showers of petals. Similarly employees belonging to AIIEA and BEFI greeted the marchers at different places along the route.

The rally culminated in a public meeting at Freedom Park that had been rechristened as Captain Lakshmi Sehgal Vedike. The dais of the meeting was tastefully decorated with portraits of Capt Lakshmi Sehgal, Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara forming a part of the backdrop.

Addressing the gathering, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury said the recent monsoon session of parliament had been washed away due to the tactics of BJP and Congress on the issue of coal scam. “That was nothing but a match fixing between BJP and Congress because both have lot of skeletons to hide. It suits them to not allow functioning of parliament as that would have given scope for making the government accountable for its misdeeds”, he said.

The spate of unprecedented corruption scandals tumbling out of this government poses not just questions of immorality but affects the future of our people in a significant way, he felt. Yechury went on to give examples of how the amount of Rs 1.76 lakh crore lost to government in the 2G spectrum scam could easily have provided education for all children in the country free of cost along with providing them school uniforms, textbooks and mid day meals. Or how the Rs 1.86 lakh crore lost in the recent coal scam could have given food security to entire population without distinction of BPL and APL.

Yechury lampooned the prime minister for presiding over the most corrupt government the nation ever had even while himself claiming to be the most honest. He said the rate at which his ministers were being lodged in Tihar jail, the prime minister may have to hold his next cabinet meeting in Tihar jail itself!

Referring to reports about yet another petro hike imminent in the coming days, Yechury said the oil companies were making super profits and were sitting on a huge pile of cash reserves of over Rs 1 lakh crore. Yet the government is preparing to assault the common people with yet another hike. There is no other bigger fraud being perpetrated on the people of India than this, he said.

Charging the BJP of consciously engineering communal polarisation in various parts  of the country in order to benefit in the coming elections, Yechury said it is living in an illusory world. Although people are fed up with the corruption and misgovernance of UPA-II regime, they are not seeing the BJP as an alternative. But the BJP leaders were fighting over who should become prime minister!

With the rally being held on the 11th anniversary of 9/11 attacks, Yechury said more deaths occurred due to terror attacks in these 11 years since imperialism launched its ‘global war on terror’ than in the previous period. The main intention of US imperialism in continuing its savage attacks on countries in the Middle East is to strengthen its control over oil resources. The current economic crisis in the world is not due to some faults in the capitalist system but because of capitalism itself. Therefore it needs to be thrown out and Socialism, which is the only alternative, must be ushered in, he said.

Yechury underlined the need for youth, who constitute two-thirds of our population, to undertake the crucial task of forcing the government to change its neo-liberal policies and empower youth for a better India.

Former national president of DYFI, M A Baby, in his speech said only when workers, youth, students, women join hands can the country be protected and changed for better. Referring to the situation of drought prevailing in 26 out of 30 districts of Karnataka, Baby said there is acute agrarian crisis prevailing in most parts of the country with over 3 lakh farmers committing suicide. Yet the government was doing nothing about it. He contrasted this with what the Left governments in Kerala and West Bengal had done for farmers that resulted in not a single farmer suicide during their rule.

He condemned the arrest of cartoonist Aseem Trivedi on charges of sedition by Maharashtra police and saw in this a deliberate effort to crush those fighting against corruption and anti-people policies of the UPA government. He demanded that Manmohan Singh and Sharad Pawar must answer why such a draconian measure was invoked against a cartoonist. Similarly the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala has targeted Deshabhimani journalist Mohan for daring to expose the machinations of police and sections of media to falsely implicate the CPI(M) in T P Chandrashekaran’s murder case.

Veteran freedom fighter, 94 year old, Doraiswamy, gave a short inspiring address to the audience. DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha in his speech said DYFI is the largest organisation in the country with over 1.5 crore membership. It recently submitted an 18-point charter of demands to the prime minister on issues concerning the youth. But the UPA-II government, steeped in corruption scandals, did not bother to act on them. DYFI president P Sreeramakrishnan presided over the public meeting while DYFI central secretariat members and leaders of democratic movement in Karnataka were on the dais.