People's Democracy

THE all-India student strike and student-youth picketing of union government offices, called for by the Students Federation of India (SFI) and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on January 19, got an overwhelming response from the student and youth community of the country. Lakh of students boycotted classes in the universities and colleges and joined the picketing organised by youth.

The call for the strike and picketing was given by the Parliament March of students and youth, organised by the SFI and DYFI on November 27, to protest against the anti-national economic policy and the blatant communal politics being carried on by the BJP-led NDA government which is ruining the education sector and employment prospect.

The strike came as a strong warning to the BJP-led NDA government which is blindly following the World Bank-International Monitory Fund’s dictates. The resounding success of the strike underlined the depth of frustration and resentment among the younger generations against the anti-national Vajpayee government that is wittingly or unwittingly acting as an instrument of imperialist powers, destroying the economic self-reliance and sovereignty of our beloved nation.

The strike was complete in Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura where students boycotted classes not only in colleges and universities but even in schools, and joined hands with the youth in picketing the union government offices at district and taluk centres. The Kolkata University, Jadavpur University, Kolyani University, Tripura University, Kerala University, Mahatma Gandhi University, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Sanskrit University, Kerala Agricultural University and Calicut University were the major university centres of these states to observe the strike.

In Delhi, the national capital, the two main universities, viz Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi University, also observed a strike. Here the students and youth held a march to the ministry of human resource development (MHRD). The march was flagged off by Samik Lahiri, member of parliament and general secretary of the SFI. Mahesh Kumar, Rajbeer, Anurag Saxena, Sidheswar Prasad Shukla and Albeena Shakeel, among others, led the march.

Haryana witnessed a successful strike with Kurukshetra University students boycotting the classes. Colleges in various districts including Rohtak, Hissar, Panipat Sonipat, Kaithal and Fatehabad remained closed. In Palwal College of Faridabad district, students boycotted the classes and took out a procession though the SFI does not have a unit in that district. DYFI state president Ramachandra Yadav, SFI central secretariat member Dr Naresh Kumar, state president Santosh Siwaj and others provided leadership to the strike and picketing.

The strike evoked a good response in Madhya Pradesh. In Riwa, Gwalior, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Moreina, Bhind, Jabalpur and some other districts, students came out of their classes and picketed the nearby union government offices. The strike was total in Avadhesh Pratap University, Riwa, and Jiwajee Rao University, Gwalior. SFI state secretary Sanjay Nigam inaugurated the picketing in Riwa. SFI and DYFI leaders including Amit, Koushelesh, Akhilesh and Sonal provided leadership here. In Gwalior, hundreads of students and youth picketed the district collector’s office. SFI’s all-India vice president Neena Sharma inaugurated the picketing here; it was addressed by SFI district secretary Soni Kumar, DYFI district secretary Akhilesh Kumar Yadav, Sunil Kaur, Rekha Shivare and others. The police arrested 67 comrades, including 6 girls, and remanded them to jail.

In Uttar Pradesh too, the strike call got an overwhelming response. Allahabad University, Lucknow University, Meerut University, Kanpur University and Gorakhpur University observed the strike. In Balia district, complete education bandh was observed. In districts like Pratapgarh, Lakhimpur, Sultanpur, Deoria and Fatehpur, the student-youth response was visible even in interior regions. In Kanpur, the police remanded 24 activists to jail for a week by foisting fabricated charges against them.

In Uttaranchal, Garhwal University remained closed due to the strike. Chamoli, Dehradun, Poudi and Tehri districts witnessed student-youth demonstrations and picketing.

In Bihar, Patna University students boycotted classes and demonstrated in the city along with the activists of the DYFI.

In Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat, a large number of students and youth participated in the strike. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim and Punjab also witnessed expressions of protest by students and youth who boycotted their classes and picketed the union government offices.

In Himachal Pradesh, Tikender Singh, Dileep Kaisth and O P Chauhan addressed a dharna in Shimla. DYFI state president Kushal Bhardwaj and district SFI leaders addressed a dharna in Mandi town.

The January 19 student strike and student-youth picketing of union government offices marked the conclusion of the first phase of the campaign and agitation undertaken by the SFI and DYFI against the NDA government with the slogan Students & Youth against Imperialist Globalisation & Communalism.

As a part of the campaign, prior to the strike and picketing, the two organisations organised a series of programmes all over the country. National and state level conventions, seminars in campuses, towns and district centres, thousands of public meetings in villages, schools and colleges, padyatras, cycle and vehicle jathas, production and distribution of booklets, pamphlets and posters, extensive wall writing, etc, were organised during the last one year.

On August 9, 2000, the Quit India Day, the SFI organised a Self-Reliance March at all district headquarters in the country. The programme caught the imagination of the students, thousands of whom joined the march. In New Delhi, former all-India president of SFI, Sitaram Yechury, inaugurated the march on August 15, 2000. Both SFI and DYFI observed the Independence Day as the Save Sovereignty Day when SFI activists hoisted national flags and organised massive public meetings to take pledge to defend our national sovereignty and economic self-reliance.

On September 15, 2000, student-youth rallies were organised at all state headquarters. Lakhs of students and youth participated in these rallies. All-India leaders of the SFI and DYFI and various political and social leaders addressed the gatherings on this occasion.

The November 27 Parliament March turned to be a resounding success. Around 30,000 students and youth, bulk of whom coming from the Hindi belt states, converged in New Delhi to vent the deep-seated anger of the younger generations against the anti-people Vajpayee regime. The main office bearers of the SFI and DYFI --- like N N Krishnadas, Muhammad Salim, P Krishnaprasad and Samik Lahiri --- addressed the march along with Soni Thengamam of AIYF, G Devarajan of AIYL and many student-youth leaders from various foreign countries who are fighting against the regressive imperialist globalisation.

By timely undertaking the above-mentioned campaign, the SFI and DYFI have thus taken an initiative in mobilising the youth and students of the country against the imperialist onslaught on our country in the name of globalisation and against the heinous communal drive of the RSS-BJP combine. This campaign, along with the efforts of other progressive mass and class organisations, has helped to damage the so-called consensus in favour of the process of globalisation claimed by the right-wing parties. More and more people supporting the Congress and the BJP are realising today that these policies are bringing ruin to the country’s economy.

The need of the hour is a wide and united mass movement covering all sections of society against imperialist globalisation and the forces of communalism who are helping the imperialist powers by destroying the unity of the people. For the coming months, the SFI and DYFI both have decided to continue mobilising other progressive and democratic student and youth organisations who are ready to fight the forces of globalisation and communalism. The two organisations have made an appeal to all the patriotic minded students and youth to join hands in the forthcoming united movement so as to defend the economic self-reliance and sovereignty of the country.