WB: Sea of Youth Converge in Kolkata For DYFI’s National Conference

Kolkata: Thousands of youth converged in the city on Thursday at the Rani Rashmoni avenue in a rally that marked the inaugural session of the 11th national conference of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

The venue wore a festive look and was decorated with several posters of youth icons like Bhagat Singh, Che Guevera as well as of student leader Anis Khan, who was murdered in February, allegedly by TMC activists.

Salem Khan, father of Anis, and Amala Mondal, mother of murdered DYFI activist Bidyut Mondal were present at the dias, which was presided over by national president and national vice-president of DYFI, AA Rahim and Palash Bhowmik, respectively. Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) general secretary of CPI(M), Md Salim, former national president of DYFI, Abhoy Mukherjee, general secretary of DYFI, and state secretary of DYFI Minakshi Mukherjee were also present at the dais and addressed the event.

The inaugural session was preceded by a walking brigade that started from the village of Maidul Islam Middya, a deceased activist of DYFI in Bankura. The walkathon was given a warm reception upon reaching the venue in West Bengal’s capital city.

A Red Volunteers’ march was also organised on this occasion from the Sealdah and Howrah station. Here too, cut outs of youth icons like Maradona and Bhagat Singh were hung. At the start of the rally, the Volunteers performed songs by IPTA about movements.

In his address to the vast assembly, Yechury said that the “Bulldozer policy” which was being pursued at the behest of the ruling regime in Delhi won't have the last laugh. “It is the youth who have to take up cudgels against these policies of the Union government. Israel has started its bulldozer policy against the Palestinians; earlier Hitler had launched bulldozers against the Jews. Now Modi has done it against the Muslim population in the country,” he said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of providing 2 crore jobs every year. Instead of producing 16 crore jobs in 8 years, we are at a point where youth in the country have lost all hope of jobs. They are being used as a reactionary force by being brainwashed with communal fervour,” Yechury added.

He also alleged that communalism being spread by BJP and RSS was destroying the secular democratic fervour of the country. “We don't get permission to hold peaceful processions but they with arms are holding Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti processions that spread communal enmity in the areas through which it passes. Muslim minority population is under attack in the country.”

Yechury also took potshots at the ruling TMC, and warned that communal forces would not be stemmed if the government continued its close cohabitation with right-wing forces.

Md Salim, who is currently the state secretary of CPI(M), said that “In West Bengal, protests cannot be stemmed through state repression. Moidul, Anis Khan, Bidyut Mondal have been martyred. But the long list of martyrs has only strengthened the DYFI’s resolve to stay on the streets.” Salim also cited the Sri Lankan situation to issue a warning against the ‘authoritarian regimes’ sitting in New Delhi and Kolkata.

Minakshi Mukherjee said how youth activists of DYFI had been “seasoned by torments rained from the Mamata regime” and how movements now would be fostered “which will be equivalent to a sixer” in cricketing terms.

AA Rahim detailed the situation of the country and highlighted how forces of communalism were “wreaking havoc in the name of Dharma Sansads” that calls for genocide of Muslims. “In West Bengal too, by all indexes the state is retrograding, from its earlier pedestal position in the country,” Rahim said. Abhoy Mukherjee called upon the assemblage to double up their resolve for movements demanding work for all inhabitants of the country. “No other youth organisation in the country has such a pronounced stand of ‘Work for All’ irrespective of caste, creed, gender, or religion,” he said in the rally.