WB: SFI Conference Pledges Continued Resistance to Misrule
Subinoy Moulik
THE 38th West Bengal state conference of SFI was held in Malda from January 22-24, 2024. The conference underscored that the SFI has to fight more vigorously against the way BJP and RSS are playing politics in the name of religion and conspiring to destroy India's syncretic culture and modern education system. In actuality BJP aims to steal the dreams of students from marginalised poor families and create a situation in which the right to quality education will fall exclusively into the hands of the rich. The National Education Policy 2020 is doing just that. The Trinamool government's education policy in the state is also on the same track. A spirited fight must be waged against this onslaught of BJP and RSS at the national level and the Trinamool Congress at the state level. Alternative discourses and alternative policies should be propagated from campus to campus.
The 38th conference was held at Durga Kingkar Sadan, Malda College auditorium. The conference venue was named Harry Belafonte-Tarun Majumdar Nagar. The stage and the hall were named after Shaheed Anis Khan-Dhiraj Rajendran and Anirban Hazra- Parshan Khariya respectively. At the beginning of the conference, state president Pratikur Rahman hoisted the flag of the organization. SFI all India president, V P Sanu and general secretary Mayukh Biswas inaugurated the conference by lighting the torch. SFI state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya and other leaders were also present. After that, the programme of garlanding and wreath-laying at the martyrs column took place. On the occasion of the conference, the entire city of Malda was decorated with huge gates and flags of the organisation.
Srijan Bhattacharya placed the draft report. About 520 student delegates participated in the conference. The conference was conducted by a presidium consisting of Pratikur Rahman, Nabanita Chakraborty, Debanjan De, Anirban Roy Chowdhury and Bedatrayee Goswami. Addressing the conference, Sanu said, RSS wants to establish its hegemony over education and culture. Students should unite with all their strength to oust this anti-student government. Otherwise, dire dangers and terrible possibilities await the student community. SFI has to make a more united movement and stand more and more on the side of workers, farmers and working people, he said.
Srijan Bhattacharya said that Trinamool has brought BJP-RSS to the state. It is not just the scams that are affecting the students. One must be aware of the danger that the right wing attack is a threat to modern democratic consciousness. He said that what Narendra Modi is trying to do is deprive the underprivileged of educational opportunities. Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority students are dropping out because they are unable to afford the tuition fees. It is the same picture in the state. In order to stop this attack, SFI has called for the spread of alternative consciousness in the campus. Somnath Bhattacharya, CITU leader and former state president of SFI congratulated the state conference. He said, students are walking the revolutionary path to build a new society while BJP-RSS is using religious issues as a ploy of scaremongering the religious minorities in India. It is the duty of the government to provide food and sustenance to the common people, not using temple construction as a political agenda. We have to take an oath to resist all forms of divisive politics, he said.
In her address to the delegates, DYFI state secretary Meenakshi Mukherjee said that the minds of students are being poisoned every day. This terrible power must be destroyed. It is a very difficult time. In these troubling times, we cannot sit quietly asking what the future holds for millions of students. Rather we have to fight to ensure a bright future. People, not profit, will have the final say and SFI and DYFI will stand as a wall of resistance against those who want to drown the country in crony capitalism.
DELEGATE SESSION
Apart from spreading the poison of communal hatred, two other evil forces are active in social life. They are caste politics and neoliberal economic policies. The National Education Policy has come from this. Schools, colleges and universities are being cut down and are being pushed towards privatisation. SFI is fighting against each of these dangers. On the second day of the conference, SFI delegates vowed to mount a stronger resistance against the BJP's role in creating an aggressive atmosphere of commercialisation and communalism in education and the Trinamool government's attempts to perpetuate terror inside campuses.
In the speeches of the delegates from the districts, the determination to strengthen the organisation emerged. The conference adopted a resolution to defeat the BJP and the Trinamool in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Not only the plan to increase the membership, but also the preparations to advance the struggle by including them in different streams of the movement came up in the discussions on the draft report. The living problems of the students of the state came up for discussion. The cost of education has increased manifold. Fee has increased in all sectors. Funding for scholarships and fellowships has decreased. Public wealth is being looted at various levels. Mid day meal is being stolen. Fund reduction related to school infrastructure is happening in various cases. There is also an increasing tendency to drop out of school and become migrant workers.
Nayan Oraon of Malda district spoke about how the tribal students burdened with severe financial problems are being cornered in the society. Rupam Mohapatra of Jhargram highlighted the problems of the students of Jangalmahal. Kunal Sen of Alipurduar spoke about the plight of the students of the worker families of the closed tea gardens. His speech highlighted how the number of school dropouts is increasing. The discussion also came to the fore that it has become very important to have general medical facilities for the poor students studying in schools. There was also a discussion about how the movement in Greater Cooch Behar or Kamtapur being carried out with the tacit support of the state government is destroying the educational environment. The delegate from Bankura spoke about how casteist ideas are gaining ground in the minds of the students.
Many delegates stated that online classes are only convenient for the affluent. Similarly, autonomous colleges, private universities and self financing courses only benefit those who come from wealthy families. Besides, corruption is going on not only in admission but also in examination and evaluation process. It has been many years that students’ union elections are not being held in colleges. The Trinamool student leaders, many of whom are pass-outs, occupy the union rooms.
SFI all India joint secretaries Dipsita Dhar and Dinit Denta greeted the conference. Dipsita said that the National Education Policy asks the farmer's son to become a farmer and the worker's son to become a worker because the ruling classes do not want students from marginalised families to be educated. So they are increasing the cost of education. Through this, their aim is to create a stratum of loyal employees. We are talking about alternatives. The universities should not emphasize studies related to religion or religious leaders, but students should master the progressive aspects of the modern education system, she said.
The 38th state conference of SFI concluded with the message of an intense struggle in the coming days. The newly elected leadership called for building strong resistance inside the campuses. At the end of the conference, they also gave the call to take the message of the conference to all levels of students. A 99-member state committee with Pranay Karji as the new president and Debanjan Dey as the new secretary, and Souvik Das Bakshi as the editor of the state committee’s mouthpiece Chhatra Sangram, was elected.
OPEN SESSION
Obstruction of democratic activities is a very normal phenomenon during the Trinamool regime. But despite the utter non-cooperation of the administration, the 38th SFI state conference was successfully held at Malda. That spirit manifested itself in the open session. The police repeatedly obstructed the public gatherings of the SFI conference. Before the rally, a huge colourful procession went around the city. The procession ended at the Foara Junction. Due to extreme non-cooperation from the administration, permission for the ground was not obtained. As a result, the venue of the rally was on the roadside at Foara Junction. Even there the police repeatedly tried to disrupt the meeting. Students and the people of Malda resisted all such attempts.
The chief speaker at the open session was CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim. He said that the young generation must be mobilised in district after district to fight more intensively in order to safeguard the right to education and to ensure jobs for all. The process of destroying both the right to education and the right to work for the common poor has begun. Both Trinamool and BJP are resorting to various schemes in the name of religion. Democracy is under obvious threat. Common people are victims of extreme exploitation. All forces must unite against such misrule.
CPI(M) Central Committee member and former general secretary of SFI Sujan Chakraborty, Mayukh Biswas, Dipsita Dhar, SFI former state president Pratikur Rahman, former state secretary Srijan Bhattacharya along with newly elected president of the organisation Pranay Karji, secretary Debanjan Dey and other student leaders spoke in this meeting. Professor Satyaranjan Chowdhury read out the preamble of the constitution before the gathering.
