Maha: Save Education, Give Jobs: SFI-DYFI
Rohidas Jadhav, Datta Chavan
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THE Maharashtra state committees of the SFI and DYFI organised an impressive statewide rally and public meeting of students and youth at the Azad Maidan in Mumbai on January 31, 2024. The last statewide rally of the SFI-DYFI was held six years ago in 2018. The two main slogans of this rally which were popularised all over Maharashtra were “stop hate, lies and violence!” and “save education, give jobs!” Around 5,000 students and youth from 16 districts of the state took part in the rally. They hailed from all five major regions of the state – Vidarbha, Marathwada, Western Maharashtra, North Maharashtra, and Konkan. They included a number of girl students and young women. The march began from Mahapalika Marg and culminated in the Azad Maidan. As is now a usual occurrence in Mumbai, the police tried to raise objections to the march and there were some scuffles.
The preparations for the rally had been going on for a few weeks. Both the state committees met and chalked out a plan for the campaign. Extended meetings of activists of both organisations were held in most of the districts. These were supplemented by several online meetings. Thousands of leaflets were distributed in educational institutions and local areas. The state centres had printed a large number of posters which were put up in prominent spots. A social media team of both organisations was set up and it did excellent work of designing posters, making videos, etc propagating the demands of the rally.
The Azad Maidan rally was presided over by DYFI state president Nandkumar Hadal and SFI state president Somnath Nirmal. It was addressed by SFI general secretary Mayukh Biswas, DYFI general secretary Himaghnaraj Bhattacharya, AIKS president and former SFI-DYFI vice president Ashok Dhawale, CPI(M) MLA, CITU state secretary, and former DYFI state committee member Vinod Nikole, SFI state secretary Rohidas Jadhav, DYFI state secretary Datta Chavan, CITU state secretary S K Rege, AIDWA state joint secretary Preethy Sekhar, and DSMM state convenor Shailendra Kamble (the last three also being former state presidents or state secretaries of the DYFI).
The meeting began by paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi, whose anniversary of martyrdom was on the previous day January 30. DYFI state vice president Anil Wasam read the preamble to the constitution, which was repeated by all the participants. The cultural team presented a host of revolutionary songs before the public meeting.
All the speakers came down heavily on the anti-people and pro-corporate policies of the BJP-RSS central government led by Narendra Modi, which are directly attacking the right to education and employment of students and youth. The BJP-controlled state government of Maharashtra is a corrupt puppet of the Modi regime, following identical policies. The speakers also castigated the Modi government for its anti-national policy of selling off the country to corporates, and for its communal, Manuwadi and authoritarian attacks on the constitution.
The memorandum of several legitimate demands of the rally had been submitted to the state government earlier. The government agreed to soon invite a delegation of the SFI-DYFI to discuss the demands in the memorandum.
The rally participants went back with confidence, with the strong resolve to broaden the struggle for their demands, and to intensify the campaign for the defeat of the Modi regime.
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