THIRTEEN youth organisations -- Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Youth Federation, Revolutionary Youth Front, All India Youth League, Revolutionary Youth Association, RJD Youth Wing, JDU Youth Wing, NYC, MDMK Youth Wing, VCK Youth Wing, and HNES held a convention on March 21 and unanimously passed a resolution that strongly condemned the attack on universities, students and youth of our country spearheaded by Sangh Parivar and sponsored by Narendra Modi government. Hyderabad Central University and JNU are the latest victims in this ongoing series of attacks. Similar interventions were made by them earlier in Pune Film Institute, Delhi and Chennai IIT and other academic institutions. The convention expressed solidarity with the students and academic community of these universities and institutions. The government is spreading blatant lies about the developments of JNU and HCU. Even morphed videos were created as evidences. Their lies are being countered with actual facts every time and the government stands thoroughly exposed. The resolution noted that the statements made by HRD minister Smriti Irani in parliament on Rohith Vemula’s suicide proved factually incorrect with the disclosures of the university authorities and documentary evidences. The minister deliberately misled the parliament and the entire nation. It shows that they will misuse all available forums including parliament to spread lies without any regard for democratic values and political morality. There are documentary evidences which stand contrary to her statement. The joint platform has demanded that all those responsible for the victimisation that led to the suicide of the dalit scholar – including the ABVP leaders who made a fabricated complaint, the university authorities, the union labour minister and the Union HRD minister be punished. We also urge the government to withdraw the sedition charges registered on JNU students on the basis of fabricated evidences including morphed videos. They also demanded the JNU administration to stop the victimisation of students on the basis of an internal enquiry, whose fairness has been questioned by both students and teachers alike. Immediate action should be taken against the rowdy lawyers who attacked students, teachers and media persons. The report of the panel of advocates appointed by the Supreme Court confirms the fact that the police stood as mere spectators and allowed the goons to brutally attack Kanhaiya Kumar. This inaction of the police points to a conspiracy involving Delhi police and Sangh Parivar. These targeted attacks on universities are part of a larger design against the democratic culture, discussion, debate and dissent. Intellectually bankrupt and politically incorrect world view of RSS cannot withstand questions that are being raised and any kind of debate. It is because of this bankruptcy that the RSS is scared of debate, freedom of thought and expression. They are trying to impose their vision of fascistic Hindu Rashtra against our secular democratic republic. The union government guided and controlled by RSS is an instrument in carrying out the Hindutva project of RSS. However, secular and democratic sections of our country have recognised the danger and taken up the challenge as reflected in various resistance movements throughout the country. This resistance is expanding in strength as well as percolating into various fields. Following the killings of rationalists and writers MM Kalburgi, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, the Dadri lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq and various other incidents, country’s renowned personalities in the fields of art, films, culture, science etc are raising their concern over country’s vanishing space for diversity in the wake of assault on the secular values, democratic rights, right to dissent, freedom of speech and culture of debates. The Modi government is trying to divert the attention of the people from its administrative and policy failures by intensifying communal polarisation by all means. The people, realising the real face of the Modi government have rejected the BJP in all major elections held after he became the PM. The government has no solution to the larger questions of unemployment, agriculture distress, issues of workers, youth etc. In fact, their policies are helpful only in further worsening the problems. The youth of the country realised that the promise of ‘Achhe Din’ is never going to materialise. The betrayal of the youth by the Modi government is evident in their total failure to generate jobs. The BJP had promised to create two crore employment opportunities in five years. They have not only failed to create jobs but in fact there have been job losses. Central universities and public education institutions are starved of funds due to reduced allocation to higher education. The government has reduced scholarships and fellowships and students have had to go on strike. The government has even failed to ensure the timely payment of scholarships and fellowships. The Manuvadi ideology of the Sangh Parivar is being imposed on universities. Students belonging to dalit and socially backward and economically weaker sections are the main victims of these economic onslaughts. Casteist forces backed by the Hindutva ideology have launched an attack on the freedom of young people murdering three dalit youth in Tamilnadu. Ilavarasan, Gokul Raj and Shankar had to pay with their life daring to marry outside their castes. Rohith and Kanhaiya have become the symbols of resistance against this Manuvadi and anti-poor designs of the Modi government. In order to cover up the failures of the Modi government, Sangh Parivar is trying to create a new divide on the basis of their own distorted versions of nationalism and patriotism. The prime minister has stated that the criticism of ‘nation’ cannot be tolerated. By this statement, Narendra Modi is trying to silence all genuine questions against his government’s failures. Modi being an RSS pracharak has no moral authority to talk about nationalism and patriotism. It is a historical fact that the RSS had no role in anti-imperialist freedom struggle. They were responsible for the dastardly killing of the father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi. It was their leaders like Savarkar who had sought clemency from the British government to get out of jail. RSS, which was equally responsible for the separation of our country in 1947, is continuing their divisive politics even today. The Sangh sponsored Modi government is allowing the loot of our country by foreign and domestic capital. They have ensured safe passage for criminals like Vijay Mallya who have looted thousands of crores of rupees from our country. The youth of our country can realise who the real traitors and anti-nationals are. The convention has outrightly rejected the RSS notion of pseudo nationalism and vowed to carry forward the legacy of great martyrs like Bhagat Singh and his comrades. The resolution underlined that patriotism means upholding the interests of Indian people and defending the idea of a secular and democratic republic and called upon all progressive, secular and democratic youth of the country to unite and resist the RSS sponsored offensive against our motherland.