Immense Potential in Student-Youth Upsurge on Employment Issue: Dipankar Bhattacharya
AISA-RYA held a joint executive meeting on 4 February 2022 at the CPIML legislative party office in Chhajjubagh, Patna. Addressing the meeting, CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the recent student-youth upsurge in Bihar shows great possibilities. After the farmers' movement, students and youth are now getting organized across the country from Bihar to Uttar Pradesh and Punjab and various other places. The need of the hour is to build a massive front to wage a decisive battle against the Central government which is bent upon privatizing the Railways and relentlessly shrinking job opportunities. Bihar has had a glorious history of student-youth movements. Today Bihar stands poised to repeat that glorious history.
Comrade Dipankar said that the Bihar Bandh called by AISA-RYA on the RRB-NTPC recruitment and Group D exam drew the attention of the entire country. Bihar is becoming the centre of the unemployment just as Punjab was the centre of the farmers' movement. In this situation AISA-RYA have an increased responsibility. We have to stand true to the trust reposed in us by students and youth and spearhead an extensive people's struggle to push back fascist attacks by the BJP.
In the last Assembly election in Bihar employment was a key issue and students and youth almost pushed out the BJP-JDU government from power, although in the end this could not be possible. Now in the UP election also employment is becoming a big issue. It has derived strength from the student-youth movement in Bihar. All eyes are on the UP election result. A defeat there will give momentum to the struggle to unseat the autocratic Modi government in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, and then it will be a changed scenario across the country.
In this year's Budget the Central government has replayed its old 'jumla' (word-play) on the employment issue. Its policy is to gradually privatize the Railways. The Railway sector is the one that generates the most employment. If this sector breaks down, where will employment be? Banks, Insurance, etc are also being privatized. Youth are getting only 'temporary' type of jobs, where the work is very tough but salary is dismally low. The number of unemployed and semi-unemployed persons in the country is consistently increasing. We need to be alert to the fact that fascist forces like the BJP will try to divert this energy in the wrong direction. AISA-RYA activists must give this energy a positive direction and turn the entire struggle against the policies of the government.
