AISA National Conference Concludes
The All India Students Association (AISA) held its 10th National Conference at a time when the people of India, and students in particular, have been consistently resisting the fascist onslaught of the Narendra Modi regime for the past nine years. The two-day national conference was inaugurated at the Purbashree Auditorium, Bidhannagar (Kolkata) with paying homage to the departed leaders and martyrs. With the slogans ‘Young India Wants Education and Dignified Jobs, Not Hate Mobs’, and ‘Build India of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar’s Dreams’, the national conference was organised between August 9th and 11th, with the stage was named ‘Rohith Vemula - Payal Tadvi Manch’, and the hall was named ‘Chandrashekhar - Prashanta Paul’.
At the inaugural session of the conference, AISF National President Shubham Banerjee said that left student organisations must come together to fight the anti-people and anti-student policies of the Modi-BJP Government, which has unleashed an onslaught against the common people of this country. SFI National Vice-President Prateekur Rahman said that Modi-Shah is destroying the unity, plurality and the diversity of the country by implementing Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan. “The unity of students, teachers, farmers, workers, Dalit, Adivasi and Muslims will defeat the fascists,” he said. Leaders of left fraternal organisations – PSU General Secretary Naufaul Saifulla and DSO State President Manishankar, along with educationist Kumar Rana and founding member of All Bengal Students’ Association Nilkant Acharya, gave their solidarity speeches on the occasion.
CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “At a time when AISA is having its historic conference, many student activists like Umar Khalid, Gulfisha Fathima who fought for campus democracy and civil rights are languishing in jails under false cases. Just like Bhima Koregaon, the conspiracy to criminalise the anti-CAA protests is part of the larger plan to destroy Ambedkar’s India.” He added that there is a greater responsibility on students to expose how the government is turning young India into mobs to carry out their hate politics against Muslims and other oppressed communities. “It is important that AISA rises to the occasion and stops this practice of young people being used for hate politics and build a strong students’ movement that will build an India of the dreams of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh,” he said.
At the inaugural session, Comrade Neeraj Kumar of Revolutionary Youth Association said, “This national conference is happening at a crucial time when the country’s resources are being dismantled and sold to crony capitalists. When the youth voted BJP into power and demanded employment and education, the regime gave guns in the hands of Manipur youth to fight against their own people. Youth are being given swords to fight against Muslims in the country, thus subverting the secular fabric of the nation. We need to fight against such an onslaught.” Comrade Indrani Dutta of AIPWA, Kalpana Wilson of South Asia Solidarity Group, and others addressed the gathering.
On the second day of the National Conference, a report on the national, international and organisation was presented before the House of Delegates, which came to be passed with consensus by the house after several suggestions and submissions were made by the delegates. Amendments to the AISA Constitution and the AISA GSCASH Policy were also adopted by the house on the occasion.
A National Council with 171 members and an Executive Committee with 65 members were elected at the conference, with Nilasis Bose elected as the National President and Prasenjeet Kumar as its General Secretary. 15-member office bearers were also elected with Madhurima Kundu, Chanda Yadav, Sundar Rajan, Triloki Nath, Klengdung Phangcho, and Shivam Safeer as National Secretaries and Neha Bora, Lekha Adavi, Sabir Kumar, Md. Waquar Azam, Subrat Talukdar and Ankit Uchholi as the National Vice-Presidents.
In his maiden speech as the National President, Nilasis Bose said, “From the land of Bengal where BJP was defeated by the people, and with its rich legacy of fighting for the freedom of India, today AISA has elected a strong National Council reflecting its strength and growth of the organization in the last four years”. He added that India needs a strong student movement and AISA will be at the forefront fighting for a progressive, secular and democratic India!
AISA General Secretary Prasenjeet Kumar said, “AISA has been resisting the venomous hate propaganda being undertaken by the present regime, and are fighting against the raging corporate-communal attack on education and employment. The popular political will to defeat fascism, to save the Constitution and to build a progressive and prosperous future for the people of India can only grow and succeed on the foundation of countrywide united assertion of the people, and this will be led by students”.
An open session with Comrade Abhijit Majumdar, Sandeep Saurav, Sucheta De, and Jadavpur University Professor Manas Ghosh was held on August 9th, the Foundation Day of AISA, after which a cultural programme was also organised.
