THE 23rd AISA Allahabad University conference began at the Irom lawns on 17 January 2019, Rohit Vemula’s 3rd martyrdom day, with recollections of his struggles and martyrdom and 2 minutes’ silence in his honour.
Addressing the open session of the conference, Krishnakant Pandey expressed his views on the challenges under the present political conditions. As the main speaker, AISA founder member and AICCTU State Secretary Anil Verma spoke in detail about the campaigns and struggles led by AISA. Outgoing Unit Secretary Shahbaz Malik presented the work report which was followed by a discussion. A new committee was proposed and accepted by the conference. The new committee consists of 23 Executive Council members, with Neelam Saroj as President, Sonu Yadav as Secretary, Shaharyar Khan as Vice President, and Shalini Maurya as Joint Secretary.
The conference discussed the following issues in detail: privatization of education by the Modi government; fund cuts and seat cuts in Universities; fee hikes and the conspiracy to stop marginalized and poor sections from entering the gates of higher education. The conference announced that it would fight for the resolution of basic problems at the University and also passed a resolution to struggle for students’ issues, raise the voice of the common people and students in social and political activities, to carry forward the concept of equal society inspired by Ambedkar and Bhagat Singh, and to make the march to Parliament on 7 February 2019 on the issues of education and employment a resounding success. The AISA-RYA booklet ‘Jumla Nahi, Jawab Chahiye-Paanch Saal ka Hisab Chahiye’ (We want answers, not jumlas; we want an account of your 5 years’ rule) was also released.
