February 19, 2010: In the run up to the All India Education Convention in JNU, SFI had organized a rally in Delhi University which was followed by a public meeting at Vivekanda statue, Arts Faculty. The rally started from Vishwavidyalaya metro Station at 11am with SFI delegates from all over the country participating in it. The rally culminated in a public meeting addressed by former all India general secretary of SFI and Former M.P. Com.Nilotpal Basu ,All India General Secretary of SFI Com.Ritabrata Bannerjee,All India Joint Secretary Com.Shivadasan and Delhi State President Com.Roshan. Com.G.Selva presided over the meeting.
The rally echoed the resolve of the SFI and the larger student community to resist the commercialization and centralization of education and reaffirmed the legacy of the ‘study and struggle’. This resolve was resoundingly reflected in the public meeting as the speakers addressing the meeting asserted the basic right of the students to education and also the democratic rights of the students, while highlighting the anti-people anti-student nature of the policies pursued by the congress led UPA government.
Com.Nilotpal Basu began his inspiring and insightful address by reminding the comrades of the great anti-imperialist legacy of the student movement in India as the conscious and awakened student community having accessed the modern education and hence the modern ideals performed a crucial role in the anti-imperialist freedom struggle against the British colonizers. Focusing on the worsening status of India in terms of Human Development and grossly inadequate expenditure on education inspite of the universalisation of education being included in the directive principles of the constitution, he urged the students to rise in unison to address these issues and struggle for the achievement of the unfulfilled [i]promises in the education sector so as to change the present set up which is marked by highly inegalitarian tendencies. Criticising the empty-rhetoric mongering of the self proclaimed ‘revolutionary’ organizations Com. Basu said that the question posed before the student community is whether to struggle over the real issues of education, employment, inequalities or to indulge in the anarchist violence in the name of revolution, without ever raising a voice of protest over the actually existing injustices. Exposing the hollow commitment of the UPA government to the universalisation of education he said that there has been no financial memorandum along with the right to education act, laying down the provision of funds for its implementation. He further attacked the UPA government for the proposal of HRD ministry to centralize the decision making processes regarding the education by bringing all the matters in the domain of a 7 member ‘expert’ group as this proposal is essentially anti-democratic as it completely neglects the diverse nature of the issues faced by the different parts and the sections of the country. Com.Basu emphasized the necessity of resisting these policies through the united action of students along with the working classes of the country and asserting the right to education. He concluded by saying that let a wave of struggles emerge in this country to defeat the anti-people anti-student policies of the UPA government.
Com.Ritabrata Banerjee drew the attention of the comrades to the spate of organized assaults on the student community from the government and affirmed the resolve of the SFI to resist these assaults steadfastly. Asserting that ‘when politics determines education, we have to determine politics’ he asserted the necessity of the struggle to maintain and regain the democratic rights of the student community which have come under the axe of neoliberal regime which has set out to depoliticize the student community. Saluting the Undying legacy of the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for SFI Com.Ritabrata appealed the comrades to uphold SFI’s legacy of ‘Study,Struggle and Sacrifice’.
Com.Shivadasan placed the assaults on the student community in the larger context of the rightwing assaults on left-forces and emphasized that SFI needs to rise up to these challenges as a part of the larger democratic movement in the country.
Com.Roshan focused on the impossibility of the universalisation of education under the neoliberal-capitalist regime as the education being seen in its fullest meaning raises the level of consciousness of the students which would motivate them to fight against the prevalent injustices and oppressions under the neoliberal-capitalist regime. He asserted the opposition of the SFI to the foreign education providers bill as it essentially amounts to the commecialisation of education and is motivated by the profit-making drive.
Delhi State Secretary of SFI Com. Robert Rahman Raman delivered the vote of thanks and the Delegates from all over the country proceeded to JNU for the all India Education convention, only to sharpen and intensify the struggle against the commercialization and centralization of education.
SFI CEC also takes this opportunity to congratulate its Presidency College Unit, Kolkata District Committee and WB State Committee for winning the Presidency College Students’ Union Elections.
