Patna: CPI (ML)’s student and youth wings - All India Students’ Association (AISA) and Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) – respectively have called for a statewide protest in Bihar on May 24 with an objective to "translate the widespread student-youth protests on social media into action."
Repression Intensified, Claims Bhattacharya
CPI (ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told newspersons in Patna on Saturday that the students and youth who had been called "cockroaches" would now take to the streets to fight for their right to dignity, employment, and education. He said that repression against labour movements in Bihar and the country had also intensified. Many pro-people activists, including labour leader Satyam Verma, are being jailed under draconian laws like the NSA, he added.
Bhattacharya said that the country's students and youth, and especially the Gen G, were completely annoyed and this anger was manifesting on social media in the form of the "Cockroach Janata Party." “On one hand, unemployment is at its peak, and on the other, recruitment exams are constantly being tarnished by paper leaks. From Delhi to Patna, the education system has fallen into the hands of mafia and corruption,” he claimed.
Paper Leaks Ruining Futures
“Paper leaks in exams like NEET and AEDO are not an administrative failure, but the result of organised crime and political patronage. The futures of millions of students and youth are being ruined,” he alleged.
CPI (ML) leader also reacted sharply to the Supreme Court Chief Justice's alleged use of the term "cockroaches" for students and youth, saying that the comment was an attack on the dignity of the young generation. He said that no one had the right to insult youth who were jobless, whose exams were being leaked, and who were being lathi-charged.
Lathi-Charge Condemned
He condemned the lathi-charge on teaching job aspirants in Patna, saying that the government was resorting to repression instead of opening doors for dialogue and resolution.
Bhattacharya demanded the resignation of the union education minister and also that of Bihar education minister, saying that those who ruined the education system must be held accountable. He claimed that the process of handing over agricultural land to corporate companies had been accelerated in Bihar, citing the case of land being given to the Adani Group in Bhagalpur allegedly at a very low price. He claimed that the government’s order of halting the sale and purchase of lakhs of acres of land in the name of satellite townships in 11 districts was unacceptable.
“BJP not only removed Nitish Kumar from power, but also upended his entire political discourse. The very discourse and governance model have been upended. In Bihar, efforts are now being made to establish a model of good governance, bulldozers and encounters, displacement instead of development, and the politics of hatred, mob lynching, and violence instead of communal harmony. Repressive actions against Dalits, the poor, minorities, women, students, youth, and laborers are becoming the new normal,” he claimed.
