Under the banner of United Youth Front, youth wings of different political parties to hold a mass protest at Jantar Mantar on 8 October.
New Delhi: The proposed opposition unity to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections may not be a done deal yet, but youth wings of about a dozen opposition parties have decided to come together.
Under the banner of United Youth Front (UYF), formed under a resolution passed on 4 September, the youth wings will hold a protest against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government’s policies at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on 8 October.
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This comes even as state-specific alliances among opposition parties also appear to be falling apart. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), that was holding talks with the Congress for an alliance in the year-end assembly elections, has decided to go with Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh and also announced candidates for 22 seats in Madhya Pradesh.
‘Time to come together’
The UYF comprises the Congress party’s youth wing, the Indian Youth Congress, Communist Party of India’s All India Youth Federation, Samajwadi Party’s Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, National Congress Party’s National Students Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Yuva Rashtriya Lok Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Jharkhand Yuva Morcha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Youth Wing, Forward Bloc’s All India Youth League and Indian Union Muslim League’s Muslim Youth League, among others.
“Farmer suicides, caste- and religion-based violence are spreading throughout the country under the Modi regime and it is time that youth wings of different parties come together to protest against these problems,” Indian Youth Congress president Keshav Chand Yadav told ThePrint.
National president of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, Vikas Yadav said the youth front will protest against government’s “failed” policies.
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“The biggest challenge is rising unemployment and how the government has completely failed to work on it. Second is corruption through Rafale or Mudra loan. Thirdly, communalism is threatening the unity of the country,” said Sabir S. Ghaffar, leader of Muslim Youth League.
Not a political alliance
Indian Youth Congress spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey told ThePrint that United Youth Front should not be seen through the lens of electoral politics.
“It will be wrong to say that the youth wings of different political parties are coming together should be seen as a part of an alliance at the political level,” said Pandey.
As of now, the United Youth Front is going to hold protests in the national capital only but it plans to start nationwide protests later.
“It seems that the youth wings of different political parties feel that the danger from the BJP government is too huge as a result of which they have decided to come together under the United Youth Front banner despite their different ideologies,” said Apoorvanand, an academic and social activist.