ABVP urged to take up cause of Dalits

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 1. The director of the Bharatiya Vichara Kendram, Mr. P. Parameswaran, has called on the ABVP to take up cudgels for the cause of the Dalits and address issues that retard their progress.

Delivering the keynote address at the 21st State conference of the ABVP here today, Mr. Parameswaran said the move by Dalits to construct an identity around Dr. Ambedkar keeping Buddha as their inspiration is very legitimate. The student community, especially the ABVP has nothing to fear from it. Only, it should be kept in mind that a Dalit identity should be part of a larger national identity and that anti-national elements should not be allowed to hijack the Dalit identity. The creamy layer among the backward communities is trying to subvert Dalit aspirations using deceptive strategies and tactics, he said.

When the ABVP says its slogan is `students for change' it should also make clear to itself what sort of change it has in mind. Is it the sort of violent, revolutionary, all-negating type of change that draws it inspiration from something like the Russian revolution or is it a change that is inclusive, evolutionary, constructive and one that is based on the Indian traditions of change ? History has proved that the latter is much better than the former, that a Guruvayoor satyagraha or a Vaikom Satyagraha is any day better than a Punnapra-Vayalar.

The path of change that the Communists ushered in to Kerala was bereft of spiritualism. Communism without spiritual foundations became consumerism and consumerism without work culture became criminalism. In spite of high literacy, education became a plaything in the hands of politicians who conducted casual experiments with it. A long-term educational policy based on Indian culture and imbued with moral and spiritual values is a pressing need of the hour, Mr. Parameswaran said and added that the coming generations would be grateful to the ABVP if it can fight against the twin evils of the liquor trade and the bomb culture in Kerala.

In his inaugural address, the national organising secretary of the ABVP, Mr. Hosabale Dattatreya, said campuses in the country need to be urgently freed from cultural degeneration, sectarian violence and divisive politics. The student community should organise itself against consumerism in the education sector and the ABVP activists will be at the forefront of such a movement to save Indian education. In place of value based education, what the nation has today is price-based education where one can become an engineer and doctor by paying so much amount of money.

The ABVP's vision of the student community is not limited to the campuses alone. Since student power is national power, it is the student community which has to be the flag bearers for movements and initiatives to bring about economic and social security to the people and those to check forces that threaten the sovereignty and integrity of the nation. "The ABVP is for change, but the Parishad is not prepared to forget the strong spiritual foundations of the nation for the sake of change. Changes that do not have spiritual moorings will not last long. Such changes require time, effort and a sense of direction," he said.

The Communists cannot check the growth of the ABVP in Kerala for long now. An ideology that has now been discarded, a party that has lost its national status and a State Government whose days are numbered cannot also check the growth of national consciousness among Kerala's students, he added.

In his presidential address, the State president of the ABVP, Mr. Unnikrishnan Master, said the students of Kerala are slowly moving from Marx to Vivekananda. Various rulings by the courts in the State have vindicated the stand of the ABVP on the Plus Two issue. For the past so many years, the Parishad has been working for the all round development of the State's student community, he added.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the Mahatma Gandhi University, Dr. A. Sukumaran Nair, and the ABVP State secretary, Mr. M. A. Vinod, were among those who attended the inaugural session.

A seven-point education resolution adopted by the Conference called on the State Government to take up responsibility for the corruption in sanctioning Plus Two courses and resign forthwith. The resolution also demanded private registration under the Plus Two directorate, introduction of science subjects in open schools, uniform calendar for all universities and periodic revision of university courses.

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