Socialist thinkers and activists from various States held a meeting in Belagavi on Thursday as part of a nationwide tour to establish a network of like-minded activists.
They paid their respects at the Gandhi memorial built at Veera Soudha, the venue of the All-India Congress session in 1924. They later held a meeting in the Circuit House.
Leader Arun Kumar Srivatsava, who addressed the media, said that there was a urgent need to organise all socialist, secular and democratic forces around the country as the BJP-led NDA government was pushing India to the brink of a civil war.
“The Modi government is taking several unilateral decisions that can have dangerous consequences. It is using religion to divide the country. There is an urgent need to educate the youth about such nefarious designs of the rulers. The youth have given up protesting in the last few decades and the government no longer cares about the needs of the people. There is a need to create awareness among them about the need for non violent struggle,” he said. M. Suneelam, activist from Madhya Pradesh, said that the ₹47,000-crore trade pact that the BJP government was contemplating to sign with the U.S.A could lead to millions of job losses in the country. Nearly 15 crore people depend on dairy and poultry.
“They will all be left in the streets if the U.S.A. succeeds in forcing India to sign the trade deal. This is the main reason behind the visit of President Donald Trump to India. We should all oppose this,” he said.
He urged the people not to participate in the NPR exercise that is expected to start in Karnataka, and some other States from April 1.
“The Centre has weakened the MGNREGA scheme that would have stabilised the rural economy, given jobs to the poor, and reduced migration to cities. But the government is not doing that. It is spending ₹70,000 crore on NPR, which could have been spent effectively on MGNREGA. This is a dangerous development,” Mr. Suneelam said.
