By Akhil Kumar: 

Ever since the Modi government has come to power, we have seen renewed outbursts of simmering anger from people in various sectors, opposing the government’s anti-people and anti-democratic moves – the peasants are up in arms against land grab through the Land Acquisition Bill, the rural poor are demanding right to employment guarantee and food security, students are protesting against commercialisation of education and huge budget cuts in public funded education, protests against drastic cuts in spending on welfare and social spending are on the rise; and the list can go on. Ironically, these are the very people our PM claims to have received a resounding mandate from. “Ten months ago Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India promising to reduce prices, check corruption, bring back black money and usher in good times for the country. 2014 is over and we are now in 2015. Do we see the Modi government moving towards fulfilment of those wonderful poll promises? The answer is a big NO!” says a release from the All India People’s Forum (AIPF).

Why are people up in arms against the Modi Government?

Modi’s electoral campaign promised ‘Ache Din’, with a lot of high flying rhetoric on how the BJP would make life better for the citizens of this country with its developmental agenda. And now that they are in power, and are going back on their promises one by one, their real intentions have been revealed. When the party president Amit Shah publicly declares the promise of every family getting 15 lakh Rs. through repatriation of black money as empty poll rhetoric, their credibility will definitely go for a toss. Of course all the people didn’t vote for them just for the money, and Amit Shah’s statement is not some sort of ‘moment of truth’, but the continued assault on the common people has exposed where our government’s loyalties lie. The real beneficiaries of the ‘Ache Din’ are out in the open now, and a majority of the common people haven’t made it to that list. Out of the many events that have led to this cumulative anger and resentment against the current government, here are a few highlighting moves that have agitated people:

• The Modi govt. has remained a silent spectator to the communal poison being pumped into the secular fabric of our society by the sangh parivar and its allies. Even the smallest local disputes are being blown up and rumours being spread to whip up communal frenzy. BJP MPs, ministers, RSS leaders and the so called sadhus and sadhvis are asking Hindu women to produce more children, and making irresponsible statements and hate speech, churches are being vandalised in the capital, and the dangerous propaganda of ‘Love Jihad’ and Ghar Wapasi – all of these point towards a mischievous communal agenda that is being encouraged by the PM’s calculated silence.
• No sign of black money being recovered, as was promised.
• Ordinance has been issued to expediate land grab in corporate interest.
• Modi has virtually freed US companies supplying nuclear reactors to India from any liability, compensation, and legal action, in case of any accident.
• The govt. is systematically undermining India’s patent policy, which will stall domestic production of several life-saving drugs and escalate their prices for common people in India and accross the world.
• The Planning Commission has been wound up and funds allocated for welfare programmes are being squeezed systematically.
• The govt. has slashed expenditure on welfare and social spending, the worst hit being the health, women and child welfare, and education sectors.
• Public funded education is being weakened through huge budget cuts, autonomy of educational institutions are being trampled upon.

What is the All India People’s Forum (AIPF)? 

To strengthen the Indian people’s battle for comprehensive democracy, dignity, and justice, a range of Democratic organisations and individuals have decided to come together and launch a national platform called the All India People’s Forum (AIPF). The issues listed above have also been raised by the members of the preparatory committee of the forum. The founding conference of the AIPF is being held in Delhi at Ambedkar Bhawan on 14-15 March and this will be followed by a massive Jan Sansad at Parliament Street on 16th March to call upon the government to withdraw the land-grab ordinance and other anti-people measures, fulfil its electoral promises of reducing prices, eliminating corruption and bringing back black money, and firmly stop the communal and divisive forces.

We recently witnessed a series of massive protests against various injustices, from Hok Kolorob, Kiss Of Love, Jan Adhikar Rally, protests against the ESIC, to the very innovative ‘Shuddh Desi Romance’. What has been inspiring is the intersectionality of the struggles. People from across the country have joined in various struggles even when it didn’t directly concern them, to give more momentum to the voice of dissent. It is here that the AIPF plans to play a crucial role – in bringing together all the peoples’ movements and collectively assert their voices against various forms of oppression and injustices. To stand in solidarity and put up a sustained resistance, for scattered movements are easier to quash.

Featured image credit: Chandan Gomes

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