Left Parties Take Centre Stage in Delhi Protest Against Electoral Roll Irregularities

New Delhi: Left parties and their student and youth organisations played a prominent role in Saturday’s protest in New Delhi against the Union government over electoral-roll irregularities, with their leaders at the forefront of demonstrations despite police action and detentions.

Leaders of the CPI(M), CPI and other left organisations joined protesters on the ground, while their cadres helped coordinate the mobilisation and sustain participation amid police restrictions and physical and psychological intimidation by Delhi Police and other deployed forces. The presence of left leaders and activists from across the country was a major highlight of the demonstration.

Preparations for the protest included discussions and strategy meetings at AKG Bhavan and Surjeet Bhawan in Delhi. CPI(M) Politburo members, including Pinarayi Vijayan and General Secretary M A Baby, joined the demonstration. The party’s decision to mobilise all its Central Committee members for the protest was also a significant part of its preparations.

Student and youth organisations, including the SFI, DYFI, AISF and All India Students’ Association (AISA), were among the groups that mobilised young protesters. Trade unions such as the CITU and farmers’ organisations, including the All India Kisan Sabha, also participated, broadening the mobilisation.

Several national-level student and youth leaders helped bring participants to the protest. They included SFI national president Adarsh M Saji, national joint secretary Aishe Ghosh, AISF national president Viraj Devang and secretary Dinesh Srirangaraj, DYFI national president A A Rahim and secretary Himaghna Raj Bhattacharya, All India Youth Federation leaders Roushan Kumar Sinha and Sukhjinder Mahesari, and AISA national president Neha Bora.

Left organisations had been among teh first to protest after information about the voter-list irregularities emerged, organising demonstrations in Delhi and across the cou try within two days.

Police deployment and preventive detentions targeted several left party offices and leaders. Heavy police presence was reported at AKG Bhavan and Surjeet Bhawan, while CPI(M), CPI and left youth organisation leaders in different states were also taken into preventive custody. In Delhi, left student and youth activists and party leaders were among those detained. Some detained CC members were transported in heavily secured vehicles.

Left organisations also issued strong statements criticising the police response and organised demonstrations in several states against the action taken during the Delhi protest.

Saturday’s protest is a major example of the growing reach and acceptance of Leftist ideas in the country. What distinguishes the Left from those who merely stage protests at their convenience is its uncompromising stand in the struggle against injustice. This is precisely why more people are rallying behind the Left