Desh Bachao, Yuva Bachao: Youth wings of 14 parties hold joint protest against Modi govt

United Youth Front, a combined youth wing of 14 major national and regional political parties, marched to Parliament on Monday against the "apathetic behaviour" of the NDA government on issues such as unemployment, inflation and fuel price hike.

The front, with youth outfits of several non-BJP parties including the Congress as constituents, was formed last month for joint protests against the Modi government "There is discontent and anguish among diversified youth of the country towards completely apathetic behavior of the Modi government on issues of unemployment, inflation, fuel price hike, irregularities in SSC and other competitive exams, police atrocities, BJP sponsored crimes and major corruption in the Rafale deal," Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said while addressing the gathering at Parliament street.

The protest march titled Desh Bachao, Yuva Bachao saw participation from youth wings of the Indian Youth Congress, All India Youth Front (CPI), Nationalist Youth Congress (NCP), Samajwadi Yuvajan Sabha (Samajwadi Party), All India Youth League (Forward Bloc), Youth League (IUML), Loktantrik Yuva Janata Dal, Yuva Rashtriya Lok Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), National Conference (Youth), Kerala Congress (M), Kerala Congress (J) and Revolutionary Youth Wing (RSP Youth Wing).

Referring to data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Chandrasekhar, the working President of the Yuva Janta Dal (Secular) stated that "every 12 minutes, a Dalit suffers an atrocity while six Dalit women are raped everyday".

"Highest crimes against Adivasis were registered in BJP-ruled states of Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. States that accounted for a majority of crimes against Dalits as per NCRB, were the BJP-ruled States of Madhya Pradesh (43.4 pc), Rajasthan (42 pc), Goa (36.7 pc) and Gujarat (32.5 pc), while Congress-ruled Karnataka recorded significantly lesser crimes against Dalits," he said.