People Movments and PPF: a talk by Yogendra Yadav

"Last 25 years have seen struggle of people from various sections like farmers, displaced people, unorganised sector workers, women etc asserting their rights. The activists working for such sections put efforts for years in mobiliising the people, protesting and demanding but then they have to wait. They have to wait till some big decisions are taken by politicians or ministers. And When decisions are taken either they are half distorted or completly opposite to what people want as decisions on new economic policy, SEZs or dams clearly shows. So people movments throughout the country face the question: "How do we encounter this politics which either ignores us or distort our demands or goes contrary to what people want. Our streategy that we will wage struggle and someone else would do politics is not working?" In order to make direct intervention in politics, people movments have either formed national level alliances like NAPM or converted themselves in political polities like Samajwadi Janparishad and Sarvodaya Karnataka. There is a third approach, still in process of taking definite shape, an idea of an umbrella organisation where various groups, while retaining there seprate idenities, can come together to intervene in national politics in various ways. An organisation which is formed by people movments, reflects the agenda of people movments and is accountable to people movments: this is the kind of approach which has started in the name of People Political Forum. Some 50 people movments from different parts of country have come together to form it, so that they can intervene directly in politics."
Said Yogendra yadav in a meeting organised in chennai, on 21st Nov, attended by activists from various organisations like Unorganised Workers Federation, Tamilnadu manual workers union, Nirmaan Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam, All unorganised workers union, Womens Front Tamilnadu, Buddhist Society of India, Republican trade union of india, Tamilnadu Coastal Areas Fisherman's protection forum, Fisher peoples coordination committee.