MUMBAI, Dec 27: The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) today gave a call for a nation-wide observance of Chetavani Divas (Warning Day) on January 8 against the Vajpayee Government's policies on patents amendments and opening up the insurance sector to foreign equity.Winding up the three-day golden jubilee year national conference of the ABVP, its president Dinesh Anand Goswami said dharnas and morchas would be organised all over the country on January 8 as ``a warning'' to the BJP-led coalition government against enacting the Patents Amendments and Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) Bills into law in Parliament.
Earlier, an estimated 15,000 student delegates unanimously adopted a resolution on `the present national scene' which lambasted the policies of the BJP-led government as ``anti-swadeshi and dangerous to the country's economic sovereignty''.
``The ABVP feels that passing of the insurance and patents bills in Parliament and other such decisions are a violation of the commitment made toswadeshi through election slogans by various constituent parties of the government'', the resolution declared.
It stated, ``If the United States is not respecting the World Trade Organisation's agreement and is imposing restrictions, there is no reason for the Indian Government to come under pressure of the USA to change patent laws''.
The ABVP president said debates would be organised in university campuses on the patents and insurance bills.
Adopting a resolution on education, the ABVP meet noted that the ``unseemly controversy'' at the conference of education ministers over singing of Saraswati Vandana was significant as it showed that ``ideological perversion had gripped the minds of politicians and so-called progressive intellectuals in the name of secularism''.
``Goddess Saraswati is regarded as the deity of knowledge in the country since time immemorial and invoking her has been a traditional practice woven into our social fabric'', the resolution said.
``Likewise, the singing of VandeMataram or paying obeisance to Bharatmata is not a matter which is to be made optional or become a controversy'', it stated. The conference demanded steps to amend Article 30 to ensure that it was ``not misused by minority institutions''.
However, the resolution noted that self-respect had been instilled in the people by carrying out nuclear tests and initiating steps to safeguard national security interests against threats posed by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence.
The political resolution condemned the Jhabua rape and stated that the ``inquiry had revealed that people belonging to the Christian community are involved in it'', but felt misinformation had been spread about Christians being systematically threatened to bring a bad name to the country.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.