All India Youth Federation

All India Youth Federation
AbbreviationAIYF
Formation3 May 1959 (1959-05-03), Delhi, India
TypeYouth organisation
Headquarters4/7, Asaf Ali Road, New Delhi-110002, India [1]
Location
General Secretary
Sukhjinder Mahesari
President
Raushan Kumar Sinha
Main organ
Youth Life
AffiliationsWorld Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY)
Websitewww.aiyf.in

The All India Youth Federation (AIYF) is the youth wing of the Communist Party of India. The AIYF was founded on May 3, 1959 by the actor Balraj Sahni in 1959 along with PK Vasudevan Nair.[2] In general, the AIYF's positions have been largely tied to those of the CPI. Like the CPI, the AIYF has been characterized by support for socialist policies, solidarity with Third World political movements, and criticism of the Indian government, notably expressed by AIYF-led student protests in the 1960s.[3]

History

The All India Youth Federation (AIYF) came into being in 1959, though few records seem to survive of its first conference. Said first conference was held in New Delhi, from 28 April to 3 May 1959, and attended by[4] around 250 delegates and observers from eleven states. The conference elected the actor Balraj Sahani as the first president of AIYF and Sarada Mitra as General Secretary, and P.K. Vasudevan Nair was elected the chairman of the executive committee of the AIYF.[5] The second AIYF conference saw 306 delegates attend from various CPI organs, as well as youth organizations and the Youth Hostels Association of India. Observers attended from the World Federation of Democratic Youth, Socialist Youth Union (Czechoslovakia, the Sri Lankan Freedom Party, and the Youth Leagues (Ceylon). The early AIYF claimed to represent youth and student organizations of multiple political tendencies, but was from its inception closely tied to the CPI and invested in anti-Congress policies.[3]

By the third conference, the AIYF had adopted "scientific socialism" as its stated organizational aim as propagated by communist leader SA Dange.[6] In the same period, the AIYF called for the nationalization of the banks, the oil industry, and foreign trade. AIYF appeals to students were largely concerned with rising tuition fees and an insufficient supply of jobs for newly-educated professionals.[3]

In the mid 1960s, the AIYF developed a more ambivalent relationship with Congress politics, led by the increasingly radical reforms undertaken by Indira Gandhi. The expulsion of Indira Gandhi from Congress and subsequent formation of the Indian National Congress (Requisitionists), more commonly known as INC (R), led to a closer relationship between AIYF and said faction of Congress, although not one that was marked by universal agreement.[3]

Currently Raushan Kumar Sinha serves as its president, Sukjinder Mahesari as the general secretary.[7]

AIYF National Conferences

National ConferenceYearPlaceGeneral SecretaryPresident
1
(Foundation Conference)		28 April to 3 May 1959DelhiSarada MitraBalraj Sahni
219–21 May 1961HyderabadSarada MitraP.K. Vasudevan Nair
329 December 1965 to 3 January 1966PondicherryC.K. ChandrappanSarada Mitra
424–26 December 1969DelhiC.K. ChandrappanJoginder Singh Dayal
517-20 January 1974CochinC.K. ChandrappanSuravaram Sudhakar Reddy
Amarendra Narayan SinghC.K. Chandrappan
613-15 May 1979HyderabadThoppil GopalakrishnanAmarendra Narayan Singh
716-18 January 1983PatnaRamakrishna ReddyBant Singh Brar
81-3 November 1985BilaspurD. RajaL. Sotin Kumar
93-6, May 1990CochinRajaji Mathew ThomasTara Singh Sandhu
1026-29 September 1993SangrurRajaji Mathew ThomasJaved Ali Khan
Prem Prakash Sharma
118-11 December 1996CalcuttaSoni ThengamomSitaram Sharma
P. Devender ReddyPirthipal Singh
1328-31, March 2007Sirsa (Haryana)K. MuruganP. Sandosh Kumar
1428 September to 1 October 2010Jalandhar, PunjabP. Sandosh KumarAftab Alam Khan[8]
154 to 7 January 2015Vadodra, Gujarat[9]R.Thirumalai Aftab Alam Khan
167 to 10 January 2022Hyderabad, TelanganaR. ThirumalaiSukhjinder Mahesari
1715 to 18 May 2025Tirupati, Andhra pradeshSukhjinder MahesariRaushan Kumar Sinha[10]

Organisational structure

These are the organs of the organisation:

  • National Conference
  • General Council
  • State council
  • District council
  • Taluk or subdivisional council
  • Local or primary unit

References

  1. ↑ "Official website". Archived from the original on 17 November 2024. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  2. ↑ Pothukuchi, Madhavi (1 May 2019). "Balraj Sahni, the common man's hero who told their story through cinema". ThePrint. Retrieved 17 July 2026.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Wilkinson, Tom (23 March 2022). Youth Movements and Mobilisations in Post-Colonial India, circa 1930-1970 (PhD thesis). London School of Economics. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  4. ↑ "Origin Of AISF In India". 12 August 2015.
  5. ↑ https://aiyfnationalcouncil.blogspot.com/p/history.html?m=1
  6. ↑ "All India Youth Federation". flagspot.net. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  7. ↑ Mallela, Vani (20 May 2025). "New office bearers elected for AIYF". www.thehansindia.com. Retrieved 17 July 2026.
  8. ↑ "Grand Finale to 14th AIYF Conference-Only Way to Win is Through Struggles". New Age Weekly.
  9. ↑ "AIYF national meet to focus on employment". The Hans India.
  10. ↑ https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra-pradesh/new-office-bearers-elected-for-aiyf-972601
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