In this Issue
Martyrdom Week, 2006:
We Must Dare to Fight and Dare to Win
Nine years ago, they had been gunned down in broad daylight while addressing a street-corner meeting at Siwan. The notorious fodder scam had already come to light and the people of Bihar were out on the streets challenging Laloo Prasad's reign of scams and massacres. On March 31, 1997, Chandrashekhar, who had just returned ‘home' after two successive terms as president of the prestigious JNU students' union in Delhi, and Shyamnarain Yadav, a local student leader and CPI(ML) activist of Siwan, were calling upon the people of Bihar to intensify the movement for justice and democracy and observe Bihar Bandh on April 2. This was too much for the local don-turned-MP to stomach and Chandrashekhar and Shyamnarain had to lay down their lives for defying his reign of terror and challenging the government of his ‘elder brother' in Patna.
Nine years since the martyrdom of Chandrashekhar and Shyamnarain, Siwan is no longer a fief of Sahabuddin. Nor does his elder brother's writ run any more in Bihar . On March 31, 2006 the people of Siwan turned out in large numbers not only to heave a temporary sigh of relief and celebrate the partial victories won so far, but more importantly, to rededicate themselves to the continuing battle for a better tomorrow. They remembered their martyrs by erecting a befitting statue of Comrade Chandrashekhar, to be followed by one of Comrade Shyamnarain, which will continue to inspire the advancing caravans of the people for liberation and progress. The day was observed not only in Siwan, but in different parts of the country. In faraway Hyderabad , hundreds of youths took out a procession under the banner of the Revolutionary Youth Association and resolved to carry forward the legacy of Chandrashekhar and Bhagat Singh.
Chandrashekhar had once stated that he too had his own share of ambitions in life: “I would like to live like Bhagat Singh and die like Che.” Today, he is indeed remembered as a true inheritor of Bhagat Singh's revolutionary legacy. In fact, more and more people today recognize Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar not just as martyrs lighting up our past but as inspiring icons of the present, with a compelling message of social change that resonates through our contemporary national and global surroundings. Today, our identity as a free nation has been seriously compromised and constrained by our rulers' growing strategic surrender to the United States . All our notions of domestic prosperity and a modern democratic polity have been shattered by the growing reality of all-round destruction of human livelihood and natural resources, and the long shadow of corruption and criminalisation over our public life. As we confront this shocking reality and look for ways to a real national reawakening and democratic resurgence, we need all the inspiration and energy we can secure from our martyrs.
There is also an added relevance of Chandrashekhar in the immediate context of Bihar . After fifteen long years the state has experienced a change of guards, but there is no relief or respite for the common people. The incidence of criminal activities shows no sign of decline, and when parents of kidnapped children try to apprise the chief minister of their plight they run the risk of being beaten up by the police at the CM's residence. From protesting para-teachers and traders to harassed parents and general citizens, the new regime has been quite generous in showering lathis and bullets on all aggrieved sections of the society. At the same time, like Laloo Prasad, Nitish Kumar too is turning out to be a master of empty rhetoric. For example, with a paltry allocation of only Rs. 200 crore his government claims to have brought the whole of Bihar within the purview of the employment guarantee act!
Nitish Kumar had also promised to make Bihar crime free within a period of three months. But till date there has been no exemplary action against the crime industry or the criminal-politician-police-administration nexus. Instead, the government has come up with a spurious rehabilitation plan for retiring criminals, complete with compensation packages for any arms that may also be surrendered. And behind this official policy of administrative amnesty and social rehabilitation, the new dispensation has actually unleashed a campaign to cajole criminal gangs and secure their political allegiance. In Siwan, for example, some of Shahabuddin's accomplices are already reported to have crossed over to the BJP-JD(U) camp while NDA-backed rival gangs are busy expanding their areas of operation.
It is at such junctures when people are let down and betrayed in the name of change that martyrs like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar become especially relevant. They tell us that we must march on without getting stranded or losing our way in the middle. They encourage us to be consistent and unsparing in our quest for change. They inspire us to fight with all our strength and fight till victory has been won. While observing the March 23-31 martyrdom week, young India therefore paid the right tribute to its heroes: Chandrashekhar, Bhagat Singh – We shall fight, we shall win!
Ninth Anniversary of Chandrashekhar's Martyrdom:
Thousands Pledged to Tread along the Path that Chandrashekhar Had Chosen for Himself
Statue of the Martyr Unveiled in Siwan
The Martyrs' Week, started on 23 March -- the day of 75th anniversary of Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat, witnessed its conclusion in a massive march to Siwan on 31 March where a life-size statue of Comrade Chandrashekhar was unveiled in the presence of thousands of toiling poor and oppressed people. A number of activists and prominent persons from different parts of the country reached Siwan to take part in the march.
Nine years ago, on 31 March 1997, Comrades Chandrashekhar and Shyamnarayan Yadav fell martyr to the bullets of the killers sent by Shahabuddin in broad daylight when they were addressing a street corner meeting at the JP Chowk in Siwan. Today, whole of Siwan reverberated with the slogan 'You are alive in the struggles of the people, in the aspirations of the people' dreaming for a better world as visualised by the martyrs.
The unveiling of Chandrashekhar's statue did not remain a formal event. It marked the continuation of struggles amidst a number of programmes being conducted by the CPI(ML) to organise agrarian workers, ranging from membership campaign to struggle for the implementation of rural job guarantee scheme to many other issues of the poor. The task of installing his statue became an important political task for the comrades in Siwan who have been relentlessly posing a challenge to the anti-people and oppressive crime-politics nexus led here by the dreaded criminal Shahabuddin. And this event has further strengthened the people's resolve to fight out the oppressive regime and punish the killers of Chandrashekhar and Shyamnarayan Yadav.
Before the unveiling ceremony, Comrade Swadesh Bhattacharya, Polit Bureau Member of CPI(ML), placed the Party flag on the memorial of Chandrashekhar in his native village Bindusar while all others present, including Chandrashekhar's mother Kaushalya Devi and Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, paid floral tributes to the martyrs. They ware accompanied by CPI(ML)'s Bihar State Secretary Ramjatan Sharma, Polit Bureau member Nandkishore Prasad, CC members Meena Tiwary, Ramji Rai, Party in-charge of North Bihar Pawan Sharma, MLA from Darauli Amarnath Yadav, ex-MLA Satyadev Ram, Party Secretary in Siwan Indrajit Chaurasia and many other leaders.
The massive march proceeded from Bindusar towards Gopalganj Chowk in Siwan where the unveiling of Chandrashekhar's statue was to be performed by Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya. Thousands of people paid their tributes to Chandrashekhar and Shyamnarayan Yadav by observing one minute silence with tears in their eyes and fists clenched with a firm resolve. Then the marchers proceeded for the VMHE Ground where the rally was held. All these leaders addressed the gathering which was presided over by Shri Virendra Kumar and conducted by Amarjit Kushwaha.
Chandrashekhar is remembered today as true inheritor of the legacy of Bhagat Singh and a role model for the youth of today. He preferred to go from the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi to join the ranks of fighting peasants and workers in Siwan, which had been turned into a valley of death by the crime-politics nexus under the patronage of Laloo regime. He was well aware of the dangers of this path. But he knew that this was the only way that leads towards establishing an equitable and just society, free from exploitation. His killers have not yet been punished, still being protected by the state. But those who sing the song of life against the oppressors' bullets have certainly pushed the latter to the backfoot and today, after nine years, by following the ideals of the martyrs like Chandrashekhar and sharing the grief and sorrows of each other, the people have taken the struggle to a new height declaring that they will not allow killers and exploiters to survive any more.
Chandrashekhar became an ideal for the youth. He set aside many opportunities in his career and chose the path of the struggle. He did not complete his training at the prestigious NDA to serve this cause and later left many more opportunities of his career when he was in JNU. Instead, he joined the revolutionary students' movement and led and represented AISA at many national and international forums before going to Siwan to make his contribution in the struggle of the poor peasants against the rule of crime. He set an example in contrast to those students leaders who use students union platform as a ladder to achieve bigger gains of power. Chandrashekhar's mother Kaushalya Devi said in the rally that she is proud of his son who became immortal through his martyrdom and hopes that the soil of Siwan will continue to give birth to the sons like her in the coming days. Comrade Dipankar compared the contrast between Siwan of nine years ago, when Chandrashekhar and Ramnarayan Yadav were killed in broad daylight, and of today's when a red sea of people had assembled to pay tributes to the martyrs and to install the statue -- putting a brave challenge to the killers. The killers' motive can never succeed by annihilating revolutionaries, on the contrary, it strengthens the resolve of the people and today's event explicitly marks this fact, he said. He warned the Nitish Kumar government to punish the yet unpunished killers and, simultaneously, saluted the brave people of Siwan who had accepted the challenge to punish the criminals and tread ahead on the path which Chandrashekhar chose for himself.
How common people feel that this movement is their own was expressed by a very simple event. The next day on 1 April, a passer by rickshaw-puller saw that a flag-line had snapped and cord was hanging beside the road. He immediately stopped and tied the cord again to the pole, firmly. The whole of the Siwan town was decorated with festoons, banners, flags and flag-lines. Earlier it was the town where Shahabuddin had not allowed to put up flags and banners of other parties even during elections. His goons used to stop other parties, especially CPI(ML), to hold political programmes. The Cultural team 'Hirawal' from Patna stayed there for a week and carried out nukkad meetings and cultural programmes.
The mood was so vibrant that hundreds reassembled in minutes to welcome comrades, AISA National President Kavita Krishnan, JNU Students Union ex-President Amit Sengupta, Senior journalist Javed Naqvi, and JNUSU President Mona Das, who reached to the spot much after the ceremony was over as their train became late.
The event was also attended by many of Chandrashekhar's old comrades-in-arms and student activists including Pranay Krishna, ex-JNUSU President, Lal Bahadur Singh, ex-President of Allahabad University, Girija Pathak, ex-President of Kumaon University, Md. Salim, National President of Revolutionary Youth Association, AISA General Secretary Sunil Yadav, Ashok Chaudhary, ex-President of Gorakhpur University, Abhyuday, AISA Secretary, Tanvir, Kumar Dhananjaya, Jitendra, filmmaker Harsh Dobhal, who made a film on Chandrashekhar's life - ' Ek Minute Ka Maun ', and KK Pandey of Jan Sanskriti Manch, Harendra Yadav, brother of Comrade Shyamnarayan Yadav. Vineet, from Kala Commune, Varanasi , who beautifully sculpted this statue of Chandrashekhar, was also present on the occasion.
Martyrdom Week Observed in JNU
AISA and JNU Students observed the Shahadat Saptah from 23-31 March. The week started with a Convention against Imperialism on 23 March. A torchlight procession was held in JNU Campus. Film shows were also organised on the theme of struggles against imperialism. The Chandrashekhar Memorial Lecture was organised which was delivered by Prof. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. Various other programmes organised were a play on the dalit movement, singing of revolutionary songs and recitation of poetry, etc.
Bhagat Singh's Martyrdom Anniversary Observed in Andamans
Andaman and Nikobar Islands unit of CPI(ML) paid tributes to the martyrs on 75th Martyrdom Day of Bhagat Singh on 23 March by conducting campaign in the villages of South and Middle Andaman. The campaign took off after garlanding the statue of Shaheed-e-Azam. Later, a number of meetings were organised villages and municipal areas where speakers condemned the shameful acceptance of American Imperialism by UPA Govt.
CPI(ML) Condemns UPA Govt. for not Accepting NBA Demands
CPI(ML) has demaded from the UPA Govt. in Centre to immediately resolve the issues raised by the Narmada Bachao Andolan after holding negotiations with the activists. Party has severely condemned the government's negligent attitude towards the NBA agitators. Party extends its full support to the NBA activists, Jam Singh Bhai Nargave, Bhagawati Bai Jatpuria, Medha Patkar and others, sitting on the dharna and hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi .
CPI(ML) demands immediate rehabilitation of more than 35,000 evacuees of Narmada project. The local poor villagers are mostly affected by the govt.'s continuing criminal neglect. CPI(ML) lends its full solidarity to the movement of NBA and the affected people.
The activists of AISA, Awadhesh Singh, Jitendra, Kanika Singh and Kritika Singh are sitting on a dharna in support of NBA since 2 April and AIPWA General Secretary Kumudini Pati and AISA President Kavita Krishnan today sat on the hunger strike in solidarity.
Party has said that without the development of local rural populace any talk of development is a farce and struggles for such issues are the need of the hour and every democratic and progressive Indian must come forward in solidarity with the movements like the NBA's.
Construction Workers' Workshop
The construction sector has recorded a hundred percent growth in the number of workers engaged during last decade, and as per government's own estimate it is growing with the rate of 7% per annum owing to almost zero opportunity for employment in rural areas. Though this number is much below the actual count. Agrarian crisis, non-implementation of land reforms and economic liberalisation have forced a large number of rural workers into this sector at much cheaper wages. Major part of this contingent constitutes migrant workers of oppressed castes and communities who have to face various types of discriminations and atrocities and have to live under an atmosphere of fear. Moreover, they have to bear the pain of roaming in many states without a dignified social identity and dignity. The problems of low wages, nonpayment of wages, and living under total absence of basic amenities in most unhygienic places in big cities have been made an inherent part of their lives exposing the governmental false claims and so called civilized sense of the 'civil society'.
This huge labour market reminds us of medieval slave market in this tragical era of liberalisation where the government is ruthlessly depriving labour force of all its basic rights to benefit big industrial houses and multinationals. Jharkhand General Mazdoor Union is organising construction workers in Jharkhand in order to make them a formidable political force. The union has demanded to implement central legislation meant for this sector as well as to BPL ration cards and provision of other necessary amenities to the workers. The union is also opposing mechanisation that renders large number of workers unemployed. A social security pacakge is also needed for the workers in this sector.
A workshop of construction workers was organised in this backdrop in Ranchi . Thirty selected representatives from all over the state took part in it. The problems of construction workers and the legal aspects were discussed in detail. AICCTU National Secretary RN Thakur delivered his lecture on the legal aspects describing loopholes in the law that benefit only the big construction houses. He also suggested plans of action in specific conditions and gave some important suggestions. All the delegates discussed their problems and shared their experiences of organising the workers and problems being faced by them. A new target of membership expansion was also decided in this workshop. This was also addressed by AICCTU's Jharkhand Secretary Tarun Sarkar, General Secretary of JGMU Pachchu Rana, and CPI(ML) leaders Heera Gope, Mohan Dutta, and Guni Oraon
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