People's Democracy

ON MARCH 22, thousands of farmers and agricultural labourers, a large number of them women, converged at Rengail Dera near Gangoh town where Comrade Harbhajan Singh, then secretary of the district unit of All India Kisan Sabha in Sahranpur, Uttar Pradesh, was murdered three years ago by Khalistani terrorists in a concerted attack, using arms and explosives. The large gathering at his death anniversary reflected the growing understanding that the cause for which he laid down his life is correct and that the fight he had put up need to be carried further in the conditions of today.

Suneet Chopra, Central Committee member of the CPI(M) and joint secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers Union, hoisted the red flag on his memorial. Following the flag hoisting, homage was paid to Comrade Harbhajan Singh by district leaders of the CPI(M) and of the AIKS, AIAWU, DYFI and AIDWA, and by the mass of rural people gathered on the spot.

Addressing the gathering at a mass meeting presided over by freedom fighter Charan Singh, Chopra pointed out how Comrade Harbhajan Singh’s martyrdom was yet another reminder that, in our troubled times, sometimes one has to make the supreme sacrifice of one’s own life in order to preserve the unity of the people. Harbhajan Singh was one of the over 200 comrades who laid down their lives for Hindu-Sikh amity and national unity. But not everyone who dies for a cause becomes a martyr. The RSS disowned Nathu Ram Godse after the Gandhi murder while Dara Singh was similarly disowned by Bajrang Dal. Organisations that are out to make fools of people have to hide their real motives behind similar face-saving measures. But the democratic movement does not have to do that.

Chopra pointed out that once more communalism was raising its head in the form of the RSS that is striving to foment communal tensions and riots all over India to divert the people’s attention from the way the corrupt RSS-controlled and BJP-led NDA government is betraying the country. He urged them to organise to throw this government out, as no government whatsoever has a right to destroy the Indian economy or ruin its people. He told the gathering how the BJP-led state government of Uttar Pradesh has begun to stage fake encounters to suppress the dissent of the poor and downtrodden, calling them naxalites. He warned the state government led by Rajnath Singh not to take the law into its own hands, as there are enough laws in the country to deal with any critical situation. He pledged the CPI(M)’s unstinted backing to the Indian people in the task of defending their democratic rights and preserving communal harmony. He pointed out how Harbhajan Singh had done just that; that is why he is remembered today as a fearless fighter for the cause of the people. He added that the cause of the people still called for sacrifices to be made, as even today three of our home-bred Taliban --- L K Advani, Ms Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi --- are cabinet ministers in the NDA government and a blot on civilised society.

A large number of speakers paid their respects to the memory of Comrade Harbhajan Singh. They included Samajwadi Party leaders Mohammad Hashim and Raj Singh Majra, Congress leader Charan Singh, Lok Dal leader Master Vikram Singh and BSP leader Shakura Begum, CPI(M) district secretary Harihar Pande, CITU leader Tilak Raj Bhatia, AIKS leader Ram Gopal, AIAWU leaders Janeshwar Prasad and Bharat Singh, DYFI leader Mahendra Pal, AIDWA leader Saroj Verma, and many others.

Gulab Singh, former district secretary of the CPI(M) and himself the victim of a murderous terrorist attack that robbed him of his speech and movement, was present at the meeting throughout, and placed a written appeal to fund a martyrs memorial at the spot. He himself, Sardar Sukhdev Singh and others led the gathering in making donations. They made the beginning by donating Rs 10,000 each, and this led to a collection of over Rs 1.5 lakh on the spot.

The speakers at the rally were united in condemning the pro-US and anti-people policies of the BJP-led NDA government. They urged for a mass movement to unseat this corrupt and anti-national government and replace it with a government that may faithfully reflect the democratic opinion in the country.