WEST BENGAL                                                                                                       

 Kolkata March Condemns Sharon’s Visit

B Prasant

ON September 10, the metropolis of Kolkata witnessed a very large procession traversing its streets, condemning the visit (subsequently cut short) of the Israeli premier Ariel Sharon. The marchers protested strongly against the decision by the BJP-led NDA government for issuing an invitation to Sharon. 

The Israeli premier, described proudly in the right-wing US media as the “hawk of hawks,” has been charged with mass murder of Palestinians and of causing gross violation of human rights, including the murder of men, women and even children in the Palestinian territory.

In the late afternoon, a big assemblage organised itself in a double column march that started from the College Street campus of the Kolkata University. The programme was organised under the aegis of 14 mass organisations including the DYFI, the SFI, the AIDWA, and a large number of other Left led mass organisations. 

Shouting slogans like “Killer Sharon, Go Back!” and “Sharon is an Unwanted Guest in India!” the marchers trooped along Nirmal Chandra Street and Lenin Sarani to congregate at the foot of the statue of Lenin in the Esplanade area.

Speakers at the rally that was then organised recalled the annals of the “birth” of Israel in land where Arabs had lived for centuries together. From 1947 onwards, the Israeli ruling classes, with active support of the US imperialists and their lackeys, have been engaged in a campaign of killing in the territory of the Palestinians --- an area which has yet to be accorded the rights of full statehood. 

Several hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have had to lay down their lives in the defence of their motherland as the Israelis have continued their brutalisation policy with the help of guns and heavy armour, battle tanks and gunships, combat jets and long distance field guns. Sharon’s government has also targeted Palestinian leaders for assassination and has recently resolved that killing the Palestinian president, Yassser Arafat, is “an option.”

The speakers reminded the rally that the BJP-led union government has decided upon entering into a military alliance with Israel, and arms purchases are on the cards. The opportunistic abandonment of the policy of non-alignment and the resolve to join the imperialist bloc, said the speakers, would never be accepted by the peace loving citisens of India who stood by the people of Palestine.

Among those who addressed the rally were: Banabani Bhattacharya (AIDWA), Apurba Chatterjee (SFI), M Rahman (RYB), Avijit Bhattacharya (AISF), Srikumar Mukherjee (AIYF), Sadhana Bhattacharya (Nikhil Banga Mahila Samity), and Pulak Mitra (RYF).  A presidium comprising Abdul Hai, Mrinmoy Sengupta, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Bani Dasgupta and Mohd Tanvir conducted the proceedings. (INN)