People's Democracy

 Red Salute To Jallianwala

Bagh Martyrs

“What greater honour could be bestowed on me than death for the sake of my motherland.” … These were the words of Shaheed Uddham Singh just prior to his hanging for murdering the notorious British General Dyer in London. He avenged the killing of 2000 peaceful protestors at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919.

Exactly at the same place where this unprecedented brutal massacre took place, delegates to the 7th DYFI All India Conference gathered on November 6 to pay homage and renew their pledge to carry forward the tradition of Shaheed Uddham Singh and Bhagat Singh. Shaheedo! tumhare sapnonko manzil tak pahunchayenge (Martyrs! We will realise your dreams), Red Salute to Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs and other such slogans rent the air as delegates paid their homage. The diversity of our nation reflected as delegates from each state raised slogans in respect of martyrs in their own languages.

The DYFI jatha which began from Ludhiana – the place where the founding conference of the DYFI took place in 1980 – ended at Jallianwala Bagh. On this occasion the flag was received by the DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha from the DYFI state president Roop Basant as a mark of completion of the jatha.

Later, all the delegates led by DYFI president N N Krishna Das paid their tributes to the countless martyrs who fell to the bullets of the British imperialists at this place. Among the prominent leaders were Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, Brinda Karat, M A Baby, Mohd Salim, Suneet Chopra and others.

Later while speaking in the inaugural session of the conference, Captain Sahgal emotionally recalled how she as a student in Madras responded to the call of the Indian National Congress (INC) to collect money for buying this land and constructing a memorial. The INC had bought this land from a private owner after the massacre at 5,65,000 rupees and constructed a memorial. The money was collected from all parts of the country and even from abroad.