People's Democracy

 A Different Retreat At Wagah

Youth Seek Peace & Friendship

THE famous Wagah border checkpost witnessed an unusual evening of its regular “change of guard retreat function” on November 8. A gate separates India and Pakistan and on either side of the gate both countries border posts are located. At 5 p m sharp, the BSF guards on the Indian side and the Pakistani Rangers on the other side began the motions for the lowering of the two countries flags for the day.  Routinely, this process is accompanied by the raising of jingoistic slogans on both the sides. However, on November 8 the shouts of Ganapathi Bappa Moriya  were drowned out by the more resounding slogans of Peace and Friendship Zindabad and Long Live  Indo-Pak Solidarity.

The reason for this change was the decision of the DYFI and the Folklore Research Academy, Amritsar to hold an Indo-Pakistan Solidarity function at this border post. The 804 delegates attending the 7th All India Conference along with hundreds of other activists swarmed the place in the evening. And before the start of the retreat, a meeting was held in the premises, which was addressed by veteran freedom fighter Captain Lakshmi Sahgal, CPI(M) general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury and DYFI general secretary Tapas Sinha.

Surjeet in his address exhorted the youth of our country to take a oath that never again the barbaric tragedy of Partition-time communal riots will be allowed to take place anywhere in the country. He called on them to work for restoring the atmosphere of brotherhood that prevailed before the imperialist British divided the nation.

Captain Lakshmi Sahgal in her brief but fiery speech said that only the youth in both countries can stop the marauding fundamentalist forces.  She congratulated the DYFI for coming forward and extending a hand of friendship to promote peace between both the countries.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury in his address said that the post-independence generation does not know how the Partition happened but the fact that nearly 10 lakh people were killed in the riots that followed and that more than 80 lakh people had to leave their homes and migrate makes the youth to want friendship and peace between the two countries. He said in this task the DYFI has a crucial role to play.