People's Democracy

Comrade Dasarath Deb’s Bust Unveiled

Jyoti Basu and Surjeet at the inauguration of Comrade Deb's Bust

THE inauguration of the 18th state conference of Tripura state unit of CPI(M) on February 15 assumed an extra dimension with the unveiling of a bust of Comrade Dasarath Deb, legendary leader of the state communist movement, at the party’s Tripura headquarters. 

In consonance with his pioneering contribution to the communist movement in the state, the CPI(M)’s Tripura headquarters was named after Comrade Desarath Deb, alongside a brief but bright ceremony on the occasion of the unveiling of his bust by the Party Polit Bureau member and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu.

Presided over by the Party state secretary, Baidyanath Majumdar, the significant ceremony saw the presence of Party general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Polit Bureau member and Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar, central committee member and Assam party leader Hemen Das, women’s front leader and Comrade Dasarath Deb’s wife Mangaleswari Debi, and sculptor of the legendary leader’s fiberglass bust, Dhruba Das, as special guests.

The ceremony, held to perpetuate the memory of the people’s beloved leader as the indefatigable lifelong warrior of the struggle for ethnic harmony in Tripura, was befittingly characterised by the heartfelt emotions of all sections of the spontaneously assembled people in front of the Party’s state headquarters, where the bust has been set up at the ground floor.

In his inaugural address, Jyoti Basu urged the Party activists to further the work towards an exploitation-free society for which Comrade Dasarath Deb had struggled ceaselessly, mobilised  and organised the people and built up the Party. He also gave a fervent call to Party activists to simultaneously teach and learn from the people with a view to winning over to the communist camp those who are still swayed by misinformation campaign.  Paying a succinct but glowing tribute to Comrade Desarath Deb, Harkishan Sing Surjeet said that Comrade Deb was an embodiment of the perennial and invincible spirit of communism, while at the same time being a fond and familiar figure among all and sundry in Tripura because of his achievements and heritage.

In his presidential speech Baidyanath Majumdar referred to incidents that revealed how deeply Comrade Dasarath Deb was enshrined in the heart of the people as their king without crown. He also announced the Party’s decision to set up another such statue in the legendary leader’s native village Ampura in Khowai, West Tripura. (INN)