People's Democracy

CPI(M) Leaders Visit Mumbai  

CPI(M) Polit Bureau members and MPs, Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat, visited Mumbai on July 13 to see first hand the gruesome damage inflicted by the serial bomb blasts on the suburban railways in Mumbai. They went to five hospitals in the city and met the victims undergoing treatment. They spoke to the victims and their relatives, learning how they coped with the horrendous attack by terrorists, which claimed the lives of nearly 200 people and injured hundreds of people.  

The CPI(M) leaders were appreciative of the fact that ordinary people spontaneously plunged into rescue work and shifted the injured persons to hospitals much before the local administration stepped in. Not only was the help spontaneous but also much organised. And in a glimpse of intrinsic unity among people, around 50 to 60 Muslims living in Naya Nagar near Mira Road – where one of the trains hit by the blast stopped – rushed out and took the injured to the hospitals. They also provided, like many other citizens of the city elsewhere, food, water, dresses, blankets etc, to the injured persons. CPI(M) activists like Chakravarthy and others took part in this rescue work in Naya Nagar. Cutting across religion, caste, creed, there was an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity with the victims from ordinary Mumbaikars. At all places of attack, local people immediately came out in a big way to help the victims. Another aspect noticed by the CPI(M) leaders was the tremendous work put in by doctors of various hospitals. For example in the KEM Hospital, six severely injured persons were brought in and the doctors worked very hard through out the night to save all of them, informed Mariam Dhawale, AIDWA leader who accompanied Yechury and Brinda Karat. Among those part of the delegation included CPI(M) Mumbai secretary Mahendra Singh, CPI(M) MLA Narsayya Adam, DYFI secretary Shailendra Kamble, CPI(M) activists, Yasin, Usman and others. They also visited Deepak Hospital, Bhakti Vedanta Hospital, Cooper Hospital. 

At the time of going to press, the CPI(M) leaders were scheduled to meet the state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on this issue.