People's Democracy

MASSIVE RESPONSE TO JATHA

Kerala Witness to a Resolve

for Unceasing Struggles

Vijoo Krishnan

ON February 25, the jatha entered into Kerala by crossing the border in Kaliyikkavila near Parassala, the northern tip of the state. CPI(M) Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, state secretariat member A K Balan, and district secretary Kadakampalli Surendran led a huge crowd to offer hearty reception in Kaliyikkavila. Platoons of Red volunteers gave guard of honour. Various folk art forms like Shinkarimelam and Pookkavadi were the specialty of the event. In a brief function, leader of opposition in Kerala assembly, V S Achuthanandan presented red shawls to the jatha members.

The reception in the Thiruvananthapuram district was organised in Attingal, a historic place famous for its heroic war against the British in 1796. Thousands of people were gathered in Mamom Maidan in Attingal for the public meeting that was presided over by CPI(M) leader Anathalavattom Anandan.

Jatha leader S Ramachandran Pillai said that in our country only air and sunlight are left to be mortgaged to the corporates. All natural resources are sold to them in the pretext of implementing neo-liberal policies. The leasing of coal mines, minerals, and natural gas in Krishna Godavari basin has caused huge corruption. Successive governments have dismantled the social security measures while giving huge concessions to the billionaires, he added.

Apart from SRP, M A Baby, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Sudha Sundararaman also addressed the gathering. The kith and kin of the martyrs were honored in the function.

The second reception in Kollam district was another highlight of the second day of the Kanyakumari jatha. Ashramam Maidan in Kollam town witnessed a massive and unprecedented crowd on the evening of February 25. Party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, central committee member P K Gurudasan attended the function. State secretariat member Elamaram Kareem, jatha leader S Ramachandran Pillai, jatha members V Srinivasa Rao and M A Baby addressed the gathering. Relatives of martyrs in the district were honored in the meeting.

JATHA ENTERS

ALAPPUZHA

Alappuzha, the land of the historic Punnapra Vayalar and innumerable struggles against feudal landlordism and imperialism, was all decked up to receive the Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha on its third day on February 26. Alappuzha was home to historic struggles of various sections of the working class and peasantry, which have been a mainstay of the advance of Communist movement in Kerala. It is due to these struggles that land to the landless becomes a reality. Tens of thousands of comrades thronged the route of the jatha to welcome it with the same revolutionary fervour.

As the Jatha entered into Alappuzha district, leaders and cadres of the Party along with a huge gathering greeted the jatha and felicitated the jatha leader and team members. A procession of vehicles with hundreds of Red volunteers on bikes led the way and people lined on both sides of the roads welcomed the jatha with slogans, flowers, salutes and the traditional vedikkettu (fireworks). Nearly a lakh people braved the hot sun and humid weather enthusiastically cheering the jatha leaders and listened to the leaders in rapt attention.

The meeting was addressed by Polit Bureau members, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, and M A Baby, LDF convenor Vaikkom Viswam, central committee member Thomas Isaac and jatha member Sudha Sundaraman.

S Ramachandran Pillai garlanded and warmly greeted veteran communist leader and hero of Punnapra Vayalar struggle P K Chandranandan, who later felicitated the jatha leaders. G Sudhakaran, MLA, welcomed the gathering.

LAST LEG OF

KERALA TOUR

The Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha entered the last leg of its tour of Kerala on February 27 when it passed through three districts spreading the message for unceasing struggles to usher in a progressive alternative. It entered Thrissur district and rolled into the Malabar region entering into Malappuram and finally reaching Palakkad district. The huge gatherings at all places from Thrissur to Palakkad, both in the meetings as well as on the roadsides, ensured that the jatha was running late by nearly three hours. Party seniors noted that such an outpouring of support is unprecedented in recent Kerala history and the energy was undoubtedly infectious.

Tens of thousands of people rallied along the route of the jatha in Thrissur to give it a rousing welcome, a clear manifestation of the anger building up in the hearts of country’s most literate state against the corrupt and anti-people regime at the centre and the state. If the turnout was an indication of something, it was an emphatic endorsement of the Party’s call for intensifying struggles.

As the jatha entered Thrissur from Ernakulam at Pongam near Chalakkudi, it was received by Thrissur district secretary Moideen, Member of Parliament P K Biju, state committee member N R Balan and former MLA and AIKS leader Ambadi Venu along with hundreds of people and a contingent of 10,000 Red volunteers. Pillai received the guard of honour from Red volunteers. The venue of the reception, Thekkinkad Maidanam, was bursting at its seams. Former speaker of Kerala assembly and MLA, K Radhakrishnan  welcomed the gathering of over 50,000 people. Eminent academicians and cultural activists were present in solidarity with the jatha. Students, youth and women were the dominant sections at all the receptions. Presence of little children dressed in Red added greater fervour to the event.

The mood of people was reflected in the opinion of a head-load worker who lined up to welcome the jatha leaders. He pointed out that it has indeed been near impossible for daily wagers and workers like him to make both ends meet, with wages dwindling and prices spiraling at unprecedented rates. Struggle is the only way he said with the confidence that the people united will always be victorious.

Later, the families of martyrs were felicitated by Pillai.

A SEA OF RED

IN MALAPPURAM

As the jatha entered from Thrissur into Malappuram district, after having numerous roadside receptions by enthusiastic workers and common people, it was welcomed at Pavittapuram by Malappuram district secretary, P P Vasudevan, central committee members A Vijayaraghavan and Paloli Mohammed Kutty, state secretariat member V V Dakshinamurti, former MP T K Hamsa, CPI(M) MLA P Sreeramakrishnan, independent MLA K T Jaleel and others.

Malappuram, where the Party and its comrades are putting up a brave fight against communal forces and extreme fundamentalist organisations like the NDF, embraced the jatha with the usual fervour. In what may be the largest and biggest gathering that the state has seen in support of the jatha, more than a lakh people lined up the streets and the ground where the public reception was held. There were people literally everywhere, on the streets, on buildings, on the walls and even on trees. The crowds, which thronged the streets of Malappuram, were so huge that the last one mile took over one hour for the jatha to cross to reach the meeting ground. The huge turn out undoubtedly sent a strong message to the communal and divisive forces and made the opponents green with envy!

The Malappuram reception was attended by eminent cultural personalities. Nilambur Ayisha, the veteran stage-cine artist felicitated the jatha leader and assured that many more like her were fully in solidarity with and shall play an active role in taking forward the resistance against communal forces and message of struggle that the jatha put forward.  Eminent poet Alamkode Leelakrishnan, Kathaprasangam artiste Thrikkulam Krishnankutty and member of the Haj Committee Kasim Koya and many other cultural activists attended the meeting and were honoured. S Ramachandran Pillai felicitated the families of martyrs killed by reactionary forces-the Congress, RSS or Muslim League, BJP and NDF.

As the Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha entered into Palakkad at Kumaramputtur, it was welcomed by Party district secretary Rajendran, central committee member E P Jayarajan, Member of Parliament M B Rajesh, former MPs N N Krishnadas and Ajay Kumar and others. Hundreds of Red volunteers on bikes led the jatha convoy into the Kotta Maidanam (Fort Grounds) which literally had turned into a Red fort.

It was an emotion-filled moment when Pillai felicitated the families of martyrs killed by reactionary forces - the Congress, RSS or Muslim League, BJP and NDF. Comrades filled the air with slogans promising to take forward the struggles of our beloved martyrs. Another significant event was when P U Usha and Mohammed Afzal, two bright prospects for Indian athletics who had received the best athlete awards in the recently concluded National School Sports, were felicitated by SRP and M A Baby. Coming from poor Party families, these athletes have become a sensation in Palakkad.

Red volunteers led by A K Balan ushered in the jatha to Tamilnadu.

Jatha member V Srinivasa Rao in his speech said that the people of Kerala had given a clear message that coming days will witness intensified struggles. He attacked the state of utter lawlessness existing in the country where anti-socials are having a field day. He condemned the caste discrimination existing in different parts of the country as well as the rise of divisive identity politics and communalism and called for taking up struggles against it on a priority basis.

Another jatha member Sudha Sundaraman in her speech said India was the country with millions of hungry people and alarming rates of malnutrition and yet the State was only shirking off its responsibilities and carrying out gimmicks like the Cash Transfer Scheme. She said it speaks volumes about the commitment of the government to address violence against women that a man accused of rape is the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha. She called upon people to enlist themselves in the struggle for an equal society with equal opportunities and dignity of life for all.