People's Democracy

Death of Comrade Sudipto Will Not Go in Vain!

The central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India issued the following statement on April 2

THE central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India dips its banner in the memory of Comrade Sudipto Gupta, a state committee member of the West Bengal state committee, who succumbed to fatal injuries on April 2, when a protest in Kolkata was severely lathicharged by the police. The brutality was so severe that even his eyeballs came out. This incident brought back the haunting memories of the Bidhan Chandra Roy’s regime when police used such brutal measures against the protesters. The death of the brave, young 23 year old boy speaks volumes about the state of democracy in West Bengal under the chief minister Mamta Banerjee’s regime.

This protest was called by the four Left students’ organisations against the series of moves by the state government which seek to curb campus democracy, the most retrograde of which plans to limit the students’ union elections to once every two years. What really made the ruling masters fear to this extent that they had to cut short this young life? History has all the answers. Even during the regime of semi-fascist terror of the 1970s, the campuses of West Bengal were the dens of resistance. Today when Mamta Banerjee is leaving no stone unturned to again take back Bengal to that dark period of terror, it is again from the campuses that the voices of resistances are picking up and joining with those struggling outside. Be it the curb on campus democracy or the cold blooded murder of Sudipto Gupta – everything reflects this fear. But, let it be made clear that the martyrdom of our brave comrade shall not go in vain. In the coming days, the struggle against the authoritarian regime of Mamta Banerjee shall become sharper and sharper.

The central executive committee of the Students’ Federation of India calls for an All India Protest day on April 4 across the campuses and units of the country against this heinous attack on the democratic rights, when the students of West Bengal will go for a massive statewide strike.