The 86th anniversary of the martyrdom of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on 23 March 2017 was observed all over the country.
In Jharkhand, at a time when the BJP government has signed hundreds of MoUs and made a land bank through ‘Momemtum Jharkhand’ for the purpose of auctioning off hundreds of acres of raiyot land belonging to adivasis and indigenous Jharkhandi people in the name of development and capitalist investment, the relevance of Bhagat Singh has increased in these circumstances of illegal loot of the State’s resources. Therefore, Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom anniversary was observed in various ways across the state.
A symposium and discussion was organized in Ranchi on ‘Bhagat Singh and today’s India’. So far the documents which have come to light on the various facets of Bhagat Singh as a justice-loving youth, writer, thinker, political leader and revolutionary have been disseminated by kindred souls whose thoughts matched those of Bhagat Singh. Governments have had no role in this. His jail dairies have come to the people 60 years after his martyrdom and there are no doubt some documents still to be uncovered. The discussion during the symposium brought out the view that the present government with its attacks on freedom of expression, freedom of thought, communal harmony and socio-cultural diversity is wholly against all that Bhagat Singh and his comrades stood for, for they were against communalism, untouchability, regionalism, and superstition.
Dr Babban Choube, Dr Gulfam Mojibi, Shubhendu Sen, Xavier Kujur, Bhuneshwar Kewat and other leaders addressed the symposium and stressed the need to fearlessly walk on the path shown by Bhagat Singh to fight against the dark times the country is currently going through.
Bhagat Singh’s 86th martyrdom anniversary was observed at a meeting at Bhagat Singh Chowk in Saria which was attended by hundreds of AISA and RYA activists and addressed by former MLA Vinod Kumar Singh and other leaders. A seminar on the topic ‘Bhagat Singh and the Present Situation’ was organized at Mundro in Bagodar block addressed by RYA National Council member Com Sandeep Jaiswal.
In Srinagar (Garhwal) AISA organized a Prabhat Pheri (morning procession) to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhev. Later in the day AISA’s theatre unit Abhivyakti staged the street play Samrath ko Nahi Dosh Gusai inside the Garhwal University campus. The play was re-staged at Gola Park in the evening after which a public meeting was held. The entire day conveyed the message that however hopeless the times may seem, the youth of the country would not lose hope and would continue to fight for justice and democracy.
AICCTU organized a workers’ meeting in the Bhagalpur Labour Office complex to observe Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom anniversary. The meeting discussed the struggles of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev and announced that AICCTU would carry out a ‘Workers’ Rights Campaign’ from 23 March to 14 April (Ambedkar Jayanti). Speaking on the occasion Com Mukesh Mukt said that Bhagat Singh wanted a free India where workers and farmers would rule and all laws and rules should be for the benefit of the common people of the country, where there should be no oppression or repression, and the poor and marginalized should get equal rights, opportunity and dignity. Baba Saheb Ambedkar fought lifelong for the uplift of the marginalized and the dalits. Today the Modi government at the Centre has become a danger for democracy and the Constitution. Hard fought rights of workers are being snatched away. Attention from the real problems of the poor is being diverted by spreading communal and pseudo-nationalistic frenzy across the country. We must adopt the thoughts and ideas of Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar as weapons to fight this danger. Hundreds of workers, men and women, were present at the meeting.
