[Marxistindia] Western Jatha To Be Flagged Off Tomorrow

[news from the cpi(m)]

All Set for Western Jatha Flag Off

 

The last of the four main jathas of Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha, the Western Jatha, being organised by hte CPI(M), will begin its journey from Hutatma Chowk (Martyrs Square) in Mumbai on Friday, March 08. The jatha, being led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury, will be flagged off by renowned dalit poet and writer Pradnya Daya Pawar. As the place has been designated as a silence zone by High Court, the public meeting will take place in the nearby Azad maidan.

 

There is significance in the choosing of the location for flagging off the jatha and the person to flag it off. Over 100 persons participating in the struggle for a united Maharashtra state in 1960 were killed in police firing at this spot and that incident propelled the formation of the state. Ever since this place has become a symbol of martyrs and struggle. 

 

The person flagging off the jatha, Pradnya Daya Pawar is an important dalit poet and writer in Maharashtra, a state which has been home to great social reformers Savitribai Phule and Jyotirao Phule. She depicts the conditions of dalits through her poems and writings. Her play Dhadanth Khairlanji on the 2006 lynching murders of four persons of a dalit family in Khairlanji has raised the consciousness of dalits across the state. She is also winner of many awards, including Birsa Munda Rashtriya Sahitya Puraskar. 

 

CPI(M) central secretariat member Nilotpal Basu, central committee member Mohd Salim and Maharashtra state secretariat member Mariam Dhawale are the other members of this jatha. 

 

After flag off the jatha will have meetings in various parts of Mumbai on Friday. The next day it travels to Thane district, to the land of the historic Warli tribal revolt. From there it travels to Nashik district on March 10. Apart from meetings in interior tribal region, a public meeting is being organised in Nashik industrial city where workers are expected to participate in large numbers. The jatha leves Maharashtra on March 11 after its meeting in Nandurbar and enters Madhya Pradesh. It merges with the Southern main jatha in Bhopal on March 12. 

 

CPI(M) Maharashtra state secretary Ashok Dhawale told INN that the entire Party is geared up to ensure that the message of struggle being spread by the jatha reaches the people. Over 5 lakh jatha campaign folders have been printed in Marathi and distributed among the people along with one lakh Urdu pamphlets on this. Another 16,000 colour posters propagating the jatha campaign have been printed and distributed.