People Determined as Brigade Clads Red
This year’s Brigade rally marks the inauguration of the 24th West Bengal State Conference of the party. For last few days numerous streets and walls of this state carried the call of ‘Brigade Cholo’ with posters and flexes. There were preparations from people and the party activists to make this year’s Brigade a historic one.
Starting from early in the morning people started gathering in the Brigade parade ground. A large number of people from the northern and distant districts of the state started reaching Kolkata for joining the rally from last evening. There were makeshift shelters arranged by the party to manage them a place to rest at night. Yet Sealdah and Howrah station were over crowded throughout the night. Some of the enthusiastic comrades even rested at the Brigade parade ground itself. People from the southern districts started coming to Kolkata from early in the morning. People rallied from Sealdah and Howrah railway stations toward brigade in this morning. There were two other large rallies one from Jadavpur and theother one was of the South 24 Parganas. As people rallied from Park Circus and Rasbehari the streets were all clogged by Brigade bound people. They marched toward Brigade with Great Spirit and the red flag held upward. But Brigade was already packed with people from other districts and far.
Cultural Activists from all over the state are performed to mark the 24th State Conference. CPI (M) leadership Prakash Karat, SitaramYechury, BimanBasu, BuddhadebBhattacharjee, SurjyaKanta Mishra, BijanDhar, Md. Salim and other Left Front leaders hadreached the ground by then.
The meeting of lakhs of people started with the leadership paying homage to all the martyrs.
BuddhadebBhattacharjee, the PolitBeaureu member of the party presided over the whole proceedings of this year’s Brigade. He started with welcoming those people who had attended this year’s Brigade fighting relentlessly against all the odds unleashed by the ruling party and the administration. He sharply criticized the state rulers as a barbaric force chairing the government and given the call to make them face with popular resistance.
Prakash Karat the General secretary of the CPI (M) said that today the Country is faced with an adverse situation where the Government is working for the multimillionaires and the Corporates. People’s unity is being disgruntled by communal vicious motives. Poor working class people’s existence is in deep distress. Highlighting the menace that is prevailing in the state of West Bengal, he said the living condition of the people is getting pettier day by day in the hands of the corrupt TMC Government. Mamata Banerjee’s Government is not synonymous with clarity but with dishonesty, loot and exploitation. The massive turnout in the rally itself speaks of the people’s dissatisfaction in this Government.
BimanBasu welcomed huge gathering with the message of resistance, come what may the left activists have to resist in the face of the bare attacks unleashed by those who are in the State Government. Basu then made the people aware with the importance of not allowing any breathing space to the communal forces like the RSS and its prime ally BJP.
SitaramYechuri, the PolitBeaureu member of the party addressing the huge gathering at Brigade said that the history of human civilisation is of resistance against the dictatorial reign. He said that there are plenty of events when the red flag won its distinction in the struggle against anything undemocratic. He cautioned Mamata Banerjee and Modi that the message of the huge gathering is very clear that there will be the red flag opposing them whatever situation may come.
The leader of the opposition and the PolitBeaureu member SurjyaKanta Mishra said that people create history and we are here because of you who attended Brigade rally in such a big number. He said that Secularism is under attack in West Bengal. Even VHP and organizations are organizing ‘GharWapsi’ programme. We therefore facing double edged attack, so we must unite. People must unite under Red Flag. RekhaGoswami and Mdsalim were two other speakers in this rally.
BuddhadebBhattacharjee concluded the rally with the message of taking the ongoing struggle forth.
8th March 2015