A true tribute to Comrade Dasarath Deb will be establishing and maintaining live links with the masses, strengthening mass struggles for a better India and better society. To achieve this we must strengthen our own party. On the basis of that, we have to galvanise the left unity and ultimately a left and democratic unity with an alternative policy trajectory, said CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury. He was addressing a meeting to mark the culmination of the birth centenary celebration of Comrade Dasarath Deb at Rabindra Shatavarshiki Bhaban, Agartala today.
Comrade Yechury said the struggle for education started by Janasiksha committee and the armed struggle of the Muktiparishad led by Comrade Dasarath Deb against the feudal rule created pressure on the king to join the Indian Union. This contribution shall be engraved in golden letters in the formation of the modern Indian democratic republic. He said Comrade Dasarath Deb played a pivotal role in maintaining tribal-non tribal unity in the state. The struggle and initiative of the communist movement, the Left front government of which Comrade Dasarath Deb was a part helped ensure legal and constitutional rights to the tribal people. This indeed was a pioneering step. His simplicity, commitment and live relation with the masses, building movements and struggles based on their aspirations are sources of inspiration for us today as we pledge to build a revolutionary party with a mass line.
He mounted a sharp attack on the Modi government for the pathetic condition of the economy reflected in the negative growth rate in industrial production, manufacturing and agriculture which the government is trying to suppress by surreal figures of GDP growth. While the gap between the rich and the poor is increasing rapidly the government is reluctant to tax the corporates and continues to burden the aam admi by increasing excise duty on petrol and diesel. To divide the people on communal lines the BJP and RSS are playing the dirtiest vote bank politics by creating and encouraging communal tension and hatred with the motive of establishing an intolerant, fascist Hindu Rashtra in line with the dream of RSS. At the same time the authoritarian nature of this government is evident in dismantling of the planning commission, depriving the states financially and thus leading to continuous deterioration of the Centre-State relation. Comrade Yechury said to combat this threefold attack and for a better India we need to build pressure on the government to change its policies to a set of pro-people alternative policies. For this, a revolutionary party like CPI(M) has to maintain people’s unity and build sustained struggles maintaining and forging live links with masses on the issues that matter to them. That is the essence of building a revolutionary party following mass line as the plenum decided.
Talking about the pro-people and alternative policies being followed by the Left Front government in Tripura he said even the former PM admitted that Tripura is the only state where every paisa of development funds released by Centre is being spent for the masses. It is our responsibility to carry forward this good work to set an example before the country to show how people are being benefited by work of the Left front government. He also stressed on giving a befitting reply to the divisive forces led by IPFT by defeating them resoundingly in the upcoming village committee elections in Tripura.
CPI(M) PB member and Tripura Chief Minister Comrade Manik Sarkar said Comrade Dasarath Deb started as a social reformer and came in touch with the communist party through a struggle for literacy and against feudalism. The model state of Tripura as we see it today is the result of the foundation laid by comrades Nripen Chakraborty, Dasarath Deb, Sudhanwa Debbarma, Hemanta Debbarma and others. The Left Front government is working to set an alternative policy direction despite all its limitations. But Tripura alone cannot do it. To strengthen the Left and democratic movement all over the country communist movement has to be strengthened in all the states. The works of the Left front government inTripura for people’s welfare can be posed as an example to encourage the exploited and deprived masses in other states to make them join this struggle. He warned against the divisive forces raising the slogan of separate state and emphasised to maintain live relation with masses, work honestly, strengthen tribal-non tribal unity to win over new people to carry forward the struggle for an exploitation free society in which Comrade Deb shall remain a source of inspiration.
CPI(M) State Secretary and convener of the centenary celebration committee, CPI(M) CC member Comrade Aghor Debbarma and the President of the committee Comrade Niranjan Debbarma also spoke. They and other leaders and members of the committee handed over prizes to the winners of the various cultural and literary competitions organised throughout the year to mark the centenary celebration.