December 18 Pledge Day Rally in Pudukkottai
ON December 18, on the occasion of 21st memorial day of Vinod Mishra, an impressive rally and mass meeting was held in Pudukkottai which was attended by activists and general masses from Pudukkottai, Nagappattinam, Tanjore, Madurai, Dindigul and Karur districts. After the brief inaugural speech by Kavita Krishnan, the Statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was garlanded by CPIML Gen. Sec. Dipankar Bhattacharya and other leaders, followed by the flagging off of the march by V. Shankar. The march culminated into a well attended mass meeting at the main thoroughfare of the town. Banners, Placards, slogans rejecting CAA\NRC\NPR were prominently carried along with waves of red flags and drum beating squads.
Before the commencement of the mass meeting a two minutes silence was observed in the memory of Com Vinod Mishra and other martyrs including the Venmani Martyrs. The rally also paid tributes to those citizens who sacrificed their lives in the anti CAA\NRC struggles all over India.
The meeting was presided over by Pudukkottai district secretary P. Asaithambi. Com Dipankar received the Martyrs’ torch from RYA torchbearers. He paid tributes to the memory of Com. VM who steered the party from 1975 to 1998, and in his address, criticized the Modi-Shah regime for its divisive agenda. He said that the present Gov instead of upholding the sovereignty of people, subverting the constitution and people’s aspirations. The fact that the government is insensitive to people’s sufferings is evident in the utterances of Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman who said don’t eat onions if you are unable to buy them because of high prices. If rice or wheat prices go up will she ask us not eat rice or wheat? He asked. He also vehemently criticized the AIADMK government for betraying the people of Tamil Nadu, by supporting the anti-people CAB in the parliament. He appealed the people of TN to make the January 8 All-India General strike a grand success. KG Desikan translated Com Dipankar’s speech in Tamil. State Sec NK Natarajan and Balasundaram also spoke.
Comrades Kavita Kirshnan, V. Shankar, S. Balasubramanian (State Secretary, Puducherry), Cliffton (State Secretary, Karnataka) and AIKM state president A. Simpson, Ramasamy were present on this occasion. Party Candidates contesting for various posts in the Panchayat elections were also introduced to the rally. Activists from Puducherry also participated enthusiastically in the rally and mass meeting.
