Comrade Mahendra Singh Martyrdom Day: Massive Rally Pledges to Defend the Constitution Against NPR, NRC, CAA

MAHENDRA Singh was a people’s leader who always fought for the poor, farmers and the common people. Only by following the path he showed can we claim and get our rights—this was the message at the Sankalp Sabha held at Bagodar on the 16th Martyrdom Day of Comrade Mahendra Singh.

A spontaneous flow of people surged to the Sankalp Sabha (memorial meeting) to pay tribute to their beloved leader Mahenda Singh on 16 January 2020. Thousands of people marched in different rallies to converge at the meeting from all directions including Bagodar, Rajdhanwar, Birni, Sariya and other places. They carried traditional weapons and played on traditional instruments like drums as they marched and pledged to fight against the fascist-communal anti-people anti-national policies of the BJP-RSS.

The Sankalp Sabha started from Mahendra Singh’s ancestral village Khambhra where his statue was garlanded by Mahendra Singh’s wife Shanti Devi, CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, MLA Vinod Singh and others. Reminiscing about Mahendra Singh, Shanti Devi said that he was totally dedicated to the people and today 16 years after his martyrdom he still lives in the heart of the people.

Addressing the meeting at the Bagodar Bus Terminus, Dipankar Bhattacharya said that the BJP is afraid even of Mahendra Singh’s statue, which is why they do not want his statue to be put up here; but Comrade Mahendra Singh’s statue will definitely be put up at Bagodar Bus Terminus. He said that the Constitution gives us the right to protest, but BJP is crushing protests against CAA-NRC brutally with lathis and bullets, and illegally jailing protesters and leaders, especially in Uttar Pradesh. He demanded that the Jharkhand government should not allow CAA-NRC in the State.

Comrade Vinod Singh said that the BJP is attacking and trying to destroy our Constitution which was built 70 years ago and enshrines our democratic and secular values. Comrade Rajkumar Yadav said that Babulal Marandi fought and won the recent Assembly election against BJP but joined the BJP after he won; therefore, he should resign from the post of MLA. The meeting was also addressed by Sitaram Singh, Gita Mandal, Ashok Paswan, Usman Ansari, Bahadur Singh and others.

Five resolutions were passed at the meeting: the people of the country and Jharkhand are against CAA-NRC-NPR and the Jharkhand government should not allow CAA-NRC in the State and should stop NPR work as this is the first step towards NRC; CPIML will work for a new wave of people’s struggles for livelihood, housing, employment, pension and workers’ security; CPIML salutes the people of Jharkhand for overthrowing the BJP and its anti-people anti-poor anti-adivasi policies and wrong domicile policy through overturning CNT-SPT; the Soren government should take steps without delay to alleviate Jharkhand from the destructive policies of the previous BJP government and take action against the incidents of mob lynching and starvation deaths and end violence against women; the Jharkhand government should form a Migrant Workers Directorate for workers’ safety and rights, guarantee proper and equitable compensation for farmers evicted from GT Road, and revoke all the anti-people policies and decisions of the Raghubar government.

Led by Comrade Vinod, the entire gathering stood and read out the Preamble of the Constitution, pledging to defend the secular and democratic promise made by India’s people to themselves through the Constitution.