|
Haryana is a state
which is still a backward region as far as revolutionary movements are
concerned. But slowly the situation is changing. An Election boycott campaign
was taken up in Haryana too as part of the all-India campaign. But the most
astonishing campaign was by children of five villages in the Ismailabad area.
An earlier issue of
People’s March carried an article on the Radical Balala Sangham of North
Telangana. This article was the source of inspiration for these children. "If
children of those remote villages can do such things, why can’t we?" was the
conclusion that these children had arrived at. Soon it appeared in the form of
the election boycott campaign. They saw their elders going for their campaign.
But they were not to be left behind. Holding placards in their hands, raising
slogans, holding red flags and banners, they took out a procession in every
street and corner of their village. They sang revolutionary songs and their
leader, Satish, a student of the seventh class, addressed gatherings explaining
why election boycott was necessary. It was a new scene for the villagers. They
could not even think of such activity. They campaigned in five villages and in
every village 50 or 60 children participated.
In every village they
were confronted by various political parties and their agents. It was difficult
for these parties to campaign in the presence of large groups of slogan raising
enthusiastic children. In one village, while they were taking out a procession,
a police vehicle came. It sounded the horn but the children did not give way.
Only when the children completed their procession, could the jeep move forward.
The election boycott
campaign got wide publicity due to the campaign by children. Agents of bourgeois
political parties panicked when the youth organisation and Grameen Majdoor Union
(GMU) held a rally on 2 September 1999. 60 children also participated in this
rally with full enthusiasm. 20 students came in a procession in two rows,
raising election boycott slogans from a village approximately 3 kms from the
rally site.
When the kids went
back to their schools after the campaign, some of their teachers rebuked them.
But they unhesitatingly answered them. One teacher asked them why they were
coming to school if they were opposing the govermnent. Their reply was: "We did
it because we had the courage. If you have the courage let us see if you can
strike off our names."
|
