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July 28th, the day comrade Charu Majumdar was martyred is
celebrated as Shahid Week (Martyr’s Week) throughout the country. A couple of
weeks earlier is the martyrdom day of Comrade Kanai Chatterji. In memory of both
comrades who paved the path of Indian revolution, July 28th has come to be known
as Martyr’s Day. It is these two comrades who brought the issue of armed
struggle and people’s war on to the political agenda of India.
Since then the Indian political scenario has never been the
same. Since the launch of the Naxalbari movement over 10,000 comrades have laid
down their lives for the cause of the Indian revolution. Just in the 20 months
since the unity of the two main streams of the Maoists and the formation of the
CPI(Maoist) about 600 comrades have been martyred. They comprise the best sons
and daughters of the country, examples in selflessness and dedication to the
cause of the poor.
On this day we cannot but remember their self-sacrificing
nature and their spirit of selfless dedication to the cause of the oppressed
masses of the country. All these comrades, whether leaders, rank-and-file,
sympathizers, mahilla comrades or even the ordinary rural populace dreamed of a
new future of a genuinely free India, free from injustice and inequality and for
a genuinely democratic order. They all hated the present mafia raj that only
benefits the rich and wealthy and serves the imperialists to loot our country.
Can we ever forget their great and heroic sacrifice?
The government and its forces like ferocious monsters,
man-eating rakshas, are massacring hundreds of revolutionaries in the name of
the Salwa Juddum, Sendra, Cobra, etc. In DK even children of the age 12-14 were
beheaded and their severed head put on their own houses. Pregnant tribal women
were gang-raped and their stomachs then ripped open and brutally killed. Houses
have been burned, crops destroyed and the meager tribal belongings looted. In AP
the extra-judicial Cobras torture and kill mass leaders and even chop up their
bodies while still alive. The greyhounds brutally torture and kill any Naxalite
they apprehend. Similar is the trend in the other states, where the Naxalite
movement is present, like Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, etc. Besides this,
thousands are being incarcerated in false cases and tried in fast track courts
like the senior Politburo members Sunil Roy and Narayan Sanyal. Similar is the
situation with the Nationality movements of Kashmir and the North East.
Can one keep silent in the face of all this terror? To keep
silent in the face of such brutalities amounts to consent. Let us all break this
conspiracy of silence and celebrate Martyr’s Week in memory of these heroic and
dedicated comrades that gave their lives for the oppressed people of our country
and thereby voice our dissent on what is going on in the name of ‘democracy’.
Thousands and lakhs need to come out on this week and raise their voice in
condemnation of the brutalities and in salute to the martyred.
On this July 28th 2006 we particularly remember the lives of
those who were martyred in the last year. Leading amongst them is comrade Karam
Singh, the politburo member from Punjab who died of illness; unable to get
medical treatment in time due to the rigours of underground life. Active for
four decades he dedicated his entire life for the cause of the Indian
revolution. He was one of the founding members of the Maoist movement in Punjab.
He dedicated his entire life in the service of the oppressed masses of the
country and never feared any sacrifice. He will remain a great symbol of
revolutionary commitment, courage and sacrifice for generation of
revolutionaries to come.
Then the UP-Uttarkhand-Uttar Bihar suffered a great blow when
the police forces brutally murdered comrade Ravi (Naemuddin) the Secretary of
the Special Area Committee on the Dec.28th 2005. He too was an exemplarily
comrade who at a young age shouldered such an important responsibility of the
Indian revolution.
In AP the movement suffered a severe loss with the martyrdom
of Com Mattam Ravi Kumar (See Box) a member of the secretariat of the AP State
Committee on June 16 2006. In the past one year a number of other senior
comrades of AP and NT have laid down their lives, many of them District
Committee members. Com Jagdish was one such DCM from the district of Khammam in
North Telangana. Com. Kamlakar, a young guerrilla fighter, was martyred on June
10th on the border of AP and Chhathis-garh (Cg) during a joint combing operation
by the AP and Cg forces. He hails from Ranapur village of Karimnagar district in
North Telangana. He joined the Party in the 1990s at the age of 16. At the time
of his martyrdom he was a young guerrilla of around 30. He was very influenced
by the peasant struggle of Peddapalli in the 1980s and a number of professionals
who joined from his village were influenced at an early age. He joined the PLGA
in 1992 and transferred to DK in 1999 as a section commander of a platoon. Later
he grew step by stem and became a divisional committee member in 2005. He was a
good fighter and participated in many an action as a daring commander and was a
model guerrilla fighter.
In Bihar and Jharkhand too a number of comrades have laid
down their lives. Women form a significant part of the martyrs this year. These
heroic women comrades, prove through their blood sacrifices that they are at par
with their male comrades in all aspects of revolutionary live. In fact, in many
instances of heroic attacks, ambushes and raids women comrades stood in the
forefront and died fighting valiantly.
On this solemn occasion the Central Committee of the
CPI(Maoist) has given a call to the people of the country. In a press release
they have said:
We call on the entire Party, the PLGA, the Mass organisations,
the revolutionary organs of the New Power and the entire masses of the country
to observe the Martyr’s Week beginning from July 28th, taking a pledge that come
what may we will resolutely march forward on the path reddened by the blood of
thousands of our beloved martyr comrades and that we will fight until our last
breath to achieve the goals for which our comrades willingly laid down their
lives. We call upon you to propagate by all possible means the cherished ideals
of our great martyr comrades, by exemplifying their lives, their dedication,
their resoluteness while facing the worst odds, their courage and above all the
great sacrifices they made.
During the past one year we lost more than 500 of our most
beloved leaders and cadres of the party, fighters and commanders of the PLGA,
leadership lights of the newly emerging organs of revolutionary people’s power,
and the leaders and ordinary members of the revolutionary and democratic mass
organisations. In the last one year around 250 comrades became martyrs in the
Dandakaranya area, the majority of them being members and leaders of the
revolutionary mass organisations, militia and Janata Sarkars; around 200
comrades became martyrs in the three areas of AP; 34 comrades in Bihar-Jharkhand,
7 comrade is the 3-U area (Uttarkhand, Uttar Bihar, and part of UP); 2 comrades
in UP; 2 in Karnataka and one each in Maharashtra and West Bengal.
One of the biggest losses faced this year was of com Karam
Singh a politburo member of our party and one of the founders of the Maoist
movement in Punjab. Other major losses were com Naemuddin (Ravi), the secretary
of the 3-U SAC Committee and com Ravi Kumar (Shridhar) a secretariat member of
the AP State Committee. While hailing the sacrifices of our women martyrs
special mention should be made about comrade Eswaramma of AP and comrades Konsa
Santu, Modium Sukki and Kurram Lakki of Dandakaranya………..
The CC statement culminated with a call to all the oppressed and democratic
people of the country to honour these comrades and tread on the path they laid
for the liberation of our country and a bright genuinely democratic future.
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