No One can Marginalise the Left: Prakash Karat IT was 9 a m of March 9, 2014, when a traffic policeman, who was on duty in Keezh Vellore town of Nagapattinam district, informed that more than 1000 vans and buses loaded with people were moving towards Keezha Venmani, a tiny village located seven km from the town. Till the evening on the day, more and more people had moved towards the village. At a point in another village, called Thevur, vehicles were not able to move forward. From there, thousands of people had to walk five km to the tiny village. It was red, red and red only --- everywhere. More than one lakh people gathered here to salute the martyrs. They were chanting enthusiastically and carefully listened to their leaders. They were full of energy and determination to face the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The call given by Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), to defeat the anti-people Congress and to prevent the communal BJP from grabbing power in the elections, gave them a clear line. It was a grand function organised by the CITU and the CPI(M), for the opening of a grand memorial building to commemorate the 44 communist martyrs of Venmani. The Tamilnadu state committee of the CITU has built the memorial, called “Venmani Thiyagikal Ninaivalayam,” with an expenditure of about three crore rupees. The amount was collected from the working people of the state. The memorial is built in pure block stone. The work had started seven years ago. Addressing the massive meeting after opening the memorial, Prakash Karat charged the UPA government of involvement in some of the worst corruption scandals the country has witnessed, not to mention the enormous burden imposed on the people of the country through unprecedented price rise. He sharply attacked the BJP and Narendra Modi too, and said they pose a serious threat to the country with their communal and divisive platform, and that is why they should be rejected. On the electoral developments in Tamilnadu, Karat mentioned that the AIADMK had joined the anti-communal convention of non-Congress secular parties in Delhi last October and subsequently declared that it would have an alliance with the Left parties for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. However the AIADMK unilaterally broke off with the Left parties. Karat said if anyone thinks that a credible alternative to the BJP and the Congress could be presented while bypassing the Left parties, he is mistaken. He declared that the Left parties in Tamilnadu would unitedly fight the elections against the neo-liberal policies, corruption and communalism. The Left would continue to play a central role in evolving pro-people alternative policies at the centre and in the states. The CPI(M) leader also remembered the 44 Venmani martyrs, including 20 women and 19 children, who were burnt alive by landlords on December 25, 1968, when agricultural workers were in the midst of a struggle for wage increase. It may be recalled that the later part of the 1960s saw a rise in the struggles of agricultural workers in whole of the then East Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu; strikes took place in several hundred villages in this area. Those were the days when the police shot dead Comrade Pakkiri of Poonthazhangudi village while Ramachandran of Kekkarai village and Pakkirisami of Sikkal village were attacked and killed by the goons patronised by landlords. The situation in the entire district was quite tense. The landlords demanded that the red flags hoisted in the villages should be brought down and that the flags of the landlords association should be hoisted in their place. Besides, they said any increase in wage would be given only if they did so. But agricultural labourers, organised under the banner of the CPI(M), did not relent. They organised meetings in each village and declared that it was the red flag which had brought them honour and recognition, and that they would never allow the red flags to be brought down, come what may. Keezha Venmani, a tiny hamlet in Nagapattinam taluk, was chosen by the landlords to attack the agricultural workers. Hired goons of the landlords entered the village on the night of December 25, 1968, armed with guns, petrol and other weapons. They shot every person they came across, even as people ran helter-skelter to save themselves. Women, children and elderly men who could not run away took shelter in small huts. These goons, finding that they were all inside, bolted the doors from outside poured petrol all over and ensured that everyone inside was burnt to death. A total of 28 huts were thus burnt. This incident shook the conscience of the world. And it was the conscience of the working class that led them to erect a grand memorial for their martyrs and then brought them to the place in large numbers on the day of the memorial’s opening. Saluting the Venmani martyrs, Prakash Karat urged upon the people to take forward the red flag which the martyrs upheld. N Sankariah, one of the legendary leaders of the communist movement in the state, also addressed the meeting. Roaring like a lion at the age of 93, he called the people to strengthen and expand the party and the class and mass organisations in the state. He also said the grand memorial of Venmani martyrs could be used for a party school. CITU president A K Padmanaban was proud of the CITU state committee for its commitment and tireless effort to build this memorial. He said, “This is an excellent example of the unity of the working class." CPI(M) state secretary G Ramakrishnan and Central Committee member T K Rangarajan also addressed the meeting. CITU state president A Soundararajan presided over. Earlier, veteran CPI(M) leader G Veeriahan hoisted the red flag at the earlier existing memorial column while N Sankariah hoisted the red flag upon a huge flag post in front of the new building. Leaders of the CPI(M), CITU, AIKS and AIAWU received 44 martyrs’ torches brought from across the state. This was organised by the CITU affiliated Transport Workers Federation. Transport workers also declared that they would give 44 bags of paddy every year for the maintenance of the building. CPI(M) Central Committee members U Vasuki and P Sampath, state CITU general secretary G Sugumaran, its state treasurer Malathi Citibabu, AIKS leaders K Balakrishnan and P Shanmugam, AIAWU leaders A Lazar G Mani and S Thirunavukkarasu, and CPI(M) district secretaries A V Murugaian (Nagapattinam), I V Nagarajan (Thiruvarur) and G Neelamegam (Thanjavur) also participated. Several cultural programmes were held on the occasion.