"No matter how hard you try, our family cannot break up. Our family is a huge family of working people from all over the world. Where we belong to humanity, and together we will end the politics of hatred"-Yousuf Tarigami

AT the invitation of the Bihar state committee of the CPI(M), Party Central Committee Member and former Jammu and Kashmir State Legislative Assembly member, Yousuf Tarigami, participated in a three-day Bihar programme from September 12-14. He addressed public meetings held in Patna, Samastipur, and Begusarai.

In the eight years of BJP rule from the year 2014 to 2022, inflation, unemployment, and institutional corruption have created a mountain of misery for the lives of the common man. Simultaneously, this rule suppressed the voices raised against it, democratic rights,and secular values.

There is a continuous struggle against the anti-people policies of the BJP central government. The recent power change in Bihar has caught the attention of the entire country.

In Bihar, the CPI(M) alone and in association with other Left parties is constantly in the field of struggle on public-favourite issues.

The three-day visit of Yousuf Tarigami has worked to ideologically strengthen the Left and its allied intellectuals, students, and youth towards the path of struggle.

Yousuf Tarigami, in his addresses in the three cities, targeted the neo-liberal policies of the central government and criticised the RSS. He thoroughly exposed the communal-fascist face of the BJP and called for ousting it from power at the Centre.

Discussing the history of Kashmir in detail, he said that the Kashmiris, rejecting Jinnah's theory of two-nationalism, aligned their faith with India's secular and constitutional democracy. At the time of the partition of the country, when horrific incidents of communal massacres were taking place in the whole of Punjab and Bengal, there was peace in the entire Kashmir Valley. There was not a single violent incident. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi's statement, he said that India should be a model of Kashmir.

We should also remember that the then Raja Hari Singh was not in favour of the inclusion of Jammu and Kashmir in India. Even the organisation of the RSS, the Praja Parishad  was attuned to the plan of Hari Singh. Hari Singh was forced to enter into a pact with India after the Pakistani tribals attacked Kashmir. He revealed another important thing. He said that BJP people are campaigning that no outsider can buy land in Kashmir. Everyone should know that the law of banning the sale of the land of Jammu and Kashmir to outsiders was passed by Raja Hari Singh in 1927. There is no hand of the people of Kashmir in this. There is a law to ban land purchase and sale in Himachal Pradesh, the North-East states, and other states, but only Kashmir is being targeted because it helps the communal polarisation, thus benefiting the BJP.

Kashmir is a state where the zamindari system was first abolished and the farmers were given land rights. No compensation was given to the zamindars, and the loans of the ryots were also waived. Such work was done only in states ruled by the Left parties, namely Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura, but the Modi government at the centre trampled on all democratic and constitutional rules, abolishing Articles 370 and 35A and dividing Kashmir into two union territories.This is a betrayal of the democratic aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. The peace that is being talked about in Kashmir today is the peace of Marghat (crematorium). All democratic rights have ended. Newspapers are on guard. Common people are reluctant to interact with their people. He said in very emotional words that the patriotism of us Kashmiris should not be tested again and again. Our only appeal is that all the people outside Kashmir should consider us as their own. Let there be no wall between us.

RAY OF HOPE

Seeing the political developments in Bihar as a ray of hope, he gave revolutionary felicitations to the struggling people of Bihar and called for intensifying the struggle against the destructive fascist agenda of the RSS-BJP.

A large number of Party leaders, workers as well as intellectuals, Party supporters and civil society people participated in the programmes in all the three cities. People listened with complete silence and attention to the speech of Yousuf Tarigami and, from time to time, expressed their consent with thunderous applause.

The three meetings in Prashal-Patna, Samastipur, and Begusarai were presided over by Arun Kumar Mishra, Ajay Kumar, and Rajendra Singh, respectively.

On the stage in Patna were state secretary, Lalan Chaudhary, Central Committee, Awadhesh Kumar, secretariat member, Sarvodaya Sharma, Ahmed Ali, and Shyam Bharti.

On his way from Samastipur to Begusarai, Yousuf Tarigami was accorded a civil felicitation at Singhiaghat and Gangauli and was garlanded by local women and men. Around 150 youths carrying red flags on motorcycles took Tarigami to the border of Begusarai.

Earlier, in the minority-dominated village of Samastipur, Rudauli, interaction was held with Yousuf Tarigami and the local villagers on questions related to his life and political issues.