Thousands Participate in Opening Rallies of CPI(M) Candidates

AT the time of filing this report, when the Shiv Sena-BJP on the one hand, and the Congress-NCP on the other, are still continuing with their bitter fight for a greater number of state assembly seats and consequently for the chief ministership, CPI(M) candidates in many constituencies have started filing their nomination forms from September 20 with enthusiastic mass rallies of thousands of people.The CPI(M) is contesting 20 state assembly seats in this election as a part of the LDF which comprises the CPI, PWP, JD(S) and two Republican Party groups.

Pent-up Anger Burst Out in Students’ Protest

THE students’ movement and the police attack in Jadavpur University have triggered a massive protest in West Bengal. Students of other universities and colleges, teachers and intellectuals have joined in unison to condemn the state administration.

Comrade Benoy Konar Remembered

RICH tributes were paid to Comrade Benoy Konar in a memorial meeting organised by the CPI(M) West Bengal state committee on September 24 in Kolkata. Speakers at the meeting recollected his struggling life and his contribution to the development of the Party and peasants’ movement in Bengal.Speaking on the occasion, Nirupam Sen, Polit Bureau member of the Party, recalled the exemplary courage of Comrade Benoy Konar with which he faced the brutal attacks of landowners and police in sixties and seventies and developed powerful land movement in Burdwan. He was jailed under false cases.

Re-admit all the Dismissed Students

ELEVEN dalit students from a government school in Bikaner in Rajasthan were dismissed after two of them were found drinking water from an earthen pot meant for an upper caste teacher. The teacher Mangal Singh took this extreme punitive step as he felt that the children “defiled” the water by touching the pot. The parents were also compelled to sign or put their thump impressions on eleven blank sheets of paper.

Steep hike in taxes announced in Kerala

IN a surprising move, the Kerala cabinet has decided to impose a huge hike in taxes, service charge and new rate of water charge. This hike is imposed in the pretext of overcoming the severe economic crisis the state faces. The new burden of Rs 3,000 crore will be put on the people through these new taxes. The burden may go up to Rs 4,000 crore as the additional taxes come. New taxes are in addition to Rs 5,614 crore tax imposed by the UDF government in the past three years.

Revolutionary Tributes Paid to Comrade Surjeet

A PUBLIC rally was organised in Punjab’s Jalandhar district on September 21 to observe 6th death anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, a renowned Communist leader and former general secretary of CPI(M).

‘Stronger in Deed, Gentler in Style’

ON September 28, 1864, St. Martin Hall, London, witnessed a meeting of workers and refugees from various European countries. They represented various workers’ organisations with heterogeneous ideas. In fact, the meeting started on September 26th itself where representatives of the suppressed Polish workers uprising were felicitated. However, the meeting on the 28th led to the foundation of the First International.

CPI(M) Condemns Attack on the HP University Students

THE Himachal Pradesh state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has strongly condemned the despotic state government run by the Congress party for its midnight scoop on September 20, in which it lifted eight protesting girls from the HPU campus. This shows the desperation in which the government is working in connivance with the HPU authorities to cow down the popular voice of the students who are protesting against the phenomenally large increase in the fees of various courses in the undergraduate and post graduate.

Booth Capturing and Rigging AIADMK Mocks Democracy

BOOTH capturing and wide spread rigging was unleashed across the state of Tamil Nadu on September 18 as the by-polls for local bodies including mayoral elections for Coimbatore and Thoothukudi cities were held.

#Hokkolorob (“Keep Up the Din”)

TO our readers, this caption may appear as something alien – foreign. But those who frequent the social media – this insignia has become familiar over the last week or more. This is the sign post of a massive student movement that started in Jadavpur University (JU); but has subsequently spilled over across West Bengal and beyond. The measure of resonance of the movement can be understood from the fact that on September 25, there will be a protest across hundred cities of the world, going beyond geographic frontiers of the country.

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