Komita
‘Bol Majure Halla Bol
Halla Bol bhai, halla bol…’
LIKE every year, this song of workers’ struggle echoed across Jhandapur’s Dr Ambedkar Park on the chilly winter morning of January 1, 2025. A large number of people – locals, residents of Sahibabad Site IV – gathered in the park to remember and salute Comrade Safdar Hashmi and Rambahadur on the occasion of the 36th Safdar Hashmi Shahadat Divas. Despite the continuous changes in the nature of industrial work in the area, and migration, Safdar’s name remains a symbol of courage and resistance for the people of the area, 36 years after his death. The local people enthusiastically participate every year in this joint programme of workers and artists organised by CITU and Jana Natya Manch (JANAM) in the memory of Safdar and Rambahadur.
On January 1, 1989, when JANAM was performing the play 'Halla Bol' in Jhandapur, Safdar was grievously injured in a violent attack by the local goons backed by the Congress party. The worker Rambahadur, who was part of the audience, died on the spot after being shot. The next day, on January 2, Safdar died fighting for his life in the hospital. This was a tremendous shock not only for JANAM but for artists working in various fields across the country. Despite these circumstances, on January 4, JANAM returned to the site of the attack and completed its unfinished play. Since then it has been recognised as one of the inspiring and defining moments in the history of the Indian progressive cultural movement. The comrades of JANAM made it clear to the attacking forces that the ideas which Safdar believed in could not be ended by killing him.
Like always, before the formal beginning of the programme, farmer-artist Ratan Gambhir from Bulandshahr sang his songs against capitalist and communal forces. The programme started with Brijesh from JANAM speaking about the history and significance of the occasion. He also paid tribute to the leading communist leader and former CPI(M) General Secretary Comrade Sitaram Yechury. The stalwart of the labour movement of Delhi-NCR and former CPI(M) Delhi State Secretary Comrade KM Tiwari and progressive writer, poet and people’s lyricist Comrade Kanti Mohan Soz, who also passed away in 2024, were remembered. They also were well acquainted with the work of Comrade Safdar and JANAM. Kanti Mohan worked with JANAM in the initial phase. Comrade Yechury and Comrade Tiwari always supported and appreciated JANAM’s work for the last several decades, while constantly highlighting the role of cultural work in the labour movement.
Following that, JANAM along with composer and singer Kajal Ghosh presented ‘Lal Jhanda Lekar, Comrade' and other revolutionary songs. These songs filled with enthusiasm brought warmth to the cold winter noon. Expressing solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle, Sudhanva recited a poem by Palestinian professor and writer Haidar Eid.
JANAM presented its newest street play ‘Ek Berozgaar Ki Adhoori Love Story'. This play, presented in nautanki style and with the use of parodies of Hindi film songs, sharply comments on the growing unemployment in the country. Directed by Sudhanva and with the contribution of other members of JANAM, this play satirically brings out the nexus between the capitalist system and the central government.
At the end of the program, JANAM presented the play ‘Eka Zindabad’ which was performed in Delhi-NCR in September 2024 for the CITU campaign. During the campaign, the play was performed in many working-class colonies for fifteen consecutive days. The scenes of the play, interlinked with the lyrics of the song ‘Eka Zindabad’ highlight the inhuman working conditions of industrial workers and gig workers. The audience thoroughly enjoyed both the plays.
This year, Vikram Singh, joint secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, addressed the public meeting as the keynote speaker. The general meeting was presided over by the president of the CITU Ghaziabad district committee Rajbir Singh. Apart from the keynote speaker, local CITU leader GS Tiwari and Anurag Saxena, secretary of Delhi State CPI(M) spoke briefly on the current situation in the country.
Paying homage to Safdar, Vikram said that the Congress goons who murdered Safdar are nowhere to be found today, but Safdar's revolutionary thoughts are still alive in the air through the plays of JANAM and its continuing cultural work. He said that today, the youth of Bihar taking to the streets demanding jobs are becoming victims of police repression, just as it has been described in the latest play of JANAM. Highlighting the impact of neoliberal policies on employment, he said that along with the fight for minimum wages, the struggle to get recognition for workers in different sectors, especially scheme workers, must continue. Workers are being made to work for 12 hours without being paid overtime. Be it the central government or the government of Uttar Pradesh, or any other state ruled by the other bourgeois parties, their aim is the same – to exploit the workers and increase the profits of the capitalists.
He said that farmers and agricultural workers grow food grains in ample quantities, and yet India ranks quite low in the world in terms of hunger index. Children of the working class are not getting as much nutrition as they should. Using the data, Singh said that in August 2023, the cost of a plate of food full of nutrition was about Rs 100 which increased to Rs 152 in 2024. But in proportion to this, there has been no increase in the wages of the workers. Instead the daily wages of the workers have decreased further. He said that the farmers who produce food grains are dying by suicide every day. The situation is so grave that in the last few years, the number of suicides has increased among farm labourers, daily wage labourers, and even students. He said that the main reason behind all this is the larger capitalist system which is based on the idea of exploitation for profit. Attacking communalism, he said that these wolves of hatred are making our human life difficult. He concluded saying if anyone can fight against the politics of Hindutva, then it is only the soldiers of the red flag.
This year, Pratidhwani, a Delhi-based music group, presented folk songs in Hindi, Bhojpuri and other Indian languages which were well received by the local audience.
Every year on January 2, JANAM holds a meeting in memory of Safdar. This year, Safdar and JANAM's friend Prakash Upadhyay and JANAM's young member Mustafa were the speakers. Prakash shared memories of the days he spent with Safdar in Kashmir University. He said though they both shared the same political ideas, the foundation of their friendship was laid on sharing small details of their personal lives with each other.
On January 3, JANAM and friends of JANAM gather around to read poetry and prose, in the memory of Safdar and his love for literature. This year, JANAM remembered noted satirist and humorist of modern Hindi literature Harishankar Parsai on his birth centenary, and amid roars of laughter, read his stories, essays, and columns.
(Translation by Ditsa)
or reload the browser
