A CONDOLENCE meeting was organised on the evening of August 16, at CPI(M) headquarters, A K Gopalan Bhawan, to pay tributes to Comrade Birender Singh and Comrade Rajiv Jha. The two comrades, who had been associated with the Party centre for more than four decades as full-fledged workers, died recently. Both comrades were associated with the publications of the Party; Comrade Birender Singh was handling the managerial affairs of party publications and Comrade Rajeev Jha was on the editorial team of Loklahar.

On the occasion of the 86th martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Raj Guru on March 23 we are reproducing an interview given by his compatriot, Shiv Verma, which was published in ‘The Daily’ on March 26, 1985. The interview was taken by Sudheendra Kulkarni in 1985, much before he joined the BJP.

COMRADE A B Bardhan belonged to that generation of Communist leaders who came into the Communist party during the last decade of the struggle for independence. Bardhan joined the party in 1940 at the age of 15. The student movement during the anti-imperialist struggle and the post-war upsurge of mass struggles in the country shaped the political outlook of the young Bardhan. Like many young Communists in Bombay province at that time, he became an organiser of the working class after his militant role in the student movement.

A COMMEMORATIVE meeting on the seventh death anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, freedom fighter, CPI(M) former general secretary and a communist leader of international repute, was organised at Bhakna Bhawan, Chandigarh jointly by Daily Desh Sewak, Bhakna Bhawan Trust and Virsa Sambhal Prasar Kendar on August 1.

THERE were three distinct visions for an independent India during freedom struggle – the Nehruvian vision, the Left vision and the right-wing ‘Hindutva’ vision. Pandit Nehru represented the mainstream vision for a ‘secular democratic’ India, while the Left vision was for a ‘secular, democratic and socialist’ India. The third was for converting independent India into a rabidly intolerant ‘Hindu Rashtra’. This vision originated with the formation of the RSS in 1925. The Muslim League was a ‘twin brother’ of the RSS.