Simple living and high thinking has always been the way of life for Communists. I myself have seen this in practice by some of the top leaders of the CPI(M). Most of you must have known how com. Nripen Chakraborty lived and worked. In one sentence it can be said. When he became the Chief Minister of Tripura, he came to his office with a small trunk box with his clothes and a few books. After his term of office when he went back to his house he had with him the same trunk with his clothes and books! Unbelievable, but true.

The case of Nripen Chakraborty is not an isolated case. I met the present Chief Minister of Tripura Com.Manik Sarkar at Calicut at the 20th Party Congress of CPI(M). He stayed with his wife  at the rest house. There is no official car, no security persons, no formalities of the Chief Minister. It is known that he himself washes his clothes. He speaks with you just like any other person with out the air of a chief Minister or high dignitary. It is stated that he knows almost everybody in Tripura personally. It was told to me by Com.Swapan Chakraborty, our Circle Secretary, NE II, which includes Tripura state.

Yesterday I had another experience. The re-elected General Secretary of CPI(M), Com. Prakash Karat with his wife Com.Brinda Karat, also a PB Member, was in the same flight from Calicut to Delhi in which many other comrades were also travelling.  He was in the same economy class as all of us were, despite pressure from some comrades to travel by higher class. After getting down, just like any other ordinary person he was  carrying his luggage. While he was waiting for taking the check-in luggage, some comrades went to help him, but he smilingly refused and pushed the trolley with the bags just like any other person. The same was with Coms. A.K.Padmanabhan, another PB member as also Com.Tapan Sen, General Secretary of the CITU and other senior comrades. How Com.M.K.Pandhe, the octogenarian President of CITU, used to travel alone even during his last days is known to all.

Simple living and high thinking has always been the way with Communists. It had to be kept up.

As I have posted earlier, more than 5 lakh people participated in the rally at Calicut Beach held as the open session of the 20th Party Congress of CPI(M). The Calicut city was a sea of people who have come to attend the rally and see their leders and to hear them. More than 25,000 red volunteers ( both women and men) marched to the rally site.

Com.Prakash Karat, General Secretary  and other leaders addressed the rally.

Com. Prakash Karat has been re-elected as the General Secretary of the CPI(M) at the Party Congress held at Calicut on 4-9 April. The following are the new Polit Bureau members:

Prakash Karat 2.    S Ramachandran Pillai 3.    Sitaram Yechury 4.    Biman Basu 5.    Manik Sarkar 6.    Pinarayi Vijayan 7.    Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee 8.    K. Vardha Rajan 9.    B.V. Raghavulu 10.    Brinda Karat 11.    Nirupam Sen 12.    Kodiyeri Balakrishnan 13.    A. K. Padmanabhan 14.    Surjya Kanta Mishra 15.    M.A. Baby

All the elctions were unanimous. My Hearty Congratulations to all!

THE calicut city is almost full to the brim with tens of thousands of people arriving to attend in the huge rally to be held tomorrow, 9th April, in connection with the Party Congress of the CPI(M) which will be concluded tomorrow. By about 2200 hours today, the buses and vans have started arriving in the city with the visitors. The entrance to the Tagore Centenary Hall where the Party Congress is going on is mobbed by the large number of comrades who are waiting to see the leaders arriving to attend the congresss.

By tomorrow, Calicut will be  full with lakhs of people.

The answer is well-known to all who have followed history and the events in the First War 0f Independence of 1857.

Mangal Pandey was the sepoy who fired the first shot against the British starting the ‘1857 Sepoy Mutiny’ as the British called it. The war started, escalated and many places, including cantonments were captured by these freedom fighters. But the gains could not be sustained and the British, with their better arms and discipline recaptured every thing. Many sepoys were killed. Many were captured and killed.

And Mangal Pandey was one of them. He was hanged on 8th April 1857 to show an example to other sepoys.

We have won freedom with the sacrifice of lakh and lakh such martyrs and ordinary people. My homage to Mangal Pandey!

Many unexpected things are happening in connection with the Party Congress of the CPI(M) at Calicut. Today, it was the English Edition of the Malayalam Daily, Deshabhimani. It is published to distribute the delegates so that comrades come from outside Kerala can read the reports. Comrades were very happy to get the same. The editions are very good. My congratulations to Deshabhimani and the comrades working for the same.