It was an educative and pleasant experience. I got the opportunity to attend the Conference of the Association of Indian Communists Great Britain and the Indian Workers Association on 22-23 June at Leicester (pronounced as Lestor), one of the major cities in UK. I was invited as a visitor to the august Conference by the Secretary, Com. Harsev Bains, whom I got acquainted when I visited UK last time. The Conference was held at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial House which is the own building of the Leicestor unit of AIC & IWA. The hall was named Com. Surjeet Nagar in honour of Com. Har Kishan Singh Surjeet, the veteran leader of CPI(M).
The Public Rally was addressed by Coms. Sitaram Yechury, PBM, CPI(M) and Robert Griffiths, General Secreetary of Communist Party of Britain. Both of them spoke on the international situation and also on the sustained united struggles against the anti-worker policies of the imperialist rulers.
In addition, Com.Sitaram Yechury spoke in detail about the decisions of the 20th Party Congress of CPI(M) held at Calicut in April 2012 and also the tasks in the coming days. The present political situation in India was also explained.
The Indian Workers Association was formed in the 1960s and is closely connection with the British Trade Union movement. Many of the veteran leaders who started the organisation were present. There were many young comrades, especialliy those who belonged to Kerala and who functioned in the SFI and DYFI. I could interact with them and understand the difficulties being experienced by the students and new entrants to the UK from India.
I travelled to Leicestor in car along with Com. Santokh Singh, a senior leader of AIC and a well known progressive poet and another senior comrade. On 22nd night I stayed with the family of Com. Rajinder Bains at Derby, about 30 miles from Leicestor. He and his family arranged convenient stay and food.
The two days conference not only gave me the chance to learn about the Indians in the UKbut also enriched me with a lot of friends and comrades. The arrnagements for the conference and all the proceedings were well arranged and fruitful. Com. Harsev Bains was reelcted as Secretary unanimously.
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