Comrade Surjeet remembered

03 Friday Aug 2018

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Daily Desh Sewak, Azadi Lehar Virsa Sambhal and Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna Trust jointly organised a function to commemorate 10th Death Anniversary of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet , renowned communist leader of international repute and Ex. General Secretary of CPI(M) at Bhakna Bhawan, Sector 29 D, Chandigarh on 31st July, 2018. A large number of Left Parties workers, leaders and sympathisers participated in the function. Comrade Sitaram Yechury, General Secretary, CPI(M) was the Chief Guest. The proceedings of the functionn began with Comrade Sitaram Yechury leading the guests and workers to pay floral tributes at the portrait of Comrade Surjeet. Comrade Gurchetan Singh Bassi, State Secretariat Member, CPI(M) and younger son of Comrade Surjeet presided over the function. Mr. Madandeep Singh , Editor ,Daily Desh Sewak said that Comrade Surjeet had established Desh Sewak Daily with a very far sighted vision and wanted it to become voice of the toiling , democratic and secular people of the region. He also explained the financial crisis due to which its funcioning was adversely affected. He sought the cooperation from left party workers and friends of Desh Sewak in tiding over the crisis. Veteran Journalist , Gobind Thukral explained in details the back ground and vision with this newspaper was started by comrade Surjeet . He hoped that the new management will accord priority in smoloth functioning of the establishment. Comrade Raghunath Singh, General Secretary, CITU Punjab shared his experiences in Jail with Comrade Surjeet. Comrade Sukhwinder Singh Sekhon, Managing Director , Daily Desh Sewak assured the gathering that there is lot of improvement in the functioning of Desh Sewak for the last 3 months and we hope that the situation will get normalised shortly . He assured the audience that Desh Sewak will continue to play its role as visualised by Comrade Surjeet in this region of the country by voicing effectively the issues of working people, democratic and secular forces and provide a platform to intellectuals to air their views and voice . Sardar Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, Ex. Central Minister recollected his association and guidance from Comrade Surjeet. Comrade Joginder Dayal, National Council Member, CPI called upon the left parties workers and sympathisers to fight unitedly against the communal and fascist forces which will be true tribute to Comrade Surjeet. Comrade Bant Brar, State Secretary, CPI appealed to Comrade Yechury for unification of CPI and CPI(M). Dr Jaspal Singh , former Editor, Desh Sewak assured his full cooperation in streamlining the working of Desh Sewak. Comrade Sitaram Yechury delivering his Chief Guest speech on the occasion recollected his long association with Comrade Surjeet . He told how simple and down to earth he was and could explain a complicated issue in very simple language. Quoting Comrade Surjeet, Comrade Yechury told the audience that in 2004 there was a question being debated that who can replace Vajpayee ? Comrade Surjeet had told that let the elections be completed , the shining India slogan would evaporate and NDA alongwith Vajpayee would also be wiped out. “Same question is being debated now that who can replace Modi ? As on earlier occasions this time also a Morcha will come into existence after elections. BJP will be defeated as all the left , scular and democratic forces are coming together to defeat politics of hate and fascistic tendencies”, said Comrade Yechury. He condemned incidents of lynchings despite reprimand by Supreme Court and killings of Dalits and Muslims in the name of cow. He alleged that the Modi Govt. is working for maximising the profits of Corporates and banking sector has been plunged into serious crisis as more than 11 lakhs crores of rupees taken as loan by the corporates has not been repaid. He appealed to the audience to get united and defeat this communal govt. guided by fascist RSS in interest of better, peaceful and prosperous India. Comrade Gurchetan Singh Bassi , President thanked the guests and participants.

Wage Revision, Pension Revision in BSNL an urgent matter

03 Friday Aug 2018

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Now that the Minister Communications have  already agreed for the wage revision of BNL employees, it is for the BSNL Management to take up urgent measures to proceed with the wage negotiation and finalise it within a short time. The workers are agitated in the undue delay.

Since the government is to pay finalise the pension revision, it need not wait for the wage revision. Once the III PRC has recommended 15% fitment, the pension can be revised on the same basis on  IDA pattern.

Delay means denial of justice, especially in the case of pensioners. This is one section who can not wait. The government has to act immediately.

 

CPI(M) writes to Prime Minister on Higher Education Commission, replacing UGC – Major adverse impact on Higher education

26 Thursday Jul 2018

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New Delhi, July 26: We are herewith releasing the text of the note containing the opinion of the CPI(M) on the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) Draft Bill. This note was sent to the Prime Minister this morning, with a copy marked to the HRD Minister.

The NDA-II Government has repeatedly targeted Public-funded Higher Education and Research in the last four years. Its hostility against the culture of democratic debates and rational social enquiry in premier universities, by demonising and mobilising negative public opinion against sections of students and faculty, its authoritarian challenge to academic and intellectual autonomy, and its aggressive promotion of mythological beliefs and supremacist bias against scientific and historical facts constitute one dimension of this attack. The other, more systematic, way in which it has tried to bring Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) down on their knees is by continuously slashing budgetary allocations to the UGC, asking public-funded HEIs to generate a part of their costs through internal resources and loans, drastically reducing seats and fellowships for M.Phil. and Ph.D. research programmes and promoting short-term contractual employment of faculty and administrative staff instead of permanent recruitment.

Higher Educational Reform under the NDA-II Government is guided by twin concerns that threaten to destroy the foundations of Higher Education in independent India and impede the salutary role it has played, over decades, in empowering the common people with learning, jobs and social confidence. These twin concerns are (i) Privatisation, and (ii) Social Exclusion. The twin agendas of Privatisation and Social Exclusion are strongly reflected in the Draft Bill on the HECI (Repeal of UGC Act, 1956) Act, 2018 that the MHRD proposes to introduce in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament.

The CPI(M) will approach all secular, democratic parties, educationists, intellectuals, teaching fraternity, students and all other concerned individuals and organisations to build a broad resistance against this.

Text of the letter of CPI(M) General Secretary to the Prime Minister

Dear Pradhan Mantriji,

I am constrained to draw your attention to the draft legislation prepared by the Ministry of Human Resource Development for establishing the Higher Education Commission of India replacing the existing University Grants Commission which had been earlier established by the Parliament of India.

After carefully going through the provisions of the proposed Bill we, from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) are compelled to come to the conclusion that if the Bill is enacted in the present form and with the approach that its provisions suggest, it will have a major adverse impact on higher education in the country in general and public funded higher education in particular.

As it is often said, it does not require an external enemy to destroy a country; destruction of its education system is more than adequate to ensure that outcome. I am afraid that the present draft Bill needs to be withdrawn to avert that eventuality.

In order to substantiate my argument, I am attaching herewith our comprehensive understanding about the proposed legislation.

Telecom Trade Union Movement – A Saga of Struggles, Sacrifices and Achievements (4) – To Delhi

26 Thursday Jul 2018

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To Delhi

OPG supporters had already started conspiracies how to torpedo the election of the All India Conference and create problems in the organisation. As part of it, they raised the strange demand that the polled ballots and other records should be handed over to the outgoing office-bearers, since Com. Moni Bose is yet to take charge as the General Secretary. Coms. N.T.Sajwani and R.K.Kohli led the group and pressurised the election officers for the same. Well knowing that this was intended to manipulate the votes and results later, the Asst. Presiding Officer Com. J.Renganathan firmly refused to consider the unjustified request.
Workers have not forgotten, how Com. OPG, General Secretary, manipulated the records after the Gauhati All India Conference in 1969, by declaring after reaching Delhi, that election of Com. K.G.Bose as Federal Councillor, is nullified. The plan now was to repeat the same and nullify the Bhopal elections.
(Com.J.Renganathan, Asst. Presiding Officer, who took the correct and firm decision, was the Vice-President of the All India Union, who has resigned the post protesting against the revisionist line of the General Secretary, along with Moni Bose and V.A.N.Namboodiri, who were respectively, Vice-President and Asst. General Secretary of the union, just before the All India Conference. He entered the services in 1959 in Ramnad Telephone Exchange as Telephone Mechanic and became a leader of the union within a short time. His close connection with leaders like Com. A.Pirmanathan, Pasupati, Gurumurthy and others helped him to develop as a militant leader. He was suspended and transferred to Coimbatore for leading the 1968 historic one day token strike of the Central government employees. He reached back to Madras in 1970. In 1989, he became the Circle Secretary of Madras Telephone District Circle after defeating the then circle secretary and a close associate of OPG, Com. B.Srinivasa Rao. JR, as he was popularly called, was already elected as the Asst. General Secretary in the Madras All India Conference. He voluntarily retired from service in 1993 with commitment to social service. He worked as Editor of the labour magazine “ Uzhaikkum Vargam” for a number of years .
During my last visit to Chennai, I went to his house and met him and wife and had discussion about the various aspects of the present situation of BSNL. He was a comrade who stood firm during his entire service in telecom for the correct policies and is one of my close associate for decades).
I, as the newly elected President, intervened and took hold of the entire documents, ballots etc. which was handed over to me by the Com. JR, Asst. Presiding Officer and kept it in a safe place. Com. Ramachandran, Secretary of ITEF, M.P., Com. S.C.Shrivastava, Circle Secretary T.III Union, M.P.Circle and others gave full support and assistance in the matter.
Com. Moni Bose and I stayed at Bhopal for two days arranging everything for moving to Delhi. Comrades who came along with me including my wife returned to Calicut. I had no other way but to go to Delhi and stay some time there, according to the promise I had given to Com. Moni Bose. The situation was serious since any move from OPG group had to be countered.
What will be the situation in Delhi? We were very apprehensive. Whether we will be allowed to function in Dada Ghosh Bhawan, CHQ of the union? Where we will stay? How to effectively strengthen the organisation? What will be the reaction of the DOT? A lot of questions were in our mind.
Any way, we prepared for our Delhi journey along with the ballot papers and election materials etc. No prior information was given to anybody, as we expected some protest demonstration etc. since the OPG group was very angry, which we have seen at Bhopal after the elections.
But after considering everything we firmly decided that we will face everything calmly and courageously and started for Delhi by train. All options were discussed. Our final option was that after getting down, we will directly go to Dada Ghosh Bhawan, the citadel of E.III Union. We will function from there. (To be continued)

BSNL Workers start Hunger Strike – Call by AUAB

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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As per the call of the All Unions and Associations of BSNL (AUAB), thousands of workers all over India participated in the Hunger Strike programme, demanding Wage revision, Pension revision, 30% Pensionary benefits to those recruited in BSNL and allotment of 4G Spectrum to BSNL. The hunger strike will continue for two more days.

The DOT and the government should take immediate action.

Thanks to all for your Greetings

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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Hundreds of friends, relatives, comrades and well wishers from all parts of the country and even from outside have sent messages, e-mails, comments, whatsApp messages etc. conveying their Best Wishes to me on my completing 80 years of age.

I am thankful to all of them. As you can well understand  it is not easy to convey my thanks to each person individually. Hence through this blog/ face book, I convey my heartfelt thanks and Best Wishes to all of you who  appreciated my work and wished me.

You have encouraged me and I would take all efforts to continue to serve the workers and the people.

 

Protest demonstration by Left Parties in Delhi

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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The left parties organised a big dharna in Delhi protesting against the violence raj in W.Bengal by the Trinamul and in Tripura by the RSS/BJP killing workers and leaders of Left parties, demolishing offices attacking the workers etc. Among the leaders, who addressed the protest march were CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI general secretary Sudhakar Reddy, Kerala Chief Minister and CPI(M) polit bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan, former Tripura Chief Minister and CPI(M) polit bureau member Manik Sarkar, Forward Block general secretary Debabrata Biswas, CPI(ML) general secretay Dipankar Bhattacharya, RSP central committee member Ajoy Gosh, CPI(M) polit bureau member Prakash Karat and CPI national secretary D Raja.

I AM EIGHTY! I AM HAPPY!

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

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Yes, I am Eighty! I am Happy!

I have completed eighty years of age by today, 24th July 2018. (The date of birth in the official records is 12th June 1938. The mistake was not corrected in time.) It means that about 29220 days have passed after I was born. It is a microscopic small period in the nature of things, but taking the average longevity of an Indian, it is something to be proud of.
The question is not how many years you lived, but how much service you have done to the society. I cannot claim much, but I have the satisfaction that at least I have made efforts in this direction. During this period I could meet a lot of people, young and old, and they have made my life happy and pleasant. My comrades and colleagues made my life cheerful and active. Difference of language, region did not come in the way of making friends.
I am a happy husband, father and grandfather, though I cannot claim that I have done full justice to them. I could not be in close contact with family and  relatives since I was away at Delhi for a long period, but they understand me.
My main weakness has been forgetting things, names of friends, relatives and comrades. This have pained me and might have pained many. But most of them understood my short memory and excused me. My memory seems to be weakening further.
When one looks back, he/she can find so many mistakes committed; we learn from the past experiences.
I have not completed my work; there is much more to be done. The only way is to continue your activities till you can.
My Warm Greetings to all my friends, comrades and well-wishers, who made my life happy and worth living!

(N.B. By the way, there is  good news! central pensioners who crosses eighty get 20% increase in pension. Income tax exemption is increased to Rs. 5 lakh.)

Telecom Trade Union Movement – A Saga of Struggles, Sacrifices and Achievements (4) Bhopal All India Conference, Start of A New Era. (contd)

23 Monday Jul 2018

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Bhopal Conference – Start of a New Era

The Elections

For conducting the elections, Com.Homi Daji, President, was elected as Presiding Officer and Com. J.Renganathan as Asst. Presiding Officer. Both sides nominated  their election agents also. The method of conduct of elections as proposed by the General  Secretary was accepted. It was not easy to conduct an election where about three thousand delegates are there  with a large number of candidates  including 13 office-bearers and 34 Federal Councillors from both sides. It was almost an impossible task to conduct the same in the limited time through secret ballot, which we insisted, since there can be a lot of manipulations otherwise. There was no computer or such arrangements; everything had to be typed and photostatted. It took many valuable hours. Two ballot papers were made  ready – one for office bearers and another for Federal Councillors. Federal Councillor is elected from each of the affiliated unions in NFTE on the basis of membership, who will participate in the Federal Council, which will elect the office bearers of the Federation, NFTE.

The Election Campaign

The time was effectively used by both sides for election campaign. Processions with banners and flags in the vast conference pandal, speeches, slogan raising, meeting individual delegates – all kinds of propaganda were effectively organised. Since we had planned earlier, it was easy for us to arrange the same.

While I, along with other leaders and delegates were doing the propaganda work, Com. Moni Bose was sitting inside the pandal with a few comrades discussing things. He called me and  secretly asked me whether we will win. I told him that there is every chance for us to win.  Then he told me that ‘in that case I will have to shift to New Delhi. You  must also come. It will be difficult to face them alone’. Without thinking for a moment, I told him that we are sure to win and that we can work together at Delhi. This put an end to his anxiety. There was no other way for me but to give the assurance, though I was not  sure of victory.

The method for election was that each Circle Secretary will be  the Election Officer for  that Circle. There will be agents from both the sides. The poling booth for circles were arranged in various parts of the pandal. There were only ten circle secretaries who were supporting us and the other 22 or so other circle Secretaries belonged to OPG side. So there was every chance for manipulation of votes, and that is what happened also. Despite protests from the agent of Com. Moni Bose group, many circle secretaries compelled their delegates to vote openly so that they will not vote to our candidates. There were also some circle secretaries, who meticulously conducted the polling. The situation of Bihar Circle was not only open voting, but the Circle Secretary, after giving the ballots to the delegates, read the name of the candidates of OPG group and asked them to tick that and after checking by himself  put in the ballot box. The result was that not a single vote for any candidate from Moni Bose Group was received in Bihar. The entire votes went to OPG side. Although all these manipulations were brought to the notice of the Presiding Officer,  he delayed visiting the polling booths. By the time he visited, polling was over and nothing could be done.  In such a situation, we were doubtful about the results of the election.

Results announced – Victory for Moni Bose panel

The counting started in the midnight and continued till morning. First, the counting was done for the election of office-bearers.  The Presiding Officer, The Assistant Presiding Officer and the two agents finalised the tedious job. It was a tense movement and complete silence when the  President rose to announce  the results. When he started announcing the results of circles, one after another, there was complete surprise and shock. For the President onward to all the office-bearers in the Moni Bose group, a large number of votes were being received from many circles. It was a neck to neck fight.

At this stage, there was an effort from the side of Com.O.P.Gupta, to compel the presiding Officer to stop the announcement  of  the results. But a well known trade union leader like Com. Homi Daji, could not agree to such a miscarriage of justice.

At last the total votes for each candidates were announced after adding the votes of all circles.  The following Office-bearers from Moni Bose group were declared elected:

V.A.N.Namboodiri ,(Kerala ) (President)  Smt. A.K.Saramma (Madras), Smt. Anima Banerjee (Calcutta), K.D.M.Tripathi (U.P)(Vice-Presidents), Moni Bose (W.Bengal) (General Secretary), M.N.Reddy (A.P.), S.R.Nayak (M.P) (Asst. General Secretaries), Begraj Kheri (UP) (Treasurer), P.S.Sangwan (Haryana)(Asst. Treasurer)

The following were four office-bearers elected from OPG group, but with very less margin:

N.T.Sajwani (M.P.), N.Y.Lokhande (Bombay) (Vice-Presidents), R.K.Kohli (Delhi), S.Jagannathan (T.Nadu) (Asst. General Secretaries).

The maximum vote was received by Smt. A.K.Saramma, Vice-President. She was a senior leader of the Madras Telephones. She got many votes from the North also confusing her name with ‘Sharma’. Further, there were only 4 candidates from OPG side to the posts of 5 Vice-Presidents.

O.P.Gupta, General Secretary of the union for long 37 years since formation of NFPTE and E.III Union in 1954, lost for the first time. In fact, there was not any  contest  in AICs, except once or twice, that too not on a panel basis. He was considered undefeatable. The delegates decided otherwise.

After conveying his Greetings and Best Wishes, the President left the place stating that he had some urgent meetings to attend. He entrusted Asst. Presiding Officer J.Renganathan and OPG nominee Y.L.Ramdas to count the votes for the election for the Federal Councillors. After congratulating and extending full co-operation to the newly elected office-bearers, O.P.Gupta also left the place stating that he has to reach Delhi urgently. Probably it was much embarrassment for him to meet the workers after his decisive defeat in the elections.

The counting  for the Federal Councillors were conducted next. It also took a long time. The following were elected: This included many from both sides, as it was felt at the time of nomination itself that circle secretaries of major circles need not be contested. Many names were in both the lists.

Comrades R.Gunasekhar, S.D.Borkar, R.L.Mondal, Gour Saha, Swadeshi Das, A.K.Bhattacharjee, Parithosh Bose, Sivdas Banerjee, J.Renganathan, P.Abhimanyu, P.V.Chandrasekharan, S.N.Sarma, P.Ramasamy, P.Asoka Babu, N.T.Sajwani, S.B.Srinivasan, R.S.Yadav, M.Madhusudana Rao, R.K.Thotre, M.P.Dalwadi, M.N.Khokhani, N.Chakravarti, S.Siddiqui, B.B.Rawat, S.G.Pawar, B.P.Sharma, L.N.Mishra, K.L.Sharma, D.V.Lavadia, M.B.Vichare, Triveni Rai, Sriram Swaran Kar, J.Sampath Rao and J.C.Pande.

The new office-bearers and Federal Councillors were greeted with slogans by the delegates. Many from the OPG group itself were happy that a change for the correct policy has come.

Thus a great change came in the leadership as well as the policy of the union. This was a historical victory for the progressive section in the union. The change was not only welcomed by the telecom workers, but many organisations of the central government employees unions as also P and T unions welcomed this change. This was treated as a victory for the correct policy over the revisionist line.

The newly elected office-bearers and Federal Councillors were given a grand welcome in the Bhopal Exchange premises. Coms. V.A.N.Namboodiri, President and Com. Moni Bose, General Secretary spoke and assured the workers that they will focus on the issues of the workers and will tread the correct line.

Thus ended the historical Bhopal Conference. (To be continued).

 

 

 

Remembering Capt. Lakshmi Saighal

23 Monday Jul 2018

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Today, 23rd July 2018, is the death anniversary of Comrade Captain Lakshmi Saighal, veteran freedom fighter and CPI(M) leader.

Lakshmi was born at Madras in 1914 as  the daughter of freedom fighter Ammukkutty Swaminathan and B.Swaminathan . After   passing MBBS  from the Madras University, along with medical practice she involved in the freedom movement. She went to Rangoon and joined the Indian National Army (INA) of Subhas Chandra Bose and was the captain of the Rani Jhansi Regiment which marched to India for fighting the British. She was captured and almost killed. She headed the medical treatment to the thousands who were wounded in the war.

After marriage with INA leader Prem Kumar Saighal, who was also in INA. Later she settled at Kanpur along with her daughter Com. Subhashini Ali, who is the Central Committee Member of the CPI(M) and also a former MP. She continued to serve the public in her clinic at Kanpur for decades till she fell sick a few weeks back.

Captain Lakshmi was a leader of the women’s movement and was a top leader of the CPI(M). She was the Presidential Candidate of the Left parties in 2002. She was awarded  Padma Vibhushan in 2008.

I had the chance to meet her and speak to her a few times when I went to her house at Kanpur and also at the Party Congresses/conferences. She used to talk to me  in Malayalam on those occasions which was very encouraging and inspiring to me.

She was an inspiration to thousands for her selfless service to the nation and the Left movement. Her life story is the history of a valiant freedom fighter and a social worker who till her death served the public in her clinic.

Red Salute to Com. Lakshmi Saighal!