Bengal: DYFI, SFI Hold ‘Mega Insaf Rally’; Pledge to Fight for Peace and Justice

Kolkata: CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim on Tuesday asserted that his party is "emerging out of a shell" after a decade, and waging a battle to restore peace and justice in West Bengal.

Addressing a rally of CPI(M)'s youth and student wings, Salim sought to give a war cry with an eye on 2023 panchayat elections in the state.

"Enough of being in a shell for 10-11 years, the new generation is waking up and wants to break free from it," he said.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front had lost the Bengal Assembly elections in 2011 to Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress after governing the state for a record 34 years.

The CPI(M) Politburo member said that the party is fighting in an organised manner and within the parameters of law.

Processions were taken out by members of the DYFI and SFI, raising slogans "justice for (student leader) Anis Khan", and demanding jobs and proper education, from Sealdah and Howrah stations and Park Street – all of which converged at Esplanade, where the mega rally was held.

Salim claimed that a helpline opened by the CPI(M) for people to express their grievances about irregularities in their panchayat areas has received huge response.

"We are having to buy more computers and engage additional volunteers for complaint registration," he said.

Salim urged the participants of Tuesday's ‘Insaaf (justice) rally’ to spread the message about the helpline number far and wide when they go back to their localities.

He said that the party's battle is for peace against violence, for justice, for employment and to save the education system, which has been "smeared by corruption charges" in the recruitment process.

"Bengal is not a place for touts, looters or communal forces, it is the land for battle against injustice," Salim maintained.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was selling off assets -- from airports to post offices.

"It is not for this that he was made the prime minister, nor was Mamata Banerjee made the chief minister of Bengal for what she is doing," Salim said.

Alleging that Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, is aligned with the RSS, Salim said that it is the ruling party in Bengal that has given the organisation a footing in the state.

"The TMC is nothing but a spring board of a swimming pool from which RSS will dive into the state," he said.

Criticising TMC all India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for his remark that had he been there when a police vehicle was torched during BJP's march on September 13, "he would have shot" the perpetrators, Salim said, "It is easier said than done."

Drawing parallels with police action during public protests in Sri Lanka, he said that any such act would invite huge repercussions as had happened in the island nation.

DYFI secretary Minakshi Mukherjee, during the rally, permission for which, she, said, “was not granted”, further claimed that people are not getting necessary services in government offices.

Contending that the fight to get justice can be a extended one, Mukherjee said that Leftists are ready to continue the battle for as long as it is required.

She sought to know why the police had visited the home of student leader Anis Khan, whose death in February had sparked widespread protests.

Khan’s father has alleged that his son was assaulted and pushed off the third floor of their home in Amta area of Howrah district on February 19 by persons dressed in police and civic volunteer uniforms.

The police have denied the allegation, claiming that he fell off the building accidentally, leading to his demise.

The Left parties have held several agitations since seeking justice for Anis Khan.