South & West Jatha Merge in Bhopal

The Southern Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha which began its journey on February 24 from Kanyakumari and traversed through Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra reached Bhopal on Tuesday evening. Simultaneously, the Western Sangharsh Sandesh Jatha that began its journey from Mumbai on March 08 reached Bhopal after covering Maharashtra. Both these jathas merged at a public meeting organised by the CPI(M) Madhya Pradesh state committee at Neelam Park in Bhopal. Now, one jatha will continue its journey to Delhi from tomorrow. 

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and leader of Southern jatha S Ramachandran Pillai, addressing the gathering said there is no magic or mantra to achieve the most important and genuine demands of the people placed in this jatha programme. The only option is to conduct militant struggles and for this the people must unite overcoming all attempts to divide them on religious, regional and caste lines. He said these struggles must be waged in a consistent and continuous manner to achieve the demands relating to food, housing, wages, social justice etc. 

CPI(M) central secretariat member and Western jatha member Nilotpal Basu in his speech lambasted the UPA-II government for favouring corporates and neglecting the genuine demands of the common people. He explained the purpose of jatha programme and called upon people to join in large numbers the March 19 rally in Delhi. 

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M A Baby, CPI(M) central secretariat member V Sreenivasa Rao, both members of Southern Jatha and CPI(M) central committee member Md Salim and CPI(M) Maharashtra state secretariat member Mariam Dhawale, both members of Western Jatha were also present. CPI(M) Madhya Pradesh unit state secretary Badal Saroj spoke in the meeting.

Earlier, the Western Jatha had an impressive meeting in Sihor town, around 40 km away from Bhopal. More than 80 per cent of participants were women, mostly agricultural workers and various scheme workers. They connected to the speeches made by jatha leaders. 

In the morning at a 'Meet the Press' held at Indore Press Club, Nilotpal Basu and Md Salim highlighted the danger of communal forces to the nation. Indore, which has been a hotbed for Hindu fundamentalist forces with most of the conspirators of Hindutva terror group coming from here, the CPI(M) leaders pointed out that internal security can be ensured when all citizens are made to live in harmony and security. Just buying up arms would not help, said Salim in reply to a question. And those who talk a lot about internal security, it is in their areas only where people are made to feel more insecure due to divisive policies.