CITU All India Conference Begins in Kannur

Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Charmian of Reception committee hoists the red flag in C Kannan Nagar(Municipal Stadium and the venue of public meeting) on the eve of 14th All India Conference of CITU. CITU president A K Padmanabhan, general secretary Tapan Sen are also see

All India conference of India’s most powerful trade union, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, is set to begin at Kannur tomorrow. CITU president A K Padmanabhan will hoist the red flag in morning at Com. M K Pandhe Nagar(Police Maidana) in Kannur town and his presidential address in Dipankar Mukherjee Nagar, will be followed to mark the commencement of the conference. General Secretary Tapan Sen will present the report before the 2000 delegates. The conference will culminate on 8^th April with a massive rally of workers in Kannur district. Delegates from all states have reached in Kannur by Wednesday evening.

 The flag march led by CITU state president Anathalavattam Anandan, the torch relay led by K M Sudhakaran, and flag pole march led by M M Lawrence have converged in AKG square and three jathas jointly moved to Com. C Kannan Nagar (Municipal stadium),  the venue of public meeting. The flag march was started from Valiya Chudukad, in Alappuzha, where the martyrs of Punnapra-Vayalar were cremated. The flag pole march started from Kayyur, in Kasargode district and the torch relay started from Thillankeri in Kannur district. In C Kannan Nagar, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Chairman of reception Committee hoisted the red flag.
 CITU which gathered a massive impetus through the February 20, 21 All India strike will focus on the strengthening of Trade Union unity in the run up for widening struggles to coerce the central government to revoke the anti-people neo liberal policies. While elaborating the structure of the conference, General Secretary Tapan Sen said that the immediate responsibility of CITU is to spread the message of All India strike among the workers and people.
 Ten crores people including workers, farmers, and agricultural workers took part in the All India strike called by India working class movement. It can be analyzed that the working class movement has reached into new phase of growth. Disregarding the political affiliations other central trade unions like INTUC, and BMS also actively took part in the strike. The warnings of working class were disregarded by the Prime Minister who keeps on pouring concessions to the corporate houses. Finance Minister P Chidambaram too avoided the suggestions of working class while presenting budget.  Trade union leaders will meet in Delhi on May 3^rd to plan the future course of action.

 While presenting the outline of the deliberations to be taken place, Tapan Sen said that our thrust will be on democratic functioning of organization, how to tackle the social issues like divisive and communal agenda, changing scenario in the labor force and how to fight the policies of the central government. On April 7^th delegates will discuss commission papers based on this four pronged agenda.

  Contract labor issue will also be discussed. Permanent jobs are decreasing in India as the strength of temporary workers in the total work force reaches 70-80 percent.

 While replying a query on sustainability of Trade Union unity, Sen said that the unity is not formed recently and for the last four years all TU’s are jointly organize the struggles. This achievement was come true with the hard work of two decades. The unity is not only shown in the national leadership level but among the factory level. Ordinary workers also want to be united, he said.

 A K Padmanabhan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Reception Committee General Convenor K P Sahadevan, CITU state General Secretary Elamaram Kareem were also present in the press conference.

Thousands Join in Funeral Rally of SFI Leader in Kolkata

 

Thousands of protestors joined in the funeral rally of Comrade Sudipta Gupta, SFI leader who was killed on Tuesday in police brutality. SFI leader’s body was taken to his home and his former college in Netaji Nagar in south Kolkata after post mortem. Then the body was taken to SFI state office in A. J. C. Bose Road where hundreds of students, youth and people from all walks of life were waiting for hours. Left leaders including Biman Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Surjya Kanta Mishra, Ashoke Ghosh paid their tributes to the departed young comrades. Amidst slogans, student activists vowed to continue their fight against the authoritarian State Government. A huge rally then marched towards the crematorium.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had gone to the SSKM Hospital on Wednesday where Gupta succumbed to his injuries but instead of criticizing the police action, she said that it was an accident and that many supporters of her own party were also killed while travelling on train roof. She instantly faced protest from the SFI supporters after making the statement and the latter alleged that the CM guarded the police department and there was little chance that the guilty would be punished.
The family of the slain student leader refused to accept help from the chief minister. "We are not beggars," said Gupta's emotional father.
West Bengal witnessed another gruesome attack on democratic rights which cost this young life. SFI leader Sudipta Gupta was killed in a brutal police attack on SFI activists in Kolkata on 2nd April. A member of SFI West Bengal state committee, Sudipta was brutally beaten after arrest and died on his way to jail in police custody. He was 23, just completed his MA in Political Science from Rabindra Bharati University. Sudipta was a frontline organizer, a member of Kolkata district secretariat of SFI, popular among students and friends, with a skilled voice of singing.
Four Left students’ organizations called for a law breaking programme to protest the draconian decision of the State Government banning all students’ union elections in the state. Thousands of students marched from College Street and assembled in Rani Rasmoni Road in Kolkata and expressed their anger against the Government action. They moved forward defying police lathicharge. Hundreads were arrested and taken into private buses under police custody. They were taken to Alipore Jail. On the way to jail, police started to beat the arrested SFI activists in a bus. Some of the SFI activists fell from the bus, Sudipta being one of them. He was grievously injured bur was not spared by police. According to eye witnesses, Sudipta was beaten even after he fell down from the bus. Sudipta suffered a serious head injury. In fact he was so roughly beaten that his head and face were fractured severely. SFI activists rescued him and police put the injured SFI leader in a police jeep. The jeep brought him to SSKM hospital but after delaying for about 15minutes. He was admitted in the hospital but expired after few hours.
Many other SFI activists suffered injuries. The right hand of Sheikh Jogesh Hossain of Murshidabad was badly injured and he has undergone an emergency operation in Kolkata medical College Hospital.
Kolkata police, in a surprise action, called a press conference even before Sudipta’s death and offered the theory of ‘accident’. According to them Sudipta hit a lamppost while in bus. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee legitimized this police version even after SFI registered a formal complaint against the police.
This brutal attack caused an outrage throughout the state. SFI and other left students organizations hold demonstration and processions throughout the state. Thousands participated in the funeral rally of the departed comrade. A statewide students strike was observed on 4th April. Teachers’ organizations condemned the killing.
Meanwhile, Left Front demanded a judicial enquiry of the incident. Left Front called a strike in southern parts of Kolkata, where Sudipta lived on 4th April.
Sudipta Gupta is 93rd martyr of the left movement in West Bengal after TMC Government came into power.

CPIM condems Killing of Student Leader in West Bengal

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the killing of a student leader, Sudipta Gupta, under police custody, in Kolkata. Along with a large number of students, Sudipta, a leader of the Students Federation of India, was protesting demanding holding of college union elections in the state, which the Trinamul Congress state government has been thwarting. The protest action took place with prior police permission. When the students were arrested and were under police custody, Sudipta was killed.