Death anniversary of comrade Godavari Parulekar observed by thousands

@the_news_21

Talasari: Martyrs’ Day and the 25th death anniversary of the legendary leader of the CPI(M) and the Warli Adivasi Revolt, and the only woman President of the AIKS, Comrade Godavari Parulekar, was observed in a large meeting of over 3000 comrades organised by the CPI(M) and AIKS Thane-Palghar district committees at the Comrade Godavari Shamrao Parulekar Bhawan at Talasari in Palghar district.

The event also marked the culmination of the platinum jubilee year of the formation of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha in 1945 and of the Warli Adivasi Revolt from 1945 to 1947.

The first five martyrs of the Adivasi Revolt were gunned down by the police of the British regime at Talwada on October 10, 1945. There have been 61 Adivasi martyrs of the Red Flag in this district, killed by subsequent Congress and BJP regimes.

Com Godavari has cremated at Talasari 25 years ago on October 10, 1996, in the presence of thousands of people. This day is observed every year in the district through various programmes.

This meeting denounced the inhuman and brutal killing of four farmers and a journalist at Lakhimpur Kheri by BJP goons led by the Union Minister of Home Ajay Mishra and his son Ashish. It resolved to make the protest Maharashtra Bandh on October 11, and the SKM calls from October 12 onwards a great success.

The meeting also decided to prepare for the coming gram panchayat elections in the district, to make the area and tehsil Party conferences a success, and to give a boost to the membership drives of all the mass fronts.

The second edition of the Marathi translation of the rare and historic book ‘Revolt of the Warlis’, written by Com Shamrao Parulekar and first published 75 years ago in 1947, was released in this meeting and sold widely.

In a similar programme last year, six other books were released. They included the Marathi edition of Archana Prasad’s book that had earlier been published by LeftWord Books and AIKS in English, titled ‘Red Flag of the Warlis: History of an Ongoing Struggle’, translated by Maya Pandit and Uday Narkar; ‘Brief Review of the History of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha’ by Godavari Parulekar, which was first published in 1986; a book on the Warli Adivasi Revolt by veteran AIKS leader Krishna Khopkar; a book on the historic Liberation Struggle of Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portuguese colonial rule in 1954 by the CPI(M) and AIKS, and other struggles of the 1950s, by veteran AIKS leader LB Dhangar who had himself participated in them; a biography of Shamrao and Godavari Parulekar by Dr Ashok Dhawale; and a booklet on How to Build a Strong AIKS Organisation, by S Ramachandran Pillai.

These seven books were variously published by Janashakti Prakashan, CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee, and the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha.

A stall of the above books, as well as Godavari Parulekar’s famous book ‘Adivasis Revolt’ and other progressive books, as well as current issues of the ‘Jeewanmarg’ weekly, was set up by AIDWA activists. This stall sold literature worth as much as Rs 21,195 that day!

The programme began with the flag-hoisting by 93-year old veteran leader LB Dhangar, and floral tributes to 61 martyrs of the district by another veteran leader, 83-year old Lahanu Kom, ex-MP and ex-MLA.

The meeting was chaired by CPI(M) state secretariat member and AIKS state vice president Barkya Mangat, and it was addressed by CPI(M) central committee member and AIKS president Dr Ashok Dhawale, CPI(M) state secretariat member and AIKS state president Kisan Gujar, CPI(M) state committee member and CITU state secretary Vinod Nikole, MLA, and by Party veterans LB Dhangar, Lahanu Kom and Hemlata Kom.

Com Akshay Dawanekar, who last week won the Zilla Parishad by-election from Talasari tehsil on a CPI(M) ticket, was felicitated.

This function concluded with revolutionary slogans and with hope and inspiration for the future.