remembering martyrs BLAZING STARS remembering martyrs 1 blazing stars Blazing Stars Remembering Martyrs First Published 2008 September by K.K. Ragesh on behalf of SFI Publications 11, Windsor Place New Delhi - 110 001 India Tele: +91-1123384719 www.sficec.org [email protected] Cover : [email protected] Printed at Progressive Printers A 21 Jhilmil Industrial Area Grand Trunk Road Shahdara Delhi 110 095 India © SFI Publications 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retreival system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Price Rs.50/- 2 remembering martyrs PREFACE he Central Executive Committee of the Students' Federation of In Tdia (SFI) humbly presents this book on our beloved leaders who built the edifice on which we are sitting today. But for their sacrifices SFI would not have emerged as the champion of the student masses across the country and in turn become the biggest student organisation. This book on Martyrs is a small effort and not comprehensive. The list of the martyrs is still more exhaustive, their character stronger than that we have presented here. The complete list can be presented only when a serious research or study of the history of SFI is undertaken. This is a modest attempt in that direction. We apologise for all the omissions and the mistakes if any in the list though they are not at all intentional. Our martyrs represent the very best in human character. They showed us how to live life. All of our martyrs are just like us, our classmates, our batch mates, our school mates-our comrades-in-arms. They too had their dreams just like us. They wanted to be good in studies, they were; they wanted to be good in sports, they were; and they too wanted to live their life. They couldn't. The simple reason, they did not want injustice to go unquestioned and unchallenged. They could not tolerate the poor go hungry they questioned; they could not tolerate division of people in the name of religion, caste and region, they questioned; they could not tolerate girls being teased they questioned; they could not tolerate anyone losing their life in front of their eyes they went in defence. 3 blazing stars The 'powers that be' wanted to answer these questions by silencing their voices. They warned them, threatened them, abused them, tortured them but failed to stop their march. So they murdered them, brutally, gorily and inhumanly. But they rose again-in the form of you, me and all of us-the forty three lakh and more members of SFI. Our martyrs are epitomes of unselfishness. They did not seek any special favours for themselves or for their families. Many of them knew that they were courting danger. They did it for seeing a smile on our faces. They did not think about themselves when they were losing their breath, living those last moments. They looked at us asking us to carry the flag that is falling from their hands. They smiled at us encouraging us not to lose hope in the fight. They trusted us to carry out their unfulfilled tasks. Remember they too are just like us with no supernatural gifts. Their only gifts were their determination, steely resolve, unflinching love towards humanity and hatred towards injustice. Let us once again remember them, respect them, love them but not forget to carry on the struggle. 4 remembering martyrs FOREWORD he people of our country have recently observed the 100th birth Tanniversary of Bhagat Singh, anniversary of his 75th martyrdom day, anniversary of 150 years of 1857 Revolt and also the 100 years of Khudiram Bose's martyrdom. Of course there are many more significant historical events that were observed by the people. But the reason why the above three are mentioned is: one among them is the first large scale uprising against the British colonialism in our country and the remaining two signify the best of our youth. For the SFI, these observations mean the proper understanding of this rich and glorious history. An understanding of the questions that this history has posed and how the student movement has answered these. History is a teacher. Understanding these lessons and on this basis answering the new challenges that contemporary events are posing, forms an important aspect of our observations. Though we date the formation of the organised student movement from 1936, the participation of the students in the mainstream of the national movement has been there since much earlier. The last decades of the 19th century saw many student groups being formed. The Swadeshi movement in the first decade of this century against the partition of Bengal saw the students coming out on to the streets in large numbers. Students who were disillusioned with the Congress policies and its work were actively involved in groups like Anushilan and Yugantar (the members of these groups are wrongly called 'terrorists' the appropriate word would be revolutionaries). Subsequently in the 5 blazing stars twenties, the students responded magnificently to Gandhiji's call of non-cooperation and boycotted schools and colleges to join the mainstream of the national movement. Later in the 30's too the students participated in a big way in the civil Disobedience movements. 1930's was period when the youth and students were disillusioned with the failure of two rounds of the Civil Disobedience Movement. They were frustrated with the compromising attitude of the Congress leadership and were looking for alternatives in order to achieve independence. This was also the period of the growth of socialist ideas. The 1917 revolution had a profound impact and many leaders of the national movement were publicly talking of socialism, like Nehru, Subash Bose etc. This was also the period of Bhagat Singh's heroic actions, his open advocacy of socialism and advancing the slogan of 'Inquilab Zindabad'. This was also the period of the Meerut Conspiracy case. The ideas of Bolshevism and communism penetrated the student community and defence committees in aid of those charged with conspiracy were established in many colleges all over the country. This disillusionment and frustration on the one hand and this radicalization on the other, and the search for an alternative brought about a situation where all those who were fired by the desire to get rid of the British from the country came together to form the AISF on August 12, 1936. These developments themselves posed a question before the organized student movement. What is its objective? Is it merely to organize the students in the struggle for independence or is it also to organize them for a radical restructuring of the society after independence, where education and employment is available for all? Right from its very inception, the organised student movement had resolved that the question being posed as 'independence is socialism' is wrong and misleading. And the issue is also not a choice between the two. The struggle for independence formed the immediate and inspiring objective, while the struggle for a radical social transformation would also be the long term objective of the student movement. In answer to the question of 'independence Vs socialism', the organised student movement spelt out the objective as 'independence and socialism'. Answering these questions and combating those who betrayed this understanding and disrupted the unity of the pre-independence student movement, the organised student movement forged ahead. However, 6 remembering martyrs contemporary developments in the 1950s posed another question. While the student movement should work for a radical transformation of the society, how is it going to be achieved? Is such a transformation possible by aligning with the ruling classes of post independent India who are mouthing socialism or is it possible only by uniting the people in opposition to the policies of the ruling classes? The leadership of the AISF had argued that the student movement should associate with the ruling classes and their party in the effort to achieve social transformation, while on the other hand many felt that the policies of the ruling classes are betraying the hopes and aspirations of the student community which played a glorious role in the independence struggle. In the later half of 1970 student leaders from various states assembled together at Calcutta and decided to form a new student organisation which is committed to bring together the students of our country and lead them on issues such as radical educational reforms, employment, safe guarding and expansion of democratic rights and give the students' movement of our country a new and correct direction. The need for such an organisation arose at that time because it was necessary to make a decisive break with those who advocated that only in collaboration with those in power can the students improve their lot. They were in fact seriously misleading the students at a time when education was becoming the privilege of a few rather than the right of all and when there was an overall crisis in the economy which had its impact on the students as well. The task of that time was to organise the students for a democratic education policy and lead them in the struggle for mass education; to organise the students in opposition to the policies of the government which resulted in this situation and lead them for a better future. The history of the subsequent period vindicated this understanding. The decision taken at Calcutta was formalized and the SFI was formed through its first Conference on 30th December at Trivandrum.