InquilabRally
The Red Wave Rises
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The streets were lined with festoons and several hundred thousand people with red flags and banners from—Assam to Ajmer, Bhojpur to Gujarat, Uttrakhand to Tamil Nadu—marched towards the Rally ground in an unceasing wave to reassert that Bhagat Singh's dreams were not wasted, the blood of the ordinary people battling the British imperialists before and after 1857 not washed away by parasitic rulers of the country and that the vision of the call for the final break from slavery given at Naxalbari wouldguide the struggle ahead.
The rally ground a splendid expanse of red – a tribute to those who have stained the flag with the colour of their blood against every act of oppression – determined to uphold the flag that was being betrayed by the CPM goons in Singur and Nandigram with their ghastly crimes against the poor and marginalised; the betrayers pretending to be the bearers of the red flag while acting as mercenaries of the big capital.
On one corner was the stage adorned like the rest of the rally grounds with banners and festoons. The cultural convergence of resistance that began on 21 March culminated at the Rally Ground around 12.30 in the afternoon with a salute to the martyrs and Politburo member, Ram Naresh Ram welcoming the vast expanse of people from across the country who had arrived bearing immense difficulties to participate in the Rally to express their dissent to the ruling class' betrayal and assert the rights of the poor and the marginalised of the country. A pledge to reaffirm the anti-imperialist and revolutionary legacy of past struggles in the movements of the present and the future was read by Central Committee members Ramji Rai and Srilata Swaminathan (see cover for the text of the Pledge).
Several speakers addressed the rally. Central Committee member Meena Tiwari observed about the nature of women's struggles in the neo-liberal times and the inspiration for resistance in the historical struggles where the mass of women participated. AIALA President and Central Committee member Rameshwar Prasad said that the brunt of the current crisis was being borne by the agrarian poor and pointed out how NREGA had become a platform for launching massive struggles in the rural areas as contradictions between what the government claimed and what the government did came to the forefront.
Akhilendra Singh, Politburo member and State Secretary of Uttar Pradesh noted the renewed aggression of the communal forces during UPA government's rule. He pointed out that contrary to Rahul Gandhi's claims that during Nehru-Gandhi rule communalism had been held in check, the events in Babri Masjid was evidence of their covert participation
in the communalisation of the social fabric – the installation of the statue inside the Masjid took place during Nehru's rule while the locks of the Masjid were opened during Rajiv Gandhi's regime. Further, Manmohan Singh himself does not belong to the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty – can this fact explain away the communal acts condones by Congress today? 
The guests attending the rally addressed the enormous surge of people. Bhagat Singh's nephew Jagmohan said that the revolutionary task of Bhagat Singh was for the radical forces to fulfil and that the CPI(ML) must safeguard the red banner of Bhagat Singh in its own hands, given the exposure of the official Left. S. P Shukla, former bureaucrat and Convenor of People's Campaign against WTO said that the SEZ Act was the most dangerous weapon of the WTO, and that Left must unequivocally declare ‘Scrap SEZs' and not merely talk of ‘modification' in the Act.
Uday Bhatt, leader of the Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) said that CPI (M)'s betrayal of the left movement was shameful and declared that true communists must stand alongside struggling people and uphold the rights of the people. Tarsem Jodha, CPI-ML leader, earlier an MLA of CPI-M from Punjab , Bahadur Oraon, CPI-ML leader and earlier an MLA of JMM from Jharkhand, Ruldu Singh, leader of the Punjab Kisan Union also addressed the Rally.
Bant Singh from Mansa, Ashish Maiti from Nandigram (an activist of CPI who recently joined the CPI-ML), and a woman activist from Singur were felicitated for their spirited resistance.