People's Democracy

Memory Of A Martyr

Sudhanva Deshpande

AS MOHAMMAD Yusuf Tarigami, MLA and state secretary of the CPI (M) in Jammu and Kashmir, arrived at Jhandapur village in Sahibabad on the outskirts of Delhi on January 1, 2003, he was asked by a newspaper reporter: ‘How long will you people keep remembering Safdar Hashmi? Is your Party ever going to think ahead?’ Tarigami is doubtless used to dealing with far brasher and ruder reporters, so he kept his calm. When his turn came, he answered the reporter in full public view, in front of the thousands who had gathered to listen to him.

We are proud of Safdar and his martyrdom, Tarigami said. And why not? Safdar was an outstanding artist, a brilliant young intellectual, who chose to harness his art and his intellect to the cause of the struggles of the working class. A lot of people are creative and brilliant. But Safdar was more. He was a communist, a fighter. That set him apart from countless other artists and intellectuals. And when the time came, he did not vacillate in the face of adversity, he did not shy away from the ultimate sacrifice: that of laying down his life in the service of the cause of the working class.

Safdar is a hero for the working class of Sahibabad, Tarigami said. But his heroic martyrdom has cast its inspirational shadow far beyond the borders of this little township. Tarigami gave examples of martyrs from his native land, Kashmir. He spoke of a young comrade who was killed by terrorists during the recent election campaign. When terrorists asked him to come to the mosque the following day to repent being a communist, the young man said, my spirit (ruh) is communist. I cannot live if I betray my spirit. For this show of impudence, the young man was shot dead. When Tarigami went there the following day to take part in the comrade’s funeral which was attended by thousands, the martyr’s wife came up to him, held his hand, and asked him not to lose heart. In another instance, when terrorists came threatening, a man denied that his son was with the communists. The son, however, a mere boy of 12 or 13, came forward to say that his father was lying, that he was indeed with the communists, and that he had no fear of those with guns and bullets. Thus, the boy chose to court martyrdom, rather than live a lie.

There are many other such instances, Tarigami said, in Kashmir today. The spirit of Safdar did not die with him, but lives on in the hearts of countless others who are fighting for a just and equitable world.

And it is this notion, of a just and equitable world, that the champions of Hindutva are against. Tarigami said, I come from a part of the country that is in the news daily. Kashmir is known today for violence and killings. But few outside Kashmir realise that the region, for all its natural splendour, is extremely poor. The vast majority of Kashmiris live in abject poverty, bordering on destitution. The BJP claims that Kashmir is close to its heart. But the party has nothing to offer to the ordinary Kashmiri, whose main problems are poverty and unemployment.

This is typical of those who champion the Hindu Rashtra, Tarigami said. They have absolutely nothing to offer the poor and the downtrodden. Therefore, the Hindu Rashtra, if and when it does come about, will do more harm than good to the ordinary Hindu, not to mention the religious minorities. India is not the name of only some majestic mountains, or of flowing rivers, or the great plains. India is the name of millions of its inhabitants, the vast majority of whom are peace-loving, and want to earn their livelihood with basic human dignity. Hindutva and the Hindu Rashtra have nothing to offer to these many millions. Tarigami expressed confidence that the unity of the working masses will defeat the nefarious designs of the anti-national forces who are today ruling the country.

Tarigami was speaking at the public rally that is part of the joint programme hosted by Jana Natya Manch and CITU every year to remember Safdar Hashmi. The programme is held at Jhandapur village in Sahibabad, at the exact spot where Safdar was killed by goons belonging to the Congress (I) on January 1, 1989. Along with Safdar, a worker Ram Bahadur was also shot dead that day.

The other speakers in the public meeting included P M S Grewal, secretary of the Delhi state committee of the CPI (M), Mohan Lal, president of CITU Delhi, and Surajbhan Bharadwaj, secretary of CITU Delhi.

Delhi and its surrounding areas had witnessed heavy rains on December 31. But on January 1, as every year, children had started thronging the venue from early morning. As the day went on, workers and their families came in large numbers to take part in the programme.

The programme began with a revolutionary song in memory of the martyr. This was followed by a street play by The Players, the dramatic society of Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, entitled Main Sachcha Deshbhakt Nahin, on jingoistic nationalism that feeds on the fear and hatred of those across one’s borders. The next presentation was by Jana Natya Manch, Yeh Dil Mange More, Guruji. In this hilariously scathing attack on the Hindutva brigade, Guru Golgangol is out on a yatra to refashion India, along with his two disciples, Buddhibali and Baahubali. Interspersed in this narrative are three poems on the recent pogrom in Gujarat, by Vimal Kumar, Manglesh Dabral and Vishnu Nagar. The reality of the carnage is also brought home by the use of images of the violence, mounted on placards.

After these two street plays, the public meeting commenced, attended by a large number of workers. The meeting was followed by two more street plays, again by the same two groups. The Players presented Khade Hain Lathi Taane, on the cultural policing of the Hindutva brigade, and their efforts to straightjacket all thought. The play was funny and serious in equal measure, and the way it moved from seemingly innocuous situations to grave dangers posed by the moral and cultural police was remarkable. In one particularly striking scene, for instance, all the actors move around in the acting area wearing white kurtas. One actor bumps against another, and a mild altercation ensues. This altercation turns to the subject of the clothes worn by the ‘offending’ actor. The other actor says: ‘I don’t like your black kurta.’ When the first actor protests and says his kurta is not black but white, one by one all the other actors gang up against him to say that his kurta is not white, but black. When the actor says, ‘All right, if my kurta is black, then all of you are also wearing black kurtas’, the others advance towards him threateningly, asking him how dare he call their kurtas black. The actor protests and says that he knows that their kurtas are white, but . . . And his sentence is cut by the other actors who refuse to hear any ifs and buts. Thus the actor is coerced into agreeing to a total and blatant falsehood: that he is wearing a black kurta.

This scene may appear simplistic and puerile in the description offered here. But while one watches it, the young actors, with their superb acting and marvelous sense of timing, are able to make the scene totally convincing, and of course it is on a moment’s reflection that the spectator realises that what appears illogical and senseless is actually happening around us all the time: the Hindutva brigade is forever trying to coerce us into accepting brazen falsehoods as the truth.

The last play of the evening was Ek Mazdoor ki Swabhavik Maut. This play is the latest from Janam, and has been performed in a number of places in and around Delhi in the past month and a half. The play talks about the working and living conditions of workers in Delhi. Done as a farce, the play takes us through the life of one worker, who is grievously injured in the factory, and is subsequently thrown out of work by the young, US-trained son of the owner of the factory. As the worker walks back home, he is first knocked over by a couple of motorcycle riding rich kids who then shoot him dead for having had the temerity to walk on a footpath when they, the rich, have no space on the road to drive. In the court case that ensues, the lawyer defending the rich ultimately proves to the judge that the worker who was killed actually did not exist legally. How can someone who did not exist be murdered? The judge, naturally, accepts this argument.

Besides organising the Jhandapur programme in association with CITU, Jana Natya Manch also holds two other meetings to remember Safdar. One is an intimate meeting where Janam members and some invited friends gather and recall Safdar, the man, the friend, the comrade. The other is a poetry reading session, where Janam members read poems on a particular theme. These meetings normally take place on January 2 (the day Safdar actually died in hospital) and January 3. This year, however, Janam is participating in the Asia Social Forum, and therefore these meetings will be held later.