People's
Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) No. 02
January 10, 2003
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of
India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 02 January 10, 2003 |
TRIPURA
Janasiksha
Day
Observed
All
Over
State
THE
Janasiksha
(People’s
Education)
Movement
Day
was
observed
with
due
solemnity
all
over
Tripura
on
December
27.
The
day
underscored
the
urgency
of
uprooting
illiteracy
and
also
of
breaking
the
fangs
of
the
heinous
alliance
between
the
Congress
and
INPT.
For,
it
was
observed
that
the
alliance
runs
counter
to
all
the
noble
values
for
which
this
historic
movement
of
Tripura
has
stood
since
1945.
It
was
on
December
27,
1945
that
a
number
of
tribal
youth,
including
the
legendary
communist
leader
late
Comrade
Dasaratha
Deb,
launched
the
Janasiksha
Movement
in
the
state.
Their
aim
was
to
eliminate
illiteracy,
ignorance
and
social
evils
from
the
life
of
the
deprived
and
downtrodden
tribals
with
a
view
to
liberating
them
from
the
fetters
of
feudalism
and
the
concomitant
poverty
and
injustice.
Started
towards
the
end
of
the
princely
rule
in
Tripura,
this
very
Janasiksha
Movement
gave
birth
to
the
Ganamukti
(people’s
liberation)
movement
two
and
a
half
years
later.
This
was
what
sowed
the
seeds
of
the
next
three
decades
long
communist-led
movement
all
over
the
state
to
break
free
from
the
oppressive
anti-poor
and
pro-rich
Congress
regime
in
the
state
and
at
the
centre.
It
goes
to
the
credit
of
the
Janasiksha
Movement
that
it
set
up
about
450
schools
in
remote
inaccessible
areas
of
Tripura,
on
the
basis
of
voluntary
labour.
These
schools
were
later
either
taken
over
or
aided
by
the
state
government
and
were
the
precursor
of
the
huge
strides
the
four
Left
Front
governments
of
Tripura
took
in
the
realm
of
education
since
1978.
The
Janasiksha
Movement
and
the
Ganamukti
Parishad’s
movement
stressed
on
ethnic
harmony
that
has
been
the
life-blood
of
the
Left
movement
for
peace,
progress
and
prosperity
in
this
mixed-population
state
over
the
last
five
decades.
As
part
of
the
statewide
observance
of
Janasiksha
Movement
Day,
a
seminar
was
organised
at
Rabindra
Shatabarshiki
Bhavan
in
Agartala.
Those
who
attended
the
seminar
included
the
CPI(M)
Polit
Bureau
member
and
chief
minister
Manik
Sarkar,
the
party’s
Central
Committee
member
and
state
secretary
Baidyanath
Majumder,
and
Ganamukti
Parishad
leader
and
CPI(M)
state
secretariat
member
Niranjan
Debbarma.
In
his
address
as
the
chief
speaker,
Manik
Sarkar
detailed
how
the
fourth
Left
Front
government
has
carried
forward
the
Janasiksha
Movement’s
slogan
of
modernising
education,
with
special
thrust
on
technology,
to
keep
pace
with
the
need
of
the
hour.
It
is
this
government
that
introduced
the
E-auditing
course
in
Tripura
University,
for
the
first
time
in
India.
Lashing
out
at
the
Congress
for
sowing
the
seeds
of
ethnic
discord
in
Tripura
as
way
back
as
in
the
fifties,
he
said
the
same
party
has
allied
with
the
INPT
that
is
the
political
mask
of
outlawed
NLFT
extremists.
Its
aim
is
to
loot
the
public
exchequer
by
usurping
power
with
the
help
of
the
guns
of
those
very
foreign-funded
extremists
who
have
been
stalling
the
spread
of
education
and
development
in
Tripura
and
endangering
the
territorial
integrity
of
the
country.
Only
by
erecting
a
barricade
against
such
a
heinous
alliance
can
the
people
pay
the
most
befitting
tribute
to
the
protagonists
of
that
historic
Janasiksha
Movement
and
carry
forward
their
values
and
ideas
in
the
21st
century,
Sarkar
maintained.
In
his
address,
Baidyanath
Majumder
pointed
out
what
tremendous
obstacles
were
put
in
the
way
of
the
four
Left
Front
governments’
pro-people
programmes.
Giving
specific
instances,
he
said
anti-nationals
have
killed
as
many
as
1650
leaders
and
activists
of
the
Left
Front
since
1978;
and
these
include
about
600
tribals.
(INN)
