People's Democracy(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Vol.
XXVII No. 06 February 09, 2003 |
MUMBAI
witnessed
a
militant
morcha
and
demonstration
on
January
27,
organised
to
express
solidarity
with
the
people
of
Iraq
who
are
threatened
by
the
United
States
and
its
supporting
nations
with
an
imminent
war.
Those
who
came
to
take
part
in
the
morcha,
that
was
scheduled
to
proceed
to
the
American
Consulate
in
South
West
Mumbai,
first
assembled
at
August
Kranti
Maidan
near
Grant
Road
railway
station
in
Central
Mumbai.
The
programme
was
organised
under
the
banner
of
Platform
Against
War
And
Terrorism.
The
platform
comprises
political
parties
like
the
CPI(M),
CPI,
Janata
Dal(S),
Samajwadi
Party,
CPI(ML-Red
Flag),
Lal
Nishan
Party
and
Kamgar
Aghadi,
as
well
as
trade
union
organisations
like
the
CITU,
AITUC,
Sarvashramik
Sangh,
Kamgar
Aghadi’s
trade
union
wing,
IFTU,
TUCI
and
Trade
Union
Solidarity
Committee,
etc.
The
choice
of
the
famous
Agusut
Kranti
Maidan
for
the
people
to
first
assemble
here
and
then
to
start
in
an
anti-war
anti-imperialist
morcha,
was
a
conscious
decision.
For,
it
was
from
this
maidan
in
the
year
1942
that
the
historic
call
for
the
Quit
India
movement
went
out,
and
the
British
rulers
had
to
quit
the
nation
in
1947.
By
4
in
the
evening,
more
than
500
people
had
assembled
in
the
August
Kranti
Maidan,
ready
to
march
in
a
procession
to
the
American
Consulate
in
South
West
Mumbai.
They
carried
anti-American
placards
and
banners
and
started
in
a
procession,
shouting
anti-imperialist
and
anti-American
slogans
like
“George
Bush,
Hands
Off
Iraq!”
Among
them
were
women,
students,
youth,
teachers,
professors,
artists,
writers,
journalists,
lawyers,
doctors,
political
functionaries
and
trade
union
activists,
representing
a
cross-section
of
the
Mumbai
citizenry.
However,
as
if
something
terrible
was
going
to
happen,
a
large
number
of
the
police
force
had
taken
positions
at
all
the
entry
and
exit
points
of
the
maidan.
The
steel
helmeted
police
accompanied
the
procession
from
left,
right,
front
and
behind.
Then
a
few
kilometres
away,
at
Kemps
Corner,
additional
convoys
of
police
joined
the
police
force
accompanying
the
procession
and
stopped
the
latter
from
going
ahead.
The
police
then
began
to
arrest
the
demonstrators
and
throw
them
into
police
vehicles
in
order
to
take
them
to
the
nearby
Gamdevi
police
station.
Those
arrested
were
subsequently
released.
Those
who
led
the
morcha
and
courted
arrest
included
leaders
and
activists
of
the
parties
and
organisations
which
constitute
the
Platform
Against
War
And
Terrorism.
The
CPI(M)
and
CITU
plated
a
prominent
role
in
organising
this
anti-war
programme.