15th August, 2013
New Delhi, India
Dear comrades and friends,
It gives me immense joy to convey this message on behalf of all the members of Communist Ghadar Party to this important seminar in London, which is part of the worldwide centenary celebrations of the founding of Hindustan Ghadar Party.
15th August, 2013
New Delhi, India
Dear comrades and friends,
It gives me immense joy to convey this message on behalf of all the members of Communist Ghadar Party to this important seminar in London, which is part of the worldwide centenary celebrations of the founding of Hindustan Ghadar Party.
In our estimation, you comrades and friends of the Ghadar International, and all the organizations of Indian patriots and revolutionaries in Britain, Canada, US and other countries, are engaged in an extremely important work. You are popularizing amongst the present generations of South Asians abroad the glorious thoughts and deeds of the Ghadaris, who were inspired by the vision of a modern civilised Hindustan and organized themselves in a revolutionary party to overthrow the hated colonial rule. Their wisdom and farsightedness, their death defying courage and sacrifices for the cause of Indian liberation will remain a shining example, a source of inspiration and guidance for the present and future generations of our people.
Those who dared to form Hindustan Ghadar Party were inspired by the vision of an independent and prosperous India whose riches would benefit her people and not be plundered or exploited by imperialists. It was the vision of an India free from the imperialist chain, which would be a factor for peace worldwide, and a bulwark of support for the revolutionary and liberation struggles of all the peoples. It was the vision of a society in which people would not be discriminated against on the basis of religion, race, caste, language, nationality or class. It was the vision of a Hindustan where the people would be sovereign and masters of their own fate, free from foreign dictate.
Hindustan Ghadar Party upheld, defended and further developed the theory and program of Indian liberation that emerged from the Great Ghadar of 1857, as expressed in the slogan,“Hum hain iske Maalik, Hindostan Hamara!”
Comrades and friends,
You are holding this important meeting just two days after the Indian Independence Day. Colonial rule came to an end in August 1947 but our people are still not free from exploitation, oppression and grinding poverty. Indians abroad are not free from discrimination, racial profiling and even physical attacks. The vision that inspired the Ghadaris 100 years ago is yet to be realized.
At the end of the Second World War, the fascists had been defeated by the combined might of the anti-fascist forces of the world, led by the socialist Soviet Union. British imperialism had been greatly weakened and the anti-colonial struggle of our people was mounting. In such conditions, the colonialists worked overtime to preserve the capitalist-imperialist system of plunder of our country.
They worked in collaboration with Congress Party and Muslim League, parties which they had groomed in order to prevent revolution and keep India chained to the imperialist system. They organized one of the worst communal holocausts in the history of humankind, partitioned Hindostan into the present day India and Pakistan, and handed over the sovereign power over these two states to the Congress and the Muslim League respectively.
India was “granted” freedom by an Act of the British Parliament, on the basis of full acceptance of the colonial theories and institutions, which were designed to suppress our people and plunder our land and labour. The communally organised armed forces, the same police and criminal procedure code, the civil services and judiciary were all preserved intact. The aspirations of our revolutionaries, of our workers and peasants who had shed torrents of blood for freedom, were trampled in the mud. A political process was put into place, modeled after the British system of parliamentary democracy, in which rival parties would compete with one another to fool the toiling people while doing the bidding of the capitalist class. A constitution was promulgated in 1950, which legitimized the preservation of the colonial legacy and deprived the people of sovereignty.
State terrorism, including state organized communal massacres and the organizing of terrorist massacres are part of the preferred arsenal of the ruling class of our country today, just as they are of the ruling classes of Britain, US and other capitalist states. Just like the British colonialists, the ruling class of our country denies that our country is made up of numerous nations, nationalities and peoples. All those who assert their national rights are deemed to be “anti national” and posing a threat to “national unity and territorial integrity” of India. This propaganda is used to justify the use of force to crush such movements. This has been the tragic history of our people since 1947 — whether one looks at the case of the Kashmiris or the Punjabis, the Nagas, Manipuris, Assamese or others.
Comrades and friends,
The aspirations of the Ghadaris were not fulfilled either in 1947 or since then. The fulfillment of those aspirations is the biggest challenge before all revolutionary and patriotic Indians, whether they live and work in India or abroad. Communist Ghadar Party is committed to the fulfillment of the aims for which our revolutionary martyrs laid down their lives.
In today’s conditions, to be a true Ghadari means to work single mindedly to make a clean break with the colonial legacy, which includes capitalism and the remnants of feudalism, the imperialist domination and plunder, the state institutions and political process which have been modeled after the oppressive colonial state. It means to establish a new state on new foundations, with a new constitution that guarantees the human, democratic, and national rights of all the peoples of India.
Comrades and friends,
The contribution of Indians abroad to this unfinished struggle for national and social liberation can never be underestimated. Just like in the past, when the anti-colonial struggle received immense boost from the work of Hindustan Ghadar Party, the present-day struggle to empower the workers, peasants, women and youth of our country is getting immense strength from your work.
In conclusion, on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, I wish all of you and your families a very long, happy, and healthy life, in the great cause of the liberation of the peoples of India, Britain, and all of humanity.
With revolutionary greetings,
Lal Singh,
General Secretary, Communist Ghadar Party of India