The Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee has dedicated the 28th Ghadari Mela to the memory of the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, which took place on 13th April 1919. We publish below the message of Comrade Lal Singh, General Secretary of CGPI, on this occasion.
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On behalf of the CC of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, I would like to congratulate the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Committee for dedicating this year’s Ghadari Mela to the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The patriots who gathered at Jallianwala Bagh on Baisakhi day a hundred years ago were protesting against the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act (known as the Rowlatt Act). The Rowlatt Act allowed for arrests without warrants, indefinite detention without trial, and numerous other powers to stamp out political opposition of any kind. The British colonialists had passed this law to prevent the people of India from taking up the path of revolution blazed by the Hindustan Ghadar Party. They organized the cold-blooded massacre of over a thousand men, women and children to send a stern message to our people that they would not hesitate to unleash the utmost brutality to prevent the Indian people from hoisting the flag of liberation from colonial yoke.
A century has passed after this monstrous crime against our people and against humanity. White man’s exploitative and oppressive rule ended 72 years ago, only to be replaced by the rule of an equally exploitative and oppressive Indian bourgeoisie headed by the biggest capitalist monopolies. The workers and peasants who create the wealth of our society through their labour lead a life of extreme insecurity. On the other hand, the Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and other big capitalists have used their control over the state to enrich themselves enormously by intensifying the exploitation of workers, robbing the peasants, and plundering our natural resources.
Just like the colonial state, the Indian state defends the interests of the Indian and foreign exploiters and oppressors. People are attacked for their political and religious beliefs. The entire arsenal through which the colonialists ruled over our people has been further developed and perfected. This includes a “rule of law” that deprives people of their rights, use of the army and police to crush dissent, persecution of people on the basis of religion, region and caste and periodic organizing of communal bloodbaths. The system of multi-party representative democracy and periodic elections serves the ruling class to legitimize its rule over the people and to resolve the contradictions within its own ranks.
In pursuit of its imperialist aims, the ruling bourgeoisie is intensifying the attacks on workers and peasants, militarizing, carrying out vicious jingoistic propaganda against Pakistan and brazenly targeting people of the Muslim faith. It is systematically wrecking the unity and solidarity of our people. It is strengthening a military strategic alliance with the US to advance its aims. The course it is pursuing is extremely dangerous for our people.
The situation demands that all communists unite single-mindedly around the aim of replacing the rule of the bourgeoisie with the rule of workers and peasants. We must establish a new political power which will guarantee the human, democratic and national rights of all, which will ensure that people are the decision-makers and which will guarantee prosperity and security for all. Let all communists, all those concerned about the fate and future of our people, pour their energies to carry out the Navnirman of India!
Lal Singh, General Secretary
Communist Ghadar Party of India