SFI Observes Martyrs’ Day in West Bengal, Remembers Rohith Vemula, Sudipto Gupta, and Anis Khan
Radhika Vemula at Martyrs' Day in Kolkata.
Kolkata: Students’ Federation of India’s (SFI) West Bengal unit on Saturday observed Martyrs’ Day in Kolkata, while remembering Rohith Vemula, Sudipto Gupta and Anis Khan. Vemula’s mother Radhika Vemula and Anis Khan’s brother Sabir Khan were also present for the event at Shramik Bhawan in Kolkata – which saw participation of students in large numbers.
It can be recalled that on April 2, 2013, student leader Sudipto Gupta died in police custody. The day is observed as ‘Martyrs’ Day’ by Left students’ organisations – demanding punishment for the culprits.
This year, the name of Anis Khan was added to the martyrs being remembered. Khan, a former student leader of the Aliah University was allegedly thrown off the rooftop of his house by four men wearing a police uniform earlier this year.
Sabir Khan, Anis’s brother, said at the programme that his family is determined to get justice in the case. “They are trying to show us carrots to make us drop the case. But we will keep fighting till the end. We won’t let them down who are with us, fighting for justice.”
Rohith’s mother Radhika Vemula, spoke about the BJP-led governments, the RSS doctrine and their anti-dalit policies. “They shower hatred on the poor but meritorious students of the country. In west Bengal, too, the same thing is happening. My child was martyred in a fight for justice – just like Gupta and Khan. The BJP-RSS combine is still trying to divide people on the basis of caste and religion. However, currently, in all parts of the country, people are rising against this,” she said, appealing to the students to join protests and movements in large numbers.
Speaking at the event, noted lawyer and MP Bikashranjan Bhattacharya said that the working class is now taking the lead in the country through strikes against the anti-people regime i.e. the Modi government.
The event was originally scheduled to be held in the Calcutta University institute, but had to be moved to Shramik Bhawan in Kolkata, as at the last moment, the state government withdrew the permission to organise the programme at the venue.
In this context, SFI state Secretary Srijan Bhattacharya said that the TMC government is now in perennial fear of the movements being launched by the SFI and other students’ organisations in the state.
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