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May 1-15, 2007
Important Seminar on the great Ghadar of 1857 held in Punjab

On April 13, 2007, the Desh Bhagat Yaadgaar Committee marked the foundation day of the Hindustani Ghadar Party in a memorable way in the Desh Bhagat Yaadgaar Memorial Center. On this day, an important Seminar was organized by the Committee on the significance of the Great Ghadar of 1857.

The function began with the hoisting of the flag of the Ghadar Party by Comrade Karnail Singh Philaur, a veteran freedom fighter and member of the CPI in the lawns of the center with hundreds of communists gathered and over 25 members of the Desh Bhagat Yaadgaar Committee on the stage.

In the address after the flag hoisting, the comrade pointed out that April 13 was a memorable occasion for more reasons than one. Not only were we celebrating the foundation day of the Ghadar Party, we are also marking the 150 th anniversary of the great ghadar, the revolt that shook British rule, after which the Ghadar Party was named. Today is also the anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, which inspired Bhagat Singh and so many other comrades to take up arms against British colonial rule. It is appropriate that today we are marking these events with a seminar on the significance of the 1857 Ghadar. With these remarks, the comrade welcomed all the participants to the massive auditorium of the Yaadgaar Hall.

Hundreds of communists and sympathizers participated with eager attention in the Seminar on the Great Ghadar. A Presidium consisting of Com Gandharva Sen, Com Satpal Dang, Harish Puri, Com Karnail Singh, Com Chain Singh Chain, Prof Jagmohan Singh presided over the Seminar and Comrade Gurmeet Singh conducted the proceedings.

Com Gandharva Sen inaugurated the Seminar. He pointed out that it was important to draw lessons from the Ghadar of 1857 to serve the cause of emancipation of workers and peasants today.

Dr Prem Singh, Ex Editor of Desh Sewak (Punjabi) presented the main paper on the 1857 Ghadar. In this paper, he defended the thesis that the 1857 Ghadar was a movement for national independence against colonial rule. Dr Prem Singh rejected the arguments of people like Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, EMS Namboodiripad and others on this score. Dr Prem Singh quoted from the contemporary writings of Karl Marx to confirm his views on the national historic significance of the Ghadar. Dr Prem Singh pointed out from the historical material that Punjabis and Sikhs had participated in the1857 Ghadar and laid down their lives just like people from other nationalities and religions. There were definite reasons why some of the maharajas had sided with the British in suppressing the 1857 uprising.

Comrade Prakash Rao, Spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India made an important intervention in the Seminar. He began his intervention pointing out that it is a matter that is historically settled that the revolution of 1857 failed. This was not the point of debate. The point of concern to communists and to the workers and peasants of India is why, 150 years after the 1857 Ghadar, Indian revolution continues to mark time, and India’s workers and peasants remain exploited and oppressed, deprived of political power.

Com Prakash Rao in his brief remarks pointed out that we are discussing the Ghadar of 1857 in the specific context of our times. The Indian bourgeoisie is pushing for globalization, liberalization, privatization, as the answer to India’s problems. There is a massive onslaught on the rights of our hardworking peasantry through SEZ, whereby the peasantry are being deprived of land. E chaupals and other methods have been introduced to ensure control over agricultural trade and marketing by the multinationals. Contract farming has been introduced in a big way. The mineral wealth of entire states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa are up for grabs by Indian and foreign multinationals. Indian and foreign multinationals are entering in retail trade threatening livelihood of millions of retailers. Indian youth and their labour are up for export in world labour market, in IT Sector. US imperialism, in its drive for global domination is establishing a strategic alliance with India, wherein it is looking at India’s youthful population as well as armed forces as cannon fodder to achieve its aims, the way the British colonialists used Indian soldiers in colonial times, during different wars.

The Ghadar of 1857 has great relevance today. Bahadur Shah Zafar declared that he had been put on the throne by the insurgent people, and that the people will decide what kind of state and political order they want. Neither the British colonialists agreed with this, nor do our present day rulers agree with this. The colonialists crushed the 1857 revolt with rivers of blood, and today, our present day rulers use parliamentary democracy as well state terrorism to keep the workers and peasants deprived of power.

Communists have the goal of establishing worker peasant rule, ending all exploitation and oppression. They see capitalism and the colonial legacy as the block and do everything to mobilize the Indian toilers and tillers around this goal. We look at 1857 and the events following and preceding and draw appropriate conclusions with this goal in mind.

Comrade Prakash pointed to capitalism and the political institutions of multi party representative democracy as some of the main elements of the colonial legacy which need to be repudiated. He pointed out that in terms of the institutions of rule that the colonialists established, we should see Private property in land, creation of capitalists and landlords in whose interest it was to preserve colonial rule, and later on imperialist plunder, the Macaulay education system, the judiciary and bureaucracy, the multi–party democracy as form of representative democracy and political parties that accept this and follow the rules of the game.

The biggest problem is the imposition of Eurocentric thinking on our intelligentsia and on the communist movement, the tendency to look at India’s past and present problems with Eurocentric outlook. Otherwise, how can communists defend multi party democracy or imperialist plunder or the state established to 1858 to legitimize the rule of plunder? Comrade Rao pointed out that what is pointedly ignored is that the institutions of rule that British established in India are what is keeping capitalism and present system in place and weighing down our workers and peasants. We Indians have to settle account with these institutions, with the theories behind these institutions, with our old conscience.

What kind of state needs to be established in India to ensure prosperity and protection to all, what kind of political process will ensure this, how will praja become raja in real sense and end the division between praja and raja? The unfinished task of Ghadar will be completed when capitalism and colonial legacy is overthrown, workers and peasants rule is established and people of India — workers, peasants, women and youth — decide the political system and economic orientation of India, Comrade Rao concluded.

Other important interventions were made by
Com. Chiranjeev Lal, in charge of the records section of the Ghadar Memorial Library, Hamir Singh, Journalist, Com Jagroop Singh, leader of CPI, Bhupinder Saqmbhar, Avtar Uppal, and Gian Singh Dosanj.

Harish Puri, Ex Head of Dept of Political Science, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar summed up the proceedings and interventions and together with Prof Jagmohan Singh, the nephew of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, made important critical contributions from the Presidium. Veteran leader of CPI Satpal made concluding remarks and Comrade Chain Singh Chain delivered the vote of thanks at the end of the Seminar.

 
 
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