Call to raise voice of protest in memory of martyred playwright Safdar
The street play 'Holla Bol' was going on. The call for a united resistance was becoming louder. In the midst of that street play created in solidarity with the strike. A sharp attack was launched in Jhandapur, Ghaziabad. Progressive protest communist playwright Safdar Hashmi was left bleeding in an attack by Congress-backed miscreants. Safdar could not be saved even though he was taken to the hospital. Safdar Hashmi became a martyr. His protest and resistance drama style lives on.
The attack took place on January 1. CPI(M) remembered Safdar Hashmi on Thursday. In his remembrance on social media, it was said that Safdar Hashmi's body was mutilated in the violence. But his voice was not silenced. Jananatya Manch also held a program in Jhandapur on this day. The ruling class repeatedly wants to break the unity of the exploited. Today, division is going on in the name of religion. The Prime Minister of the country is instigating this division. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself incited against China. He made the differences in the appearance of the people of the North-East an object of hatred. Today, Tripura student Angel Chakma was murdered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand. That today the majority of the media is in the hands of corporates. Safdar used to present alternative views to the working class masses in alternative presentations. We have to speak about our struggle, about the unity of hard work.
Ghaziabad's Jhandapur. On January 1, 1989, the street play 'Holla Bol' was being performed. The artists of the Jananatya Mancha were performing. The theater group founded by Safdar. Just before that, in 1988, there was a historic seven-day strike. This play was written in support of that. About 1.3 million workers from Delhi, Ghaziabad, and Faridabad participated in that strike.
On the day of the incident, a drama was going on in support of labor leader Ramanand Jha. Jha was contesting the Ghaziabad Municipal Council elections. That's when the horrific attack took place in Jhandapur. There was a reckless attack with sticks and rods. Safdar Hashmi and his co-stars were seriously injured. Less than forty-eight hours after Safdar's death, the Jananatya Mancha returned to Jhandapur with a play. It was performed at the same venue under the leadership of Malayashree Hashmi.
The political landscape has changed. Radical, fanatic, fundamentalist, communal forces are stirring up frenzied crowds across the country. Somewhere people are being killed openly, shouting 'Bangladeshi', somewhere 'Chinese', somewhere 'Muslim'. And the 100-day work law was repealed, and the labor code was introduced. The signs of new fascism were clear. At that time, remembering Safdar, the CPI(M) called for strengthening the voice of protest and resistance. Jananatya Manch announced that 'Filistin Ke Liye' was performed in Jhandapur. The performance features accounts of horrific evictions, destruction, and struggles in the form of Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "Mere Dil Mere Musafir" and another poem by Palestinian poet Tawfiq Zia.
@freemang2001gmail-com
Pankaj Dhar Choudhury
Pankaj Dhar Choudhury, B.A Hons. in English, M.A in English, B.ED.
He passed Madhyamik from his native village Kumar Gram Duar of Alipurduar district. He got B.A Hons. in English from Alipurduar College. He completed M.A in English from North Bengal University, Siliguri. He completed B.ED from Maldah Govt. Teachers" Training College. He has been a social media activist since 2006.
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