To mark the centenary of the formation of the Indian Communist Party (ICP) as an émigré unit in Tashkent by the Second World Congress of the Communist Third International in 1920, the CPI(M) will kick-start its year-long celebration at the Netaji Indoor Stadium here from Thursday.
The Congress has not been invited for the programme.
Surjya Kanta Mishra, Sitaram Yechury, Biman Bose, Mohammed Salim and Chaman Lal will be the key speakers. Mr. Mishra said an array of programmes have been lined up over the next one year.
The event will take place in Kolkata’s Netaji Indoor Stadium which was earlier denied to the CPI(M).
“We need to ensure that the speakers or the listeners do not feel uneasy [because of presence of Congress]. We follow a strand of politics that tries to safeguard the interest of the workers and the peasants. While we agree with [M K] Gandhi, we have differences as well…when we meet to talk about our realizations and experiences over the last 100 years, we may not necessarily need to comment on others in front of them,” said Surjya Kanta Mishra, the chief secretary of the CPI-M in Bengal. Both parties— the CPI(M) and the Congress — however have now agreed to work together against the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party once the festival season is over.
Mr. Mishra, Sitaram Yechury, Biman Bose, Md. Salim and Professor Chaman Lal will be the key speakers on Thursday. Prof. Lal will discuss the incident of Jallianwalla Bagh in 1919 and its political aftermath.
