New Delhi, Oct 14 CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby on Wednesday invoked party veteran Harkishan Singh Surjeet’s defiance of the British rule as a teenager to draw a parallel with the jailing of protesters who gathered at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to defend the right to protest.
In a post on X, the CPI(M) leader warned the BJP-led Centre that persecuting peaceful protesters did not end well for the British and it will be no different for those in power now.
“In 1932, on the first anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom, a 16-year-old boy hoisted the tricolour at Hoshiarpur District Court in Punjab. For this crime, he was shot and jailed by the British. That young boy went on to become the General Secretary of CPI(M). His name was Harkishan Singh Surjeet,” Baby said in his post.
The incident Baby recalled took place on March 23, 1932, the first anniversary of Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom. Surjeet, then 16, hoisted the tricolour at the Hoshiarpur district court after local Congress leaders called off their planned flag-hoisting programme amid British threats of firing. Historical accounts say Surjeet was arrested and sentenced to a year in a juvenile institution. When produced before a magistrate, he reportedly gave his name as “London Tod Singh”, meaning one who breaks London.
Baby said Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) members Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka are in jail for gathering peacefully at Jantar Mantar and hoisting the national flag.
Student and young protesters, along with Rajya Sabha MPs of the the CPI(M) A A Rahim and V Sivadasan, were also allegedly manhandled and detained by the Delhi Police while marching peacefully to the site, he said.
“Many students, including women, are yet to recover from the shocking assault and torture they have been subjected to over the past few days,” Baby said, adding that they are continuing to take to the streets to defend the right to vote and the right to protest.
“Persecuting peaceful protesters did not end well for the British. Modi and Amit Shah will be no different,” the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader said.
Das and Ranka were remanded in five days’ judicial custody on Wednesday in connection with their entry into the premises of Jantar Mantar, which the Union home ministry recently de-notified as a designated protest site. Their action came amid protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
The move has drawn criticism from opposition leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, who has said waving the tricolour at Jantar Mantar in a peaceful protest is not a crime.
(PTI News)
