On the 25th Memorial Day of Comrade Vinod Mishra, the rank and file of CPI(ML) Liberation organized ‘Sankalp Sabha’ [Pledge Meeting] across the country to salute the revolutionary mission of our great martyrs and departed leaders, and resolved to carry forward Comrade VM's revolutionary legacy in today's challenging situation.

In Patna, thousands gathered at Miller School Ground and took a pledge to fight hard and save democracy in the country from the clutches of fascist forces. Twenty-five years ago, thousands of people had thronged the same ground to pay their last respects to their beloved leader and comrade VM. Patna’s ‘Sankalp Sabha’ brought together generations of comrades working on diverse fronts across Bihar, including Comrade Swadesh Bhattacharya, who was part of the three-member Central Committee (along with Comrades Subrata Dutt (Jauhar) and Vinod Mishra formed on July 28th, 1974 to re-organise the party) and hundreds of other comrades who had fought alongside Comrade VM between the 1970s and 1990s, to thousands of activists who have joined since his departure.

Addressing the rally, CPI(ML) General Secretary Com. Dipankar said that the Naxalbari was independent India largest people’s movement – of workers and agricultural labourers and of Dalit and Adivasi – which spread across the country with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. After the Naxalbari, a young VM, who was studying engineering in Durgapur, decided that that he doesn’t want to be an engineer to produce for capitalist class. He resolved that his journey would be to engineer a new society free from exploitation and injustice. At the height of state repression against CPI(ML), Comrades VM, Jauhar, Swadesh Bhattacharya and all other leaders not only fought against the tide to ensure the survival of the party, but also led the CPI(ML) towards a revolutionary path, forging close ties with the masses and upholding their interests as the supreme duty of the party. “Today, wherever there are struggles of the oppressed – of Dalits, Adivasis, workers, farmers, Minorities, women, etc., CPI(ML) is present there,” he said. 

“CPI(ML) is the party of the oppressed and those who were outcaste from society and politics. When their party, CPI(ML) decided to contest elections, the people, who were once denied their right to vote and had their votes captured by feudal forces, risked their lives to cast vote to change the political landscape of Bihar by sending their representative to the Parliament,” added Com. Dipankar. 

Com. Dipankar said that today when the Parliamentary democracy in India is facing a serious fascist offensive with a growing clamor for a new Constitution, or at any rate, for a complete subversion of the existing Constitution and the institutional architecture of Parliamentary democracy, the ideas and contributions of Comrade VM remain an inspiring guide in India's battle to defeat fascism and secure a robust democratic future.

Noted writer and campaigner for social equality and secular democracy, Kanwal Bharti also addressed the meeting as a guest speaker and said that the BJP and RSS are employing ‘divide and rule’ policy, which was once used by the British colonialists to create anti-Muslim hatred in the society and to divert people’s attention from burning issues like poverty and illiteracy in the country.

During the Sankalp Sabha, a short biography of Comrade VM was released. The Sankalp Sabha adopted the following resolutions: (1) to strengthen the fight against BJP-RSS communal fascism and defeat the fascist BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections; (2) demanding immediate end to Israel’s Genocidal War in Gaza, and call for establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state with 1967 borders.

Across the country, pledge of December 18 was read in all units of the party with the emphasis on ensuring a vibrant and dynamic organisational structure on the ground and to energise the entire organisation as a firmly united and battle-ready fighting force.