I was fortunate enough to stand on the sidelines of the mammoth rally that the CPI(M) organised in solidarity with the people of Kerala when EMS arrived in Calcutta, a day after he demitted office. Namboodiripad government was dismissed in July 1969.

In Kerala, the government was able to give relief to workers in the coir and beedi industries and to agricultural workers, and begin implementation of radical land and educational reforms, laying the foundation for the ‘Kerala model of development’ in the teeth of bitter opposition from vested interests. and, as a result, in hundreds of small and large industries, workers could increase their wages which were pitiful. In West Bengal, the police were not allowed to intervene during a wave of strikes, gheraos (a word that came into existence at this time) and agitations. The CPI(M) was trying to implement its line of using state governments as ‘instruments of struggle’. It was a heady time of intense discussion and debate. Soon after my return, I visited Calcutta. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders, arrested soon after the party was founded in 1964, had been released before the l967 elections, after which the party was able to lead coalition governments in Kerala and West Bengal. In July ’69, I returned to Kanpur from college in the US, determined to joined one of three communist parties. In a series of articles, leading writers recall and analyse key events and processes that left their mark on a young, struggling but hopeful nation.ġ969, ‘70, ‘71: the three years flow seamlessly into each other. The national mood was buoyant, even if the country continued to struggle with endemic problems.įifty years later, we look back at those times and evoke some of that mood. The year 1971 was marked with several ‘big victories’ – in politics, cricket and in war – all of which had long term implications for India.

Victoria 2 communist flags