The occasion included a commemorative meeting at Jagjivan Nagar, cultural performances by students of a local dance academy and an Adivasi troupe, and the flagging off of a ‘Mazdoor Sangharsh Sandesh Yatra’ in the lead-up to the all-India strike on 9 July against privatisation and the four anti-worker labour codes.

The yatra, flagged off from the statue site, passed through Jagjivan Nagar, Saraidhela, Randhir Verma Chowk, and Purana Bazar before reaching the Labour Statue at Randhir Verma Square.

Speaking at the event, CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said, “Like Che, Comrade AK Roy's life history also tells us how the communist spirit is not limited by geographical borders or social and cultural boundaries.” He recalled that Comrade AK Roy came from a freedom-fighter family in Rajshahi (now in Bangladesh), studied in Kolkata, moved to Sindri as an engineer, and went on to become Dhanbad’s most beloved communist leader.

“More power to the inspiring legacy of Comrade AK Roy in today’s anti-fascist resistance and in the battle for the rights of the working class and the indigenous people of Jharkhand,” Dipankar Bhattacharya said.

Polit Bureau members Comrades Anand Mahato, Haldhar Mahato, and Vinod Singh, party MLAs Arup Chatterjee and Chandradev Mahato, farmer leader and former MLA Rajkumar Yadav, veteran JMM MLA Mathura Mahato, CPI(M) Jharkhand secretary Prakash Viplav, veteran communist GK Bakshi, and activist Rekha Mandal were among those who paid tribute.

Comrade AK Roy’s younger brother, noted scholar Tapas Roy, and his nephew Yashwant Roy also attended the commemorative events, travelling from Kolkata to participate.