The West Champaran District Committee of the CPI(ML) Liberation organised a Shaheed Mela on September 14 to mark the 29th martyrdom anniversary of Comrade Safayat Ansari, who was killed 29 years ago by the feudal-criminal nexus of Champaran. The event paid tribute to Comrade Safayat and other martyrs of the people’s struggles in the district.

Comrade Safayat Ansari had been targeted by feudal forces who sought to crush the assertion of the landless poor and small peasants through violence. But their designs failed, as the revolutionary communist movement has continued to grow in Champaran. Since his martyrdom, the CPI(ML) has organised the Shaheed Mela every year in his memory and in honour of all martyrs of people’s struggles.

In the 2020 Assembly elections, while the NDA captured all seats in West Champaran, Sikta constituency elected CPI(ML)’s Comrade Virendra Gupta, keeping alive the legacy of Safayat Ansari’s struggle.

Speaking at the anniversary meeting, CPI(ML) leaders asserted that the legacy of Champaran’s martyrs remains a guiding light for today’s struggles. Paying homage, the General Secretary of CPI(ML) underlined: “We must all unite against the new attempts by communal-feudal fascist forces to disenfranchise and suppress Dalits and marginalised communities. The fighting people of Bihar will resist and defeat these forces.”

The spirited gathering concluded with renewed resolve to carry forward the struggle for justice and to free Bihar from the anti-people misrule of Modi and Nitish.