Socialist leader, parliamentarian and ideologue Madhu Limaye's 95th birth anniversary was aptly observed in New Delhi on May 1 through a public meeting attended by leaders of three streams of the Opposition—Socialist, Communist and Congress—with the resolve to forge unity of the progressive forces, so essential at the present juncture when the Hindutvavadis are seeking to subvert the Constitution and turn the country into a Hindu Rashtra.
While Congress leader Digvijay Singh urged the Opposition activists not to fall into the BJP/RSS leadership's trap of concentrating on individuals and instead focus on the need for a concerted ideological battle against the Hindutva forces representing majoritarian communalism, CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury highlighted the fact that unity of secular, democratic and progressive forces was the need of the hour to defend and protect the ideology Communists and Marxists espouse.
According to JD(U) stalwart Sharad Yadav, “We all must unite, otherwise the country will perish.”
The tone of the meeting was set by eminent historian Prof Irfan Habib who, in his keynote address, explained the imperative task of defeating the machinations of the Hindu Right-wing fascists.
Justice Rajindar Sachar, an avowed socialist, too underlined the threat emanating from the communa-lists who had usurped power at the Centre.
Other speakers included socialists in different political parties and formations like Raghu Thakur and Sudhindra Bhadoria. Amarjeet Kaur and Atul Kumar Anjan of the CPI exposed the communal danger posed by those currently in power while Hannan Mollah of the CPI-M spoke of the attacks mounted by the ruling party on the common people and the peasantry and agricultural workers in particular resulting in the rising rate of farmers' suicides.
Presiding over the meeting Prof Rajkumar Jain, a protege of Madhu Limaye, stressed on the call of the departed socialist patriot for close coordination with the Congress at every crucial juncture in the post-Emergency period.