पुण्यतिथि पर
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सुनील - राजनारायण के संघर्ष को सलाम
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होशंगाबाद जिले के आदिवासी अंचल मे आदिवासियों के हक और इज्ज़त के संघर्ष के प्रतीक हमारे जुझारू समाजवादी साथी राजनारायण और सुनील की असामयिक मौत से जनआंदोलन को अपूरणीय क्षति हुई है l साथी राजनारायण का निधन एक सड़क दुर्घटना मे 27 अप्रैल 1990 को हुआ था और साथी सुनील का निधन 20 अप्रैल 2014 को ब्रेन हैमरेज के कारण हुआ l 1987 मे एक आंदोलन मे गिरफ्तार कर जैल भेजे गए दोनों साथियो के साथ पुलिस ने अपराधी की तरह व्यवहार किया l उन्हे हथकड़ी लगाई गई l 
This is a historic picture of Sunil and Rajnarayan of the Kisan Adivasi Sangathan in Kesla in Hoshangabad district when they were arrested in 1987 for leading a rally of Adivasis protesting against the lack of teachers in primary schools in the Adivasi areas. This picture and others like it formed the basis of a petition in the Supreme Court on which the Court pronounced that undertrial prisoners could not be handcuffed and that is now the law of the land. its a fantastic picture in many other ways also. The late nineteen eighties was a time of great ferment in the then Madhya Pradesh which included the present Chhattisgarh also. There was the Bhopal Gas Andolan protesting against the Bhopal Gas Disaster of 1984, The Narmada Bachao Andolan, the unique movement for struggle and positive development of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, the land rights struggle of the Ekta Parishad, the forest rights struggle of the Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath and of course the struggles of the Kisan Adivasi Sangathan led by Sunil and Rajnarayan. Those were the days when we as young activists felt that we would be able to bring about a better world free from oppression and exploitation. So when this picture was shared by Gopal Rathi on his wall it wrenched my heart. Not only have both Sunil and Rajnarayan passed away dying untimely deaths but the dreams of a new socio-economic order that they dreamt along with all of us in the people's struggles in the 1980s have all more or less died or are moribund. Not so much because we did not try hard enough but more because the power of capitalism has increased substantially over the past three decades to crush all before it. Sunil is smiling in the photograph as if posing during a serenade despite actually being led to jail. Today when there is little to smile about one can take heart from this and carry on as best as one can to keep the candle burning.
(साथी राहुल बनर्जी Rahul Banerjee )
