Howrah News Service - Latest news and headlines on Howrah,West Bengal and World: Lest we forget... Lest we forget... ================================================================================ SPECIALCORRESPONDENT on 19 February, 2008 12:48:00 KOLKATA, Feb. 18: Krishna Roy, a 17-year-old CPI-M cadre, died in a bomb throwing incident on College Street on 14 March, 1969. On the following day, a mourners’ rally was taken out and Krishna was cremated at Nimtola. A condolence meeting was held at College Square within a week. It was presided over by the then president of Bengal Provisional Students’ Federation (BPSF) and now the chairman of Left Front Mr Biman Bose. Party stalwarts including Harekrishna Konar, Somnath Lahiri, Krishnapada Ghosh and Renu Chakraborty spoke at the meeting. All the speakers had assured to help Krishna's next of kin. But nothing was done. But then, Krishna was one of 1,400 party workers who were killed between 1966 and 1978. On 29 May, 1971 five party workers were murdered in Jadavpur. Sipra Saha, a young comrade of Beliaghata was murdered and Asima Podder was molested. Following the incident Mr Jyoti Basu had gone to Beliaghata and assured action would be taken against those involved in the crime. But nothing was done and the police officers were rewarded and one of them retired as an assistant commissioner of police in the Left Front rule. A book entitled Sottorer Apanjan containing a list of those killed by police or political rivals will be released by the chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tomorrow. Written by Mr Sukanta Ghosh, an active party worker of early 1970s who presently stays in the United States, the book contains a list of the killed by year. The forward has been written by the former chief minister Mr Jyoti Basu. Mr Basu has congratulated the writer for his initiative and paid tribute to martyrs. But he is silent on the question of what steps the party has taken to rehabilitate the families of those who breathed their last for the party or what action the state government has taken to punish errant police officers. The book has been published at a time when in two successive party letters (partyr chiti) published last year, leaders have asked their comrades to take initiative to teach the party's history to young comrades. But gone are those days of struggle, poverty, and uncertainty. 30 years of rule has brought stability, power and money and the young party leaders are either ministers or hold important positions in the party hierarchy. Party leaders have hardly any time to hold classes to teach youngsters party ideology. Between 1966 and 1978 the party had built many martyrs’ column but over the past three decades when sophisticated party offices had been set up in the city and districts no effort has been made to paint or reconstruct the martyrs’ columns as most of them need repair and renovation. The author has taken enormous pains to talk to some of the relatives of those who had been killed or those who are still living. Many comrades had been killed in Narkeldanga- Beleghata areas in east Kolkata and Regent Park, Jadavpur, Bansdroni, and Behala in southern fringes.