Eastern Jatha has traversed through industrial and coal belt of West Bengal on the second day of its journey. It started from Durgapur on Saturday morning with a colourful procession. On the way, Jatha was received with warm, spontaneous greetings by hundreds of workers. In Andal, coal mine workers came onto the streets and raised slogans like ‘Workers Unity Zindabad”.
In Raniganj industrial area, workers came out of their factories and greeted the Jatha, many with CITU flags. Some of them interacted with leaders and reported how private contractors are deceiving them of minimum wages.
In Asansol, a huge public meeting was held in Rabindra Bhavan. Large sections of urban poor and middle classes attended this meeting. Prakash Karat, Biman Basu and Nirupam Sen addressed the meeting. Karat, in this meeting, particularly noted about the danger of communal forces and emphasized that while fighting for alternative policies, the fight against communal forces must be continued.
Jatha entered the district of Purulia through Neturia, crossing bridge over Damodar. Hundreds of people greeted the jatha with traditional music and dancing. In Raghunathpur, thousands of men and women marched with the Jatha with red flags, red caps and red shirts. A large section of them were tribals. The march went through the town creating a wave. In Raghunathpur, Joginder Sharma and Biman Basu addressed the public meeting.
