The New Nation - Internet Edition

Comrade Siraj Sikder, President of Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party (PBSP) died in Police custody on January 4, 1975. Siraj Sikder believed in Marxism right from the time he was member of East Pakistan Students Union (Menon Group). But he differed with the party hierarchy of former EPSU over the partyline soon after independence and formed his own organisation, namely, Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party. As it was an underground organisation, people had little time to judge Siraj Sikder's sincerity and honesty. Though at one stage he appeared as a threat to the then ruling party, his end was sad. After his death, Sarbahara Party split into several groups and totally deviated from Marxism.

The story of JSD is almost similar. JSD created sensation all over the country within a very short period of its birth and jolted the then ruling party's foundation. The growing popularity of JSD frightened the then ruling party so much as that assassins killed about 10,000 young JSD workers to crush the left movement. But sadly the death embracers could not know that their own leaders would one day betray with their blood. During this backdrop, Colonel (retired) Taher, one of the central committee members of JSD formed Ganobahini. He, however, paid the price of his wrong politics in 1975. We do not know as yet whether it was independent of JSD or an affiliated wing.

An interesting matter is that the relations between JSD and PBSP were not at all good despite the fact that both the organisations vowed to establish Marxism in the country. However, none of Comrade Siraj Sikder and Colonel Taher knew before their death that Marxism as a doctrine would disappear one day from the world despite many merits in it.

After their departure, we hoped that the researchers would undertake the project of writing books on the rise and fall of PBSP and JSD and the tragic end of the lives of Comrade Siraj Sikder and Colonel Abu Taher. But unfortunately none came forward to paint a real picture in the interest of history of the political scenario of the period between 1972 and 1975..

Rozario

Pabna