28 May: Comrade Sivaram Memorial Day!
It was on 28 May 2021 that Comrade Sivaram, one among the young Polit Bureau members of CPI ( ML) Red Star departed us being infected by COVID. In continuation of his involvement in the ‘Save the Chilika Lake Movement’, eversince his joining the Party in early 1990s and as it’s State Secretary, it was under the leadership Comrade Sivaram that CPI(ML) Red Star began functioning in Odisha. By shifting the centre of his political activity from Berhampur to Bhubaneswar and in the process extending Party to other districts such as Bhadrakh, Com Sivaram played a leading role in many people’s movements and struggles against the massive displacement and environmental disaster arising from projects initiated by Korean company POSCO, London-based Vedanta and Tata’s Kalinga Nagar project, etc. in different parts of Odisha.
Of course, the lasting contribution of Comrade Sivaram has been the building up of the Basti Suraksha Manch (Slum Protection Movement) now being developed as one of the biggest slum movements in India now under the political leadership of Odisha State Committee of CPI (ML) Red Star whose Secretary is Comrade Pramila, Sivaram’s life-partner. Holding of the 9th Congress of CPI (ML) Red Star in 2011 in Bhubaneswar itself was a testimony to the rapid growth of the Party under the leadership of Comrade Sivaram, who being elected as the youngest Politi Bureau member then continued so till his demise in 2021.
However, during the COVID Pandemic that ravaged the entire world for almost two years, CPI (ML) Red Star had to face a heavy blow by losing Comrade Comrade Sivaram along with Comrade Sharmistha, another Polit Bureau member who also succumbed to COVID on 13 June 2021. Being a committed revolutionary communist, who dedicated his entire life for the cause of revolution, Sivaram’s departure at a young age has been an irreparable loss to CPI (ML) Red Star and the revolutionary movement as a whole, especially at this critical juncture when all the democratic-progressive forces in India are engaged in an all-out offensive to defeat the BJP regime whose reins are with RSS, world’s biggest fascist organisation.
On this day of commemoration of Comrade Sivaram, along with our heartfelt grief, let us pay most respectful tribute to our beloved comrade whose lasting memory will continue to inspire the working class and all oppressed together with all revolutionaries !
P J James
General Secretary
CPI (ML) Red Star
New Delhi
23.05.2024
