Rajiv Bhatia
Zirakpur, March 18
He is not happy with the response to the articles he sells here but his passion for communist ideology drives him to serve the party at Joyti Basu Nagar in Zirakpur.
A Basha (67) of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, has set up a stall to sell key chains, posters, badges carrying pictures of communist leaders besides other things.
The 13th All-India Conference of India Trade Unions (CITU) started on March 17 and is scheduled to go on till March 21.
Besides him, vendors from Kerala, Delhi and various towns of Punjab have set up stalls to sell articles promoting the communist ideology.
They are offering handmade accessories like T-shirt, photos, caps, key chains, badges, emblems, stickers, posters carrying their photographs of communist veterans like Harkishan Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu.
Besides handmade accessories, book stalls selling translated versions of books written by Lenin and Marx at reasonable prices are a big draw at the conference.
Their aim is to highlight the activities of communist leaders like Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, Che Guevara.
Basha, who has been serving the party in his unique way since early 1960s, said: “I am not doing this business to earn money. My passion for the party has always prompted me to set up a stall in the conference held anywhere in the country.”
He said his family members also helped him in the business. It is his second to visit to Punjab but has not been rejoiced by the response here.
“In Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, these accessories are in great demand and youngsters prefer photos of Guevara and Lenin on accessories”, he added.
Another vendor said before selling the accessories to customers, they explained them the history behind the communist struggle.
Pritam Singh (59) who had come from Barnala said: “I started a book shop, ‘Lenin Kitab Ghar’, at Barnala when I was younger. I have more than 500 different books on Lenin and Marx in Punjabi and they are gradually becoming famous among the local youth.”
Left Word Books from Delhi and Punjab Book Store from Chandigarh are also showcasing books on communist leaders.
A bookseller said people had been coming from far-off places to the conference to give orders for the supply of books.
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