The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) State secretary V. Srinivasa Rao on Friday urged the younger generation to draw inspiration from the Basheerbagh martyrs and join people’s movements to fight for public rights and against policies that harm common people.

Speaking at a meeting organised by Left parties in Vijayawada to commemorate the 27th death anniversary of three activists killed in the Basheerbagh police firing during the 2000 power tariff agitation, Mr. Rao paid tributes to the martyrs — Ramakrishna, Vishnuvardhan Reddy and Balaswamy.

He recalled that widespread protests had erupted across the then undivided Andhra Pradesh against electricity reforms, tariff hikes and privatisation policies introduced by the Telugu Desam Party government under Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. The agitation, led by Left parties and supported by other political forces, culminated in the Chalo Assembly programme at Basheerbagh on August 28, 2000, when police firing claimed the lives of three protesters and injured several others.

Mr Rao said the spirit of the Basheerbagh struggle continued to inspire movements against privatisation and policies that, he said, favoured corporate interests over public welfare.

He urged the youth to take up issues such as rising prices, agrarian distress, drought, unemployment and the lack of remunerative prices for crops. He also criticised the continued privatisation of public resources and services.

“The future of the country depends on the struggles being waged by the younger generation,” he said, calling upon them to fight for equality, democracy and public welfare.

CPM leaders Ch. Babu Rao, Y. Venkateswara Rao, V. Umamaheswara Rao and K. Subbaravamma, among others, participated in the programme and paid floral tributes to the portraits of the Basheerbagh martyrs.