But the government took a shameful anti-democratic role upon itself. Prime Minister Nehru and the Union labour minister Guljarilal Nanda started threatening the agitators; Nehru even went on air against the strike. The then Union home minister, Vallabbhai Patel, introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha proposing that the strike be declared illegal and that strict punishment be meted out to the supporters of the strike.

We were not sitting idle in West Bengal. The joint struggle committee of the postal and telegraph employees with its joint convenors Dinesh Banerjee and K.G. Bose issued a statement appealing to the people not to give in to provocation and make the strike a success. They also castigated Nehru for his speech. I issued a statement in favour of the strikers when they approached us for help. The statement said, "This struggle is extremely significant for the welfare of the government employees and workers in non-government organizations. The Communist Party will definitely undertake to campaign in favour of the struggling masses. We feel that it is obligatory on the part of the every right-thinking citizens to support this cause."

Editor Vivekananda Mukherjee presided over a huge rally at Wellington Square in support of the strikes where I said, "The people of Bengal have always stood by any agitation for a noble cause. The people have set up committees in every locality to make the public conscious of the just demand of the employees." Thousands of Central Government employees took out a procession against the proposed Bill brought in the Lok Sabha.

However, the Centre pushed through the Bill in the Lok Sabha saying that it was necessary that the strike should not be allowed in emergency establishments. There was a walkout by the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on the eve of the strike. The President promulgated an Ordinance banning the strike.

But the Centre was taken aback by the strong will of the strikers, which resulted in a softer attitude. Prime Minister Nehru and the communication and transport minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, gave some positive assurances regarding the interim wages of the employees. At this, the strike was withdrawn. Though there was no strike as such, the preparations were an eye-opener that also showed up the anti-labour policy of the Congress Government in its proper perspective.

In Bengal, the state was set for another strike. In September 1957, a total of 11,000 bank employees went on a strike demanding direct negotiations instead of going to the tribunal and proper compensation. The industry of the state was badly hit. On behalf of the state unit, I issued a statement saying, "We appeal to the people of West Bengal to stand by the striking bank employees and force the owners and the government to accept their demands. We request the bank owners to relax their stand and not join the government in its policies of oppression." Manoranjan Ray also issued a statement on behalf of the BPTUC supporting the bank strikers. On the other hand, the TU committee called for a strike on October 18 on the same issue. The Communist Party backed this strike. The state government realised that matters were going too far and the Dr Roy intervened to bring about a semblance of a solution. The bank owners agreed to hold direct talks with the strikers and the hartal was postponed. Parliamentarian and president of the Bank Workers Committee, Prabhat Kar, issued a statement withdrawing the strike. The banks reopened after 31 days.

At this time, "Swadhinata" was upgraded to eight pages from the earlier four because of its increasing popularity. The people had now seen through the blatant support given by the bourgeoisie press to the Congress and they were now tuned to "Swadhinata" for correct information. Needless to say, there was no intention on the part of the party to make any profits from the sales of "Swadhinata." The employees of "Swadhinata" used to work either free or for a pittance. This could have been possible only in the Communist Party. It was difficult to run the paper because of financial constraints but given the situation, we had to take the decision to enlarge the scope of "Swadhinata" and appealed to the people to set up a Rs 2-lakh fund for the paper. In September 1957, I went to Assansol, Burnpur and Ranigunge for work on the fund. Comrade Harekrishna Konar also accompanied me. On December 26, 1957 we held a rally at Park Circus Maidan in Calcutta where the editor of "Swadhinata," Comrade Saroj Mukherjee, said, "From empty coffers, Swadhinata now treasures a fund which has come about with small donations of countless people. There is no way that the progress of Swadhinata can now be stopped."

We had called for congratulatory messages from the various Communist parties of the world on the occasion of the anniversary of "Swadhinata." Messages came from the Soviet Union, China, Great Britain, France, Italy, the US, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Korea, Japan and Australia. The party units and other state also rushed in telegrams.

The "Swadhinata" celebrations were a major step in the progress of the Communist Party and its message on global friendship. In November 1957, the Communist parties of 64 countries met in Moscow and issued a joint manifesto on the issues of war and peace. The manifesto said, "War is not mandatory now. It is possible to stop warmongering and keep peace. The arms race must stop. There should be no nuclear weapons and alliance for the purpose of military action should not be resorted to."

In the meantime, the Congress had started its diabolical moves to bring down the Communist government in Kerala. The law and order issue was raked up since the Kerala government refused to use the police to break the strike. Almost all bourgeoisie newspapers wrote against the E.M.S. government. They campaigned that religion and the right to property were not sacrosanct in Kerala. In fact, some papers in England and the US also spread disinformation against the Kerala government. Obviously, this campaign had the tacit backing of the Congress. Comrades M.N. Govindan Nair came to Calcutta in August 1957 from Kerala. He was the secretary of the Kerala State committee and addressed a huge meeting at Wellington Square. I presided over the meeting. But the joy of the people knew no bounds when E. M. S himself ame to Bengal. On October 27, 1957, the All-India Krishak Sabha began its eight-day session at Bongaon. Its membership was more than seven lakhs at that time. People thronged the roads between the Dum Dum Airport and the meeting venue and greeted him. This was the way Calcutta and West Bengal paid their tributes to the first Communist chief minister of the country.