The raids and arrests were concentrated mainly in Calcutta, Howrah and 24-Paraganas. The next day, the political detenus started a hungerstrike inside the jail premises. From the Presidency Jail, I sent a letter to the then chief minister Prafulla Sen and made a copy for the Prime Minister. The letter said:

"We express our anger and protest against the National Security Act under which we have been arrested. We also believe that it is expected of a government to behave in a civil and democratic fashion with the Opposition. We are extremely agitated that the government has been incapable of checking the rise of essential commodities and the fact that the National Security Act has been used against the general people who have risen in protest. But we are happy that a part from the Congress, all other Opposition parties, eminent individuals and the public at large have decried these actions. We have decided to observe a nation wide protest day in support of all the democratic forces of the country on February 25, 1966. We request you to either release us immediately or produce us in court."

A call was given for a general strike throughout West Bengal on March 10, but the government now arrested the head of the editorial board of Deshhitoishi, Mohit Maitra, and other leftist leaders. On the day of the strike, the police resorted to indiscriminate firing at various places, killing many agitators and hurting others. As a result of this, the demand for the release of political detenus assumed a major dimension. The Chief Minister Prafulla Chandra Sen released some leaders because of the growing pressure. I was among those freed. However, the government continued to ignore our demands. A strike call was given for April 6.

The food crisis had not abated. Cases of suicides and starvation deaths were pouring from the rural belt. The Congress government proved to be a total failure in taking measures to stem such tragedies. By this time though, the price rise and food crisis issues had fuelled the imagination of the entire country.

The rationing system had also broken down. It was apparent that unless the government changed its basic policies, there would be no solution. However, without moving towards that direction, the aim of the government seemed to be just the opposite and it went on piling oppressive measures one after another on the general public. In the food movement of 1966, the police openend fire at Basirhat killing Nurul Islam while in Baduria, Ali Hafiz and Kalu Mondal were killed. Others who became martyrs were Sukhen Mukherjee in Behala, Bablu Das in Khardah, Ananda Hait in Krishnagar, Ranjan Dutta in Konnagar, Narayan Sadhukhan in Serampore, Rabin Pal in Rishra and S.P. Singh in Hind Motor. Many of these martyrs were either boys or youths.

In the first four months of 1966 _ in the name of putting down the agitation on the release of political detenus and the food movement _ the police killed more than 50 agitators. Apart from this, raids and searches in the houses of our supporters were the order of the day. People were brought to police outposts and subjected to major atrocities. There were no limits to the oppressive measures which the Congress regime launched on us those days. Even women and children were not spared. The attacks incidentally were not only confined to our supporters but the general public too suffered a lot. But despite all this, the Congress rulers could not stop the wave of agitations let loose by the general public. A historic 48 hour general strike was observed in West Bengal on September 22 and 23; this was entirely unprecedented. Buoyed by this, we demanded that the Congress government should resign immediately. The entire state was up in arms against the state government.

Significantly, even as all this was happening, the labourer-employee section and teachers of the state decided to forge a joint movement. A united front, which came to be known as the July 12 Committee, was set up by the state and Central government employees as well as the teacher community. A historic procession in Calcutta initiated the formation of this committee. Later, this movement became more widespread with the inclusion of employees and workers of autonomous and self-governed institutions also. A joint convention was held in May 1966 and a committee was also formed. This committee gave a call for a joint public rally on July 12, 1966. People came in huge numbers at the meeting which was presided over by Satyapriya Roy. K.G.Bose and Arabinda Ghosh later took over the joint responsibility of convening the front.

The fourth general elections were near. These elections had assumed great importance given the background of agitation and movements which were sweeping the country. Add to this, the fact that the Communist Party had split and the need for a mouthpiece was felt dearly. The revisionists had already taken control of "Swadhinata" long time back. But the publication had folded up. Keeping the demands of people in mind and realising the importance of the moment, we decided to go ahead and publish an eveninger which would be called "Ganashakti;" we did have a monthly of the same name earlier. It had later become a weekly but had to fold up. On January 3, 1967, the first edition of "Ganashakti" rolled off the presses with Saroj Mukherjee as its editor and publisher. The four-page newspaper was priced at 10 paise. The first editorial of "Ganashakti" ended with these words:

"The Congress rulers will not go scot-free. The final victory has also been that of the people; that has been the primary lesson of history. But the people will have to strive hard and continue the arduous journey for this struggle. The party mouthpiece, Ganashakti, will strive to carry on this tradition. It will relentlessly disseminate the message of the struggle of the labour and working classes. All plots and conspiracies of the ruling Congress party shall unfold through these columns."