Comrade Safdar Hashmi was known for his fearless advocacy of the demands of the most marginalised people through instruments of popular art. An alumnus of St. Stephen’s College and a long time activist with the CPI (M), Com. Hashmi co-founded the Jana Natya Manch (JANAM). His radical reimagination of making theatre accessible to the common masses and using it to infuse class consciousness among them was linked with his aspiration to expose the ‘unresolvable contradiction between the bourgeois individualist view of art and the people's collectivist view of art'. In association with JANAM, Com. Hashmi’s fiery plays like ‘Kursi, Kursi, Kursi’, ‘Machine’ and others, performed in factories and working-class neighbourhoods unhesitatingly questioned the ruling establishment. On 1st January 1989, When Com. Hashmi and his theatre group were headed to Jhandapur to perform their street play ‘Halla Bol’ in solidarity with the workers of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), they were grievously attacked by goons believed to be associated with the Indian National Congress, which led to the demise of Com. Hashmi. At a time when the burgeoning forces of reaction are on the rise all over the world, Com. Hashmi’s stirring legacy of people’s art galvanises us to challenge and resist tyranny and exploitation in all its forms.