Release Debolina Chakrabarti, a social activist and people’s leader!

Free six other activists imprisoned for their participation in the Nonadanga anti-eviction struggle!

COMMITTEE FOR THE RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS -- Press Release-- 17 April 2012

On 8^th April 2012, a large police force arrested 69 persons from the Nonadanga area of East Kolkata when they were protesting against the eviction of hundreds of people, many of whom were forced to migrate and set up their abodes in that area after the Aila natural disaster. Among the protesters  were those who fell victims to this eviction drive initiated by the Mamata Banerjee-led government — men, women and children, as also some activists belonging to different democratic organizations, who thought it just to stand by the side of the victims and join their struggle for rehabilitation. In late evening, all but seven persons were released on PR bond. Among those arrested were Debolina Chakrabarti, Debjani Ghosh, Abhignan Sarkar, Prof. Partha Sarathi Roy, Dr. Siddhartha Gupta, Babun Chattopadhyay and Shamik Chankraborti. They were produced in court next day and all were remanded to police custody till 12^th April. On 12^th when they were produced, all of them were sent to jail custody till 21^st April in the Nonadanga case. Surprisingly, in the evening when lawyers on the side of the accused have left or were about to leave, the CID put up papers in a secretive manner for the police remand of Debolina Chakrabarti in three other cases — two of which are old and allegedly connected with incidents that supposedly took place in Nandigram and Bishnupur.  The magistrate granted the prayer without listening to the response from the side of lawyers who stood by the accused. When it became known, there were protests from the side of other prisoners who took the stand that Debolina should not be taken for police remand and that they would not leave the court for jail unless all seven were taken together. Their resistance continued for some time until Debolina was forcibly taken alone by the CID in a police car to Bhabani Bhawan for interrogation.  The other six prisoners were sent to Alipur Central Jail. Debolina was tagged in a murder case under UAPA.

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Turn the Prevailing Economic Crisis into Revolutionary Upsurge!

Friends,
The first Conference of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) is going to take place at a time when the imperialist forces and their props - the ruling classes of various colonial and semi-colonial countries - are going through an unprecedented economic depression resulting in a worldwide economic crisis, a condition which is of their own making. The reactionary Indian ruling classes, being agents of imperialism, have transferred the burden of the world economic crisis to the people of this country - the masses of the people who are already grappling with acute exploitation, poverty, unemployment and deprivation of the basic necessities of life. Their purchasing power has come down drastically. They have been denied the right over jal-jangal-zameen (water, forest and land resources) and other resources. Such conditions have generated disaffection amongst vast sections of people of the subcontinent manifested as a multitude of peoples' struggles.

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Joint Statement from Delhi organisations on Nonadanga

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"Some Notes on the Working Class and the Imperialist Wars"

dsu INVITES YOU TO THE 1^ST COMRADE NAVEEN BABU MEMORIAL LECTURE

Comrade Naveen (Yalavarthi Naveen Babu) was born in a village in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh in a middle peasant family. He completed his graduation in Hyderabad and joined M A Sociology in Meerut University in 1984. In 1986 he joined the M Phil programme in Sociology in JNU, and after completing his M Phil dissertation in 1988 he enrolled for the PhD (Naveen's book From Varna to Jati: Political Economy of Caste in Indian Social Formation based on his M Phil dissertation has been published in 2009). Naveen formed the Student's forum which stood for the exposure of the revisionist Left's politics of compromise in JNU. In 1986, the Delhi Radical Students Organisation (DRSO) was formed. Soon Naveen became part of the DRSO in 1988. In 1989, when Delhi became the centre for the 'upper' caste anti-Mandal mania, the DRSO-led Student's Solidarity swam against the tide by struggling for reservations for the OBCs. When there were vacillations amongst many in the revolutionary ranks, Naveen stood like a rock, patiently explaining the necessity for DRSO to support reservations, thereby drawing it closer to the oppressed sections.

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CPI (Maoist) Statement: "An appeal to all the democrats and patriots of our country!"

In the first week of March, 20 to 25 villages in Maad were crushed under the iron heels of the government armed forces. This has once again exposed the fascist and brutal face of the central and state governments who are not tiring of talking about 'development' of Adivasis. In this biggest offensive till date on Maad, more than three thousand armed forces were deployed. This was given the names of 'Operation Vijay' and 'Operation Haka'. This massive suppressive campaign was conducted in accordance with the decisions taken at the meeting of DGPs and principal secretaries of naxal affected districts under the leadership of the central home ministry. In this nearly two week long campaign One Adivasi was murdered and another was abducted whose whereabouts are not known till now. More than two dozen villages and several innocent Adivasis became victims of violence, loot, destruction and beatings.

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Let’s Intensify our Opposition to the Indian State’s War on the People

The Indian government's war on people in central and eastern regions has entered its second phase with the deployment of the Indian army. The surreptitiously declared war on the people of this country codenamed Operation Green Hunt (OGH) which was launched in September 2009 by the Indian government is continuing unabated till today. In fact in the recent months, the ruling coalition at the Centre in connivance with political parties of all hues in power in the Central and Eastern states have intensified their brutal war on the poorest, most maginalized and oppressed people of the subcontinent. Contrary to the rhetoric of not deploying the Indian Army in direct combat, the Government of India has increased the number of troops in the region with the intent of crushing the growing people's resistance against its policies. It is well known that the first batch of 2000 Army personnel were sent by the government to the forests of Narayanpur District in the Bastar on 3 June 2011 with a plan to occupy an area of 600 square kilometres, albeit in the name of Jungle Warfare Training. Just six months later, another 2500 personnel descended on the forests of Bastar on 4 November 2011. Though the Central and Chhattisgarh governments maintain that they have set up this so-called Jungle Warfare Training Centre in Bastar merely to put pressure on the Maoists and to dominate the region militarily, the real purpose is to hand over the vast swathes of mineral-rich forested lands to the Multinational Companies and to evict the people who have stood up to defend their jal-jangal-zameen, their very existence.

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Condemn ‘Operation Vijay’ and ‘Operation Haka’ conducted by the government armed forces on Maad!

Dear People ! Democrats !

The month of March brought destruction for the people of Dandakaranya (DK) just like it did last year. Last year, exactly at this time, between 11 and 16 of March the government armed forces wreaked havoc on Morpalli, Pulanpad, Timmapuram and Tadimetla villages in the Chintalnar area of South Bastar and now it was on Maad area known as ‘Abujhmaad’ in the nomenclature of the rulers. Due to pressure from all sections of people about the Chintalnar destruction and about the attacks on Agnivesh and others who came for fact-finding and due to the order of the Supreme Court the Chhattisgarh (CG) government ordered for a CBI probe. That this inhuman offensive on Maad was conducted exactly when this ‘trial’ was going on should open the eyes of those who still believe that there is democratic rule in our country.

In last July, the Supreme Court declared the appointment of SPOs and Koya Commandos illegal and gave the judgment that their weapons must be taken back. As is its wont, the CG government ignored this judgment too and is continuing the SPOs/Koya Commandos by changing their name to ‘Auxiliary Police Force’. The fascist gangs that wreaked havoc in the form of ‘Koya Commandos’ last year, now resorted to destruction, loot, murders, atrocities and indiscriminate firings with the names of ‘Auxiliary Police Force’ and ‘Abujhmaad Police’.

Three thousand men belonging to various armed forces as claimed by the government itself attacked 20 to 25 villages.

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PUCL condemns the arrest of PUCL executive member Kailash Meena

CALLS IT VINDICITVE ACTION OF RAJASTHAN POLICE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MLA RAMESH KHANDELWAL & the MINING LOBBY

*WILL GO TO NHRC HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS CELL*

*CARRY OUT A NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR THE RELEASE OF KAILASH MEENA.*

Jaipur, 20th December, 2011

*APPEAL*

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