News has come to light that on 13th August 2024 at around 6 am, the house of Murali Kannampilly (Comrade Ajith) at Thevaikkal, Kerala was raided by the NIA in connection with KPHB Colony, Hyderabad case of September, 2023. In this case, Sanjoy Deepak Roy was arrested on the allegation of being a Central Committee member of the banned CPI (Maoist), along with “Saraswati”, his wife- accused of being instrumental in organizing for the so called proscribed organization.
Right from 2019 to September 2023, multiple number of Journalists, Writers, Students, Teachers, Lawyers and Democratic Rights Activists were implicated in false cases by the State under IPC, UAPA, Telangana Public Security Act and the Arms Act. The police divided their list of individuals under three categories, particularly people who they deem “top Maoist leaders” such as Namballa Kesava Rao, Muppala Lakshman Rao, Mallojula Venugopal Rao, Tippiri Tirupati, Kadari Satyanarayan Reddy, K.R. Reddy, M.R. Reddy, Paka Hanumanta, Gajarla Ravi, Modem Balakrishna and Konnath Muralidharan. The second category includes “other leaders” and the third category includes various activists and journalists such. Murali was also accused of being a” top Maoist leader” by the Indian state and was arrested for the same, but was released under pressure from the grassroots level, at both a local and international level in 2019.
At around 6 am, NIA arrived at Comrade Murali’s house. Despite not being given permission to enter, a group of eight officials broke open the door and entered the house in Thevaikkal. Murali had merely requested that his lawyer be present during the raid. In response, the NIA team broke opened the door and have been conducting investigations. Some months ago, as well, the home of Murali was raided and he was called in for questioning. Unable to build a sound legal case against Murali, the state has instead resorted to harassing and intimating the activist.
Murali is a 62-year-old heart patient who lives alone. Previously, he was lodged in Pune’s Yerwada jail for 4 years between 2015-2019 and was an accused in a 1976 case in Kayanna. This shows that the targeting of Murali was a very deliberate attempt by the Fascist state in order to curb the voices of dissent. Murali has been a political activist for the past few decades. By his contributions to international revolutionary theory, Murali is threatening the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist state in speaking for the rights of exploited and oppressed people.
This speaks the very nature of NIA itself. Though it calls itself a national “investigation agency”, the agenda of NIA is clear that it serves as the guard-dog of Brahmanical Hindutva Fascism, unleashed to suppress voices of dissent by labeling of all democratic, pro-people activities as the activity of “Maoists”. Once these activists are tagged and arrested under labels like “Maoists” “Urban naxals” , the State is able to utilize draconian “anti-terror” laws which suspend the fundamental rights of accused people.
Through associating all forms of dissent as Maoist-associated, the State attempts to carry out a chilling effect which discourages criticism and dissent. The space to dissent, organize and protest is a basic feature of a democratic society which is being corroded. These scare tactics, fake charges and arrests are all targeting dissent itself.
Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) vehemently condemns these tactics of the State intended to curb democratic resistance.
Demands:
Immediate withdrawal of cases against Murali and all Democratic Rights Defenders.
Political Prisoners in India: On the State’s Conspiratorial Lawsuits and Agencies
On 5 March 2024, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Professor GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay Tirkey and Mahesh Tirkey of all charges against them. Pandu Narote, who was only 33 years old, died while in jail. In fact, this is a custodial murder, for which the concerned officials should…
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On 5 March 2024, the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court acquitted Professor GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay Tirkey and Mahesh Tirkey of all charges against them. Pandu Narote, who was only 33 years old, died while in jail. In fact, this is a custodial murder, for which the concerned officials should be prosecuted and punished. The extent of cruelty was such that the jail administration did not even get him treated when he was sick. Before he died, he was bleeding from his eyes and urine in the last days of his life.
Acquitting the other five accused, the High Court in its judgement remarked that “merely downloading communist or Naxalite literature from the Internet or having sympathy for communist philosophy is not a crime under UAPA.” In today’s era when any kind of disagreement with the government is criminalised, such a comment by the High Court holds great importance.
JNU student, political and cultural activist Hem Mishra, who was imprisoned in the Anda Cell along with Professor GN Saibaba in the same case, had already said in an interview given to a media portal named ‘Catch News’ when he came out on bail in 2015 before being acquitted that “believing in any ideology, even Maoism, is not a crime”. It took 10 years for the Bombay High Court to understand this.
It is noteworthy that the Bombay Court has acquitted all the people in this case for the second time. This is a wonderous case in the judicial history of India. Last year on 14 October 2022, the Mumbai High Court acquitted all the accused on the basis of technical irregularities committed by the police during the trial, which were also illegal. But the ghost of Maoism haunts the government so much that the Maharashtra government immediately appealed against this decision in the Supreme Court, after which the Supreme Court stayed the High Court’s decision in a special hearing and said that “as far as terrorist or Maoist activities are concerned, the brain is more dangerous and direct involvement is not necessary.” The Supreme Court, agreeing with the Maharashtra government, ordered that the trial be heard again not on the basis of technical flaws (even if they are illegal). On March 5, all the accused in this case were acquitted again on this basis. This proves that this entire case was not only fake, but it was also fabricated and run illegally. But unfortunately, no case will be filed against the police administration or the people responsible for it. This is the failure and limitation of this justice system.
Professor GN Saibaba, who along with Hem Mishra, Mahesh Tirkey, Vijay Tirkey, Narayan Sanglikar, Prashant Rahi and Pandu Narote (deceased) were acquitted by the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court in the fabricated “Maoist links” case.
The intention of the state and the police system engaged in its protection, the justice system behind running this case, has been exposed not once but many times during the entire trial. Hence, this case is an example. In 2017, the judge of the Gadchiroli Sessions Court, while sentencing all the accused including GN Saibaba to life imprisonment, said- “In my opinion, life imprisonment is not enough for the accused, (they should be hanged) but due to sections 18 and 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the hands of the court are tied. In my opinion, this is a suitable case for punishment.” The judge further explained the reason for his hatred in this decision. Declaring GN Saibaba and others as an obstacle in the development of Gadchiroli district, he said- “Gadchiroli is still the same as it was in the year 1982. All the accused are responsible for this, they are members of the banned organization CPI Maoist’s frontal organization Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), who did not allow foreign investment here, due to which it remained underdeveloped.”
This judgement clearly reveals the judge’s bias more than his knowledge of law, he did not refrain from ruling on this bias either, which is legally wrong. The development model in favor of which the judge was writing the judgment is such an anti-human model in which the plunder of natural resources, the genocide of tribals is considered right. While Professor GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra, Prashant Rahi, Vijay Tirkey, who exposed this model to the whole world, were given life imprisonment, according to the judge, this punishment was not enough for them because the hands of the judiciary were tied by the law, otherwise the professor and others with him could have been given death sentence. In fact, Professor GN Saibaba, Hem Mishra and other such people are not obstacles to development, rather they are the biggest obstacle in the plunder of resources being done by the domestic and foreign imperialist companies, protected and nurtured by the state. Till the time they were out of jail, they were continuously exposing the plunder of the tribal lands and all the precious resources found under it and the genocide of the tribals, which was being carried out through the state-sponsored “Operation Green Hunt”, in front of the whole country and the world. To continue this model of development based on plunder without any hindrance, many people like GN Saibaba have been put in jail so that the voice of protest can be silenced. Rupesh Kumar Singh, an independent journalist from Jharkhand, who was exposing this model of development through his reports, is also lodged in Bhagalpur jail today on charges of having links with the Maoists. In fact, this has become the story of not just one place but the whole country. The state police agencies – NIA, ATS etc. have all been put to the task of pursuing those who oppose this model of development, so that there is no hindrance to imperialist loot. The conspiracy of the Bhima Koregaon case is a perfect example of this, under which those who speak, write and speak against this model of development are in jail, and those who are outside have been threatened with the same fate. The Bhima Koregaon government conspiracy has become an example of state repression all over the world, on which books are being written, articles are being written and appeals are being issued, but the government is not paying any heed.
Preparations Underway to Fabricate another Bhima Koregaon Case in Uttar Pradesh
After the Maoist connection case of GN Saibaba and the conspiracy of the Bhima Koregaon case, NIA and ATS are making the Bhima Koregaon case a model in many places across the country and harassing those who disagree with the government by filing cases against them and raiding their homes. A day before the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, political activist Prabha alias Anita Azad in Uttar Pradesh had a miscarriage in jail. It would be more appropriate to say that her health condition was deliberately ignored leading to the traumatic and cruel incident. These are some of the most brutal methods of suppressing dissent, which continue even after being sent to jail. Their sole purpose is to torture those who disagree with the government, physically and mentally, in such a way that new voices stop rising. The amount of anger and resentment that should have been seen in civil society over the murder of Anita’s child did not emerge. It is an important fact that despite Anita stating her medical condition, the ATS brought her from her mother’s house in Raipur to Lucknow. During her appearance in the Lucknow Special Court, she also stated her medical condition. 10 days before the miscarriage, the Lucknow Special Court rejected Anita’s bail plea filed on medical grounds, while it was also mentioned that she had already had a miscarriage a few months ago. This is her second miscarriage in a year. Anita and Brijesh, who are farmers and political activists, were accused on 18 October 2023 in a case registered in 2019 by the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS). They were called for questioning in this case in 2019, then they were released. The ATS says that they have been arrested on the basis of the forensic investigation report of the electronic devices that were seized during the raid at their house 4 years ago in 2019. ATS says that both of them were working for the Maoist party by forming organizations like ‘Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Manch’ and ‘Savitribai Phule Sangharsh Samiti’. It said that the couple was propagating Maoist and anti-national ideology by forming these two organizations. It is evident from the very name of the organizations that talking about unity of workers and farmers and spreading the ideas of Savitribai Phule is not an anti-national activity in any way.
The Uttar Pradesh ATS did not stop here. On March 5, the day Professor GN Saibaba was acquitted of the charges, the advocate Kripa Shankar, who fought the couple’s case, and his wife Binda, a typist in the High Court, were arrested by the ATS in the same case, calling them Maoists. This clearly shows the State’s intention that the narrative of ‘urban Naxal’ or ‘over ground worker’ of the Maoists should continue to spread in the society. In fact, Kripa Shankar is a human rights lawyer from Uttar Pradesh, who was practicing law in the Allahabad High Court of Uttar Pradesh and is fighting in court against the state repression on the people. The important thing about Kripa Shankar is that he was preparing himself by studying specifically on repressive laws like UAPA to understand them. He was developing as a UAPA specialist lawyer, but he himself has been implicated under this law and sent to jail. The condition of both Kripa Shankar and Surendra Gadling, who is in jail in the Bhima Koregaon case, is exactly the same today. Both are paying the price of their legal battle by going to jail. This is what happened with Surendra Gadling 6 years ago, who paid the price of fighting legal battles for GN Saibaba and many others by going to jail. Today, Kripa Shankar is paying the same price for protecting democratic rights.
For the last one year, preparations are going on in full swing to make another Bhima Koregaon case in Uttar Pradesh. NIA is continuously raiding the houses of students, political activists, human rights activists, lawyers and a false story is being fabricated like ‘Elgar Parishad’. This time the story is not about a conspiracy to assassinate the Prime Minister, but that Maoists are spreading their feet in North India. These people are ‘over ground workers’ of the Maoist party. ‘Over ground workers’ is part of the new terminology of the Indian Brahminist Hindutva fascist state which is an extension of ‘urban Naxal’. NIA says that efforts are being made to revive the work of the Maoist party in the Hindi belt of North India. Based on this story, the NIA is conducting raids at various places so that democratic voices can be crushed in the name of Maoism. A clear picture of this can be seen in the press statement issued by the NIA recently, in which they said that the NIA has been moving aggressively in recent months to thwart the nefarious plans of the Maoist organization. Many Hindi newspapers have played an important role in spreading this propaganda. Such newspapers are one step ahead of an agency like the NIA in spreading this state-sponsored propaganda without any facts and references at different times for the last several years.
Use of UAPA as an Everyday Criminal Law
Telangana has a brutal history of state repression in dealing with democratic rights movements. In the past, the police in connivance with intelligence agencies have openly killed many democratic rights activists in fake encounters. In the last one year, Telangana has seen a surprising number of FIRs implicating more than 140 civil society and mass organization leaders in UAPA cases. Many people have even been booked under three to four UAPA cases. The truth of these FIRs is revealed by the fact that it also contains the names of many people who have died many years ago.
Like the Bhima Koregaon case, where the NIA used some suspicious letters allegedly plotting to assassinate the Prime Minister of India to fabricate fake cases against well-known activists and intellectuals across the country. On the same lines, a new story was fabricated in Telangana. Through the Godi media, a narrative was created that a diary was found with the arrested Maoist leader, which contains many important information as well as the names of these activists.
Based on this, raids were conducted on the houses of various lawyers, students, journalists, professors and democratic rights activists and the same story was repeated. The NIA uses many such fake diaries as a toolkit across India to implicate various activists in false cases.
Minorities under Target
The ideology of Maoism attacks the very system on which relations in current society are based, so we can still understand why it is under the target of the current system, but the scope of repression has gone far beyond this. In this system, those who advocate democratic reforms are also under attack. When the Citizenship Act was implemented in 2019, the ‘Delhi Riot Conspiracy’ case was fabricated, targeting not just leaders, but even those who were vocal in opposition to it and only supported the movement. What is even more saddening is that students / youth were arrested and put in jail, most of whom have not been able to come out even after 4 years. The government could not even tolerate the ‘Pinjra Tod’ movement fighting with the demand of increasing the timing of girls’ hostel. Taking revenge on everyone, the ‘Delhi Riot’ case was fabricated and many students, activists, and ordinary Muslims were sent to jail. Whereas those who instigated the Delhi riots, those who gave the statement of ‘Goli Maaro Saalon Ko’ have been awarded the post of minister in the government. The Delhi riots case is fabricated specifically against minorities and women, and even here the government is making every effort to deny bail. The ‘Delhi riots’ case is a representative case of the cases filed against minorities today, and there are many such cases across the country that are fabricated on a large scale to label them as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anti-nationals’.
In colonial times, the state fabricated cases like the Meerut Conspiracy and the Lahore Conspiracy to suppress the movement of people fighting against colonial exploitation and oppression, so that people of the revolutionary stream could be crushed. In the present times, we are seeing that the Brahminical Hindutva fascist BJP-RSS government, taking a cue from its colonial masters, is using the same tactics to suppress those who raise their voices against exploitation and oppression of the people as well as the plunder of the country’s resources by foreign and domestic corporations.
NIA aka National ‘Implicating’ Agency
At the forefront of suppressing democratic rights
NIA is at the forefront of suppression of democratic rights today. Since its formation, it has implicated many socio-political activists as well as common people from different parts of the country in terrorism related cases, who were later acquitted. Most of the charges against them were proved false. There is no better agency than NIA in fabricating false stories today. A common story has been fabricated in cases related to Maoist links, which is seen in every press release of theirs. They say that they have arrested a ‘dreaded Naxalite’ who is a politburo member or a member of the central committee of the Maoist party. In the last two years, NIA has arrested so many people on the basis of this story, that there are probably more people than would constitute the central committee members of any political party, let alone a Maoist party.
After that, raids start at the residences of various activists in that state or the border states around it, and nowadays, going beyond that, across the country. Raids are conducted on the basis that a list of names of the above mentioned people has been found with the ‘dreaded Naxal’ who has been caught. Today, ‘dreaded Naxal’ and the voice of protest both come in the same category. If today, a person near you is arrested on the charge of being a Maoist, then understand that preparations have been made to suppress the civil society or any kind of voice of protest in that area. Today, instead of being a National Investigation Agency, NIA has become an agency that traps people in false charges, which is arresting people in the name of being a ‘terrorist’, ‘Maoist’ or the most popular ‘overground worker’ these days, to suppress the voice of dissent and creating an atmosphere of terror among the public.
From a Small Jail to a Big Jail
Speaking at a press conference in Delhi after coming out of jail, Hem Mishra said that circumstances have changed a lot after staying in jail for so many years and then coming out now. Importantly at the conference, he said that he has come back from a small jail to a “big jail” whose scope is nationwide, where the terror of repression is widespread and the punishment for dissent is jail.
This can be understood even better in the most important Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case till date. In this case, 16 famous political-social activists were implicated in a fake case and sent to jail under UAPA. The trial of this case, arrests under which started in 2018, has not started yet. So far only seven people have got bail in this fake case. In this case, the basic principle of justice ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ has been reversed and ‘jail is the rule, bail is the exception’ has been applied. If we read the bail conditions of those who have been granted bail, we find that they have been taken out of a small jail and stuffed in a big jail. In these conditions, the fundamental right to privacy is being violated by the judiciary itself. Shoma Sen, who was the head of the English department in Nagpur University, has recently been granted bail. She was in jail for the last 6 years. Her bail conditions are as follows-
1) Shoma will surrender her passport and will not go anywhere outside Maharashtra.
2) She will inform the NIA about her residence.
3) She will tell her phone number to the NIA, will keep it active and the GPS of the mobile should always be active. Her mobile should always be connected to the NIA officer so that her location can be traced.
All these conditions are there when the judge has said on the basis of granting bail that there is no prima facie evidence against her.
Writer and human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who is an accused in this case, has been put under house arrest in Mumbai since November 2022 due to ill health after being imprisoned for four years. To top it all, the NIA recently demanded Rs 1.64 crore from him for the expenses incurred in his security during house arrest. These two examples make it clear that the scope of freedom has become so narrow that there is not much difference between the world inside the jail and the world outside the jail. In this era of undeclared emergency and fascism, the Indian state is suppressing the intellectuals as well as the general public with the help of draconian laws. To understand and expose the narratives created by the NIA and other agencies about Maoism and terrorism, it is important to know and expose the facts related to these cases, of course this is also a crime in their eyes.
by Deepak Kumar, member of Campaign Against State Repression
Eradicate Hasina-Awami-Indian fascism completely and utterly. Struggle for the Establishment of the Governance of the Struggling Students, Workers, Peasants, Poor, Middle class.
(August 5, 2024. Extended reprint: August 8, 2024)
-[originally published in Bengali. Unofficial English Translation by Supporters of Maoists in Bangladesh]
The 15-year Hasina-Awami misrule has finally come to an end. The students have won a great victory in their fearless movement. To achieve this goal, many different political forces and masses have made immense sacrifices and conducted valiant armed and unarmed struggles for the past decade and a half. In this continuation, around 350 lives were lost to achieve this feat at the last minute. Several thousand people were injured. Over five hundred people lost their eyes. Many more have become permanently crippled. 15,000 or more people were taken into custody. In addition to that, thousands of political activists and common people have been killed, and millions of people have suffered oppression and unjust arrests in the past 15 years. False cases have been filed against hundreds of thousands of people.
However, this victory is not the end of the fight, rather it is just the beginning. There is still a long way to go. Because the oppressed cannot be liberated until the power or rule of the bona fide struggling masses is established. That has been experienced many times in the past—in '69, '71, '75, and '90. Even after shaking off the main enemy sitting on the neck, the puppets of the ruling elite bourgeoisie have seized power. To prevent this, the struggling masses must struggle for the right political agenda. Currently, an "interim government" has been formed under the initiative of the military and the bureaucrats. We shall rationally insist that the hopes of the oppressed students for emancipation from fascism be fulfilled. In light of this, we would like to draw attention to a few key points below.
1. To establish a provisional government composed of representatives of all anti-fascist classes, professions, communities, and democratic political forces instead of an externally imposed government led by pro-western ex-military, civilian bureaucrats, bourgeois intellectuals, professionals, and elite bourgeoisie representatives. - Strongly oppose the imposition of martial law, so-called army-backed governments, or the imposition of a state of emergency. - Complete repeal of the constitution that allows fascism. - Promulgation of a new constitution and basic principles of a state system favourable to the democratic system. - Abolition of the district council, sub-district, and UP formed on the blueprint of fascism. - Formation of “mass committees” of farmers, workers, labourers, students, youth, middle class, religious and ethnic minorities, progressive and democratic intellectuals at all levels of society starting from village/neighborhood, and having the administrative work done by them. To form an armed “Mass Militia” under them to counter any anti-Mass threat and attack. - Creating an environment for fair elections based on the elimination of fascism, the development of mass power, and the urgent demands of the anti-fascist democratic forces, especially the workers, peasants, students, and masses.
2. Arresting and punishing all Awami godfathers who are the main pillars of Hasina-India fascists and have dominated all spheres of state and society for the past 15 years.
- Hasina's fascist allies included cabinet members, parliamentarians, powerful bureaucrats, powerful military officers, tyrannical officers of Police-RAB-DB, big businessmen, media magnates, so-called student-youth terrorists, abominable and identified elites among judges, professionals, cultural leaders, etc. Publish a list of names of all these people and arrest them. Disarm them all. - Immediate release of prisoners in "Aynaghar," a torture prison maintained by the Hasina-loyalist DGFI. Publish a white paper on this. - Immediate abolition of the murderous RAB force. - Publishing the list of public enemies involved in murder, disappearance, rape, and money laundering, and prosecuting them under the speedy trial law. -Banning the Chhatra League, Jubo League, and Hasina-Awami League as terrorist and fascist organizations. Depriving them of their political rights. - Confiscation of all properties of the above. Confiscation of all agricultural lands, wetlands, residential plots, and commercial plots occupied by Awami fascists. Free distribution of agricultural land to landless-poor farmers. Opening of reservoirs to fishermen.
3. The immediate release of all political leaders and activists of all political parties and struggling people who were tortured and imprisoned during the last 15 years of fascist rule, especially in the last July movement. The withdrawing of all cases brought against them.
4. Opening universities and educational institutions immediately. Lifting the curfew, sending the army back to the barracks. Deploying of BGB immediately to guard the borders. Having the university halls managed by student committees. De-fascistization and reformation of the administration of universities.
5. Publishing the list with the names, addresses, and ages of all those killed during the fascist regime, especially in recent movements. The state should provide compensation to the affected families. All injured should be provided with medical treatment at state’s expense. Those who have already undergone treatment at their own expense should be compensated. A white paper on the injured should be published. Those responsible should be punished severely. - Listing the general police—Ansar—BGB and army personnel, and common people killed in various anarchic activities that followed the fall of Hasina and honoring them socially.
6. All anti-national agreements and understandings with foreign countries, especially with India, by the Hasina-Awami government in the last 15 years must be cancelled. - The Rampal Power Plant destroying the Sundarbans should be stopped immediately.
- Immediate cessation of providing India with train and road corridors through Bangladesh, giving them the responsibility for the Teesta project, buying electricity from India at a high price etc. - Announcing no new agreement or compromise with India until India publicly apologises for supporting Hasina's fascism. - To be fully alert of subversive or potentially aggressive activities of Indian expansionists. Condemning their harbouring of Hasina/Awami fugitives in India and demanding their handover to Bangladesh. - Strictly opposing all imperialist meddling and conspiracy, including those of America, China, and Russia, on internal matters of the country.
7. Immediate repeal of all black laws, including the Service Act, Digital Act, and Industrial Police.
8. Accepting the legitimate demands of workers, farmers, fishermen, poor and working urbanites, tenants, students, teachers, and musicians. Implement stringent measures immediately to break up syndicates and regulate commodity pricing. Taking strict measures to stop extortion and bribery by the Hasina-Awami Fascist bureaucrats and police regarding sidewalk traders, hawkers, transport workers, markets, buying and selling land, building houses, getting government jobs, etc. Strictly controlling the change of hands of extortion and of expropriation. Taking strict measures to prevent persecution and attacks on religious and ethnic minorities.
If the interim government is not formed and run in the above way, it will be a imperialist-comprador bourgeois government based on the existing fascist structure, which will not be able to fulfil the aspirations of the struggling masses.
The above demands are not a complete program. Rather, these are only some preliminary outlines for creating an anti-fascist environment and system. Hence many more amendments may be made to it, and specifications have to be made that can be finalised based on the opinion of the serious anti-fascist fighting forces.
Our proletariat party has not only fought relentlessly against the recently expelled Hasina fascism but also outlined a genuine revolutionary program for real liberation from all imperialism, including that of America-China-Russia, Indian expansionism, and their crony elite bourgeoisie, semi-feudal exploitation-control. The party is thus conducting a continuous struggle for the real independence of the country and the empowerment of the masses of people, including the workers, peasants, and middle class, and the establishment of a truly democratic society. The ongoing anti-fascist struggle is a part of this. We are working to fight to the end and lead it to victory. The ultimate goal of the fight is to establish a society without exploitation in the country and move towards communism worldwide.
To advance that goal and to achieve a real revolution, the oppressed people must take up arms, build an army of their own, and build a rural-based people's war based on the program of agrarian revolution. All struggles should be conducted based on this aim and work. The advanced section of students and youth must be equipped with Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. They should be organized into a revolutionary party. Only then can their today's sacrifice and struggle progress towards success.
-Central Committee, Proletarian Party of Purbo Bangla.
Support the Ongoing Struggle of Students and Masses Against the Hasina-Awami Fascist Government’s Repression, Killings, Forced Disappearance and Mass-Arrest in Continuation of the Quota Reform Movement in Bangladesh
We know from different media that on June 5, 2024, the Bangladesh High Court issued an order to restore the quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh. The division of the quotas is as follows: children or grandchildren of freedom fighters-30%, women-10%, districts-10%, tribal people- 5%, and disabled people- 1%, totaling 56%. Even in 2018, when students protested to reform the quota system, the Bangladesh government canceled the entire quota and threatened to reinstate it if they continued protesting. But in June 2024, the quota was reinstated by the Court based on an appeal by Freedom Fighter’s children. Consequently, protests broke out again. Under the pressure of the student movement, the High Court suspended its decision for one month. However, as the students could not trust the High Court, they asked the Prime Minister to reform the quota system. The High Court also ruled that the Prime Minister could change the quota system by executive order.
But we saw that on July 14, 2024, the Prime Minister said in her speech “… When the court has spoken, when it has gone to court, when it has given its verdict, I have no right to stand against the verdict at this moment. My constitution does not say it, parliament does not say it, procedure rules do not say it. We have nothing to do until we get a solution from the court.” She also said, “…the children of the freedom fighters, the grandchildren are not so talented, as the children of Razakar are talented, right?(said mockingly) They (Protesters) say that they are not talented but they are defeated by them (Freedom Fighters Quota Holders). But the freedom fighters won the war. The Rajakars did not win. They did not win even by fawning over the Pakistanis.”
The Prime Minister did not say anything against the High Court’s verdict but called the protesting students “Rajakars”. In response to this insulting statement by the Prime Minister, we see in the media that students from various universities across Bangladesh held peaceful protests on July 15, 2024, demanding the withdrawal of the Prime Minister’s statement and quota reform. Their slogan was “Who are you and who am I? Rajakar, Rajakar / who said? who said? Autocrat, autocrat.” But the Bangladesh State and its sell-out intellectuals misrepresented this slogan, saying that the students were calling themselves Rajakars. In response, the thugs of the Hasina-Awami fascist regime, the Police League, and the Chhatra League launched armed attacks on unarmed students without provocation, injuring many. On July 16, 2024, students from various universities across Bangladesh staged protests again, during which the police and Chhatra League opened fire, killing at least six people (four students and two pedestrians) and injuring more than 500 others. Students protested massively against it. Students started evicting the terrorist Chhatra League from the halls of the universities, especially from the halls of Dhaka University. Chhatra League was defeated despite them throwing hundreds of threats. The government deployed the BGB (Border Guard Bangladesh) i.e. paramilitary force, attacking thousands of students.
Following this, the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement declared a complete shutdown across the country. On July 18, along with the students, people of different classes also participated in this movement in various ways. Police, BGB, and terror league all opened fire on the crowds of the students and masses.
When the students and masses of the country and abroad started opposing these attacks, internet was completely disconnected from July 18 to keep the outside world in the dark, and the police, BGB, SWAT, and snipers were deployed, killing several hundreds. From the night of July 19, the army was deployed, and a curfew was imposed. Even the newspapers reported the death toll to be 213 until now. There is no doubt that the actual number is much higher. The Hasina government has, to divert the students’ fair movement, tagged the protesters as Jamaat-Shibir (Islamic religious organization) and continued the killings, enforced disappearances and mass arrests(more than 11000). They have resorted to ill tactics of arresting the coordinators of the movement and subjecting them to physical and mental torture and forcing them to read statements against the movement. The fascist Hasina government has been seen lamenting for the state wealth which has been ruined in various places. However, she was not seen accounting for so many fresh lives and neither was she saying anything about it. (Source: Various News Media)
We strongly condemn and protest this state-sponsored killing in Bangladesh. We believe the quota reform movement is logical. Even after 53 years of the establishment of Bangladesh, maintaining the quota for freedom fighters is baseless. Quotas are needed to bring forward the underprivileged segments of the populace. After 53 years, the children and grandchildren of freedom fighters do not fall under the category of backwardness. In that respect, the logical demands of the students must be accepted. The Hasina government should immediately accept the 9-point demand that the “Boishommya Birodhi Chatro Andolan” students have given. At the same time, we strongly demand that the police and Chhatra League involved in this murder-spree be brought under immediate justice. And we call upon the student protestors to raise the demand for the fall of this fascism, and unitedly carry forward the movement until victory. Even if Awami fascism is ousted, the power of the broad masses, including workers, farmers and the middle class, will not be established. For this reason, it is necessary to oust all imperialism, Indian expansionism and broker ruling class including the US, China, Russia, EU and establish a democratic government of the masses including the workers-farmers-middle class. So support the movement to overthrow all imperialism, Indian expansionism and crony ruling classes and establish a democratic government of the masses including the workers-peasants-middle class.
# Red Salute to the struggling students of Bangladesh
# Red Salute to the martyrs of the ongoing movement
# Long live the international unity of the students and the masses
# Smash the fascist powers of the world
Organizations/Countries:
1. People’s Democratic Students Unity(PDSU), Bangladesh
2. Chatra Gonomancha, Bangladesh
3. Revolutionary Student-Youth Movement (RS-YM), Bangladesh
4. All Nepal National Independent Students Union (Revolutionary), Nepal
5. Revolutionary Students’ Front, West Bengal – India
6. Democratic Students’ Association, Kerala – India
7. Portsmouth Marxist Students, England
8. All Burma Federation of Student Union, Myanmar
9. Revolutionary Students’ Group, Portland – USA.
10. Lal Morich – National Organizing Committee, USA
11. Edinburgh University Justice for Palestine Society
12. Aberystwyth University Vigil For Palestine
13. University of Leicester Palestine Society
14. University of Surrey students for Justice in Palestine
15. Students of Alareer Square (Liverpool Encampment)
16. Bangor University Encampment for Palestine
17. University of Strathclyde Palestine Solidarity Society
Statement of ICSPWI on the campaign against Operation Kagaar
The international campaign against Operation Kagaar advances in all the world. The International Day of actions for 1 july, launched by International Committee Support People’s War in India has been successful.
We salute and support all the actions and initiatives against the Operation Kagaar, as the national and international declarations as ICOR, IAL, TKP/ML/CPP…
Particularly, we salute Central Committee of CPP that launched a Month of Solidarity June 20-july 20 against Operation Kagaar.
ICSPWI is formed by Commitees that are in expansion and consolidation process in Italy, Galicia, Colombia Tunisia Afghanistan and not organised groups in various others countries of Europe and Turkey, Russia, Asia etc, . There are sympathizers and supporters in China/Pakistan/ Iran/ Nepal/ Bangla Desh, Srylanka, Malaysia/ Usa/Canada/ Latin America.Tunisian Committee is rally with comrades, organisations of 7 countries of Arab and North africa .. Of course we are not still a structured international organisation and all campaign and decisions are realized taking into account the national conditions of the committees and supporters. Of course every campaign can be developed in all the countries or in someone of them, but are always in the context of a permanent and prolonged campaign of the support.
ICSPWI consider the support to PW in India and to CPI(Maoist), one of principal task of internationalism today, and in the same time works hand to hand with CPI(maoist) for the proletarian revolution in the world. ICSPWI works for affirming in all context of class struggles the support international and internationalist to PW’in India- today in Palestinian international mouvement, in antimperialist mouvement against imperialist war , in the movement against repression for the freedom of political prisoners, and – this is truely important -in the workers and proletarian struggles, that see partecipant migrants and particularly indian and southasia migrants in imperialist countries.This line is of course shared by CPI(Maoist).
ICSPWI expresses his willingness to work to unify all international support in an unitary international coordination organization. This is why we are working for an international Forum of all supporters in the next months
Lal salaam
ICSPWI
july 2024
Declaración del ICSPWI sobre la campaña contra la Operación Kagaar
La campaña internacional contra la Operación Kagaar avance en todo el mundo. El Día Internacional de acciones para el 1 de julio, lanzado por el Comité Internacional de Apoyo a la Guerra Popular en la India (ICSPWI), fue un éxito. Saludamos y apoyamos todas las acciones e iniciativas contra la Operación Kagaar, como las declaraciones nacionales e internacionales al respecto: ICOR, IAL, TKP/ML, PCPh, entre otras.
Saludamos en particular la declaración del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Filipinas quien lanzó un Mes de Solidaridad del 20 de junio al 20 de julio contra la Operación Kagaar.
El ICSPWI qui está formado por Comités que están en proceso de ampliación y consolidación en Italia, Galicia, Colombia, Túnez, Afganistán, y grupos no organizados en otros países de Europa, como Turquía, Rusia, Asia y simpatizantes y apoyantes in China / Pakistán / Irán / Nepal / Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka, Malasia / EE.UU. / Canadá / América Latina, el Comité de Túnez se reunió con camaradas, organizaciones de 7 países árabes y del norte de África. No somos aun una organización internacional estructurada y todas las campañas y decisiones se realizan teniendo en cuenta las condiciones nacionales de los comités y simpatizantes. Por consiguiente cada campaña puede desarrollarse en todos los países o en alguno de ellos, pero siempre en el contexto de una campaña permanente y prolongada de apoyo.
ICSPWI considera el apoyo a la GP en la India y al PCI (maoísta) una de las principales tareas internacionalistas actuales, y al mismo tiempo trabaja codo a codo con el PCI (maoísta) por la revolución proletaria en el mundo. ICSPWI trabaja por afirmar en todo contexto de la lucha de clases el apoyo internacional e internacionalista a la GP en India –hoy en el movimiento internacional palestino, en el movimiento antimperialista contra la guerra imperialista, en el movimiento contra la represión y por la libertad de los presos políticos– esto es verdaderamente importante en las luchas de trabajadores y proletarios, que ven participantes migrantes y particularmente migrantes indios y surasiáticos en los países imperialistas. Esta línea es por supuesto compartida por el PCI (Maoísta).
ICSPWI manifiesta su disposición a trabajar por unificar todo el apoyo internacional en una una organización de coordinación internacional unida. Para ello, trabajamos para un Foro Internacional de todos los partidarios en los siguientes meses.
Hace un año exactamente, nuestro querido Camarada Jaime Rangel dio su última lucha en este mundo, la lucha contra la muerte, y aunque ya no contamos con él físicamente, Jaime vive y vivirá en nuestro pensamiento y actuar hasta siempre.
Luchó contra la muerte y se aferró a la vida con lo que le quedaba de energía, pues sabía que aún tenía mucho para dar como comunista revolucionario y su odio de clase lo aferraba al delgado hilo que existía entre la vida y la muerte. Finalmente, ese hilo se rompió, y aunque como materialistas dialécticos que somos los marxistas comprendemos que tanto la vida como la muerte son aspectos contradictorios, pero también necesarios pues son complementarios y hacen parte de la naturaleza y tarde o temprano, por casualidad o causalidad, a todos nos llegará la hora de partir; la partida de cualquier Camarada no deja de dolernos profundamente y más aún cuando nos deja un Camarada de las cualidades de Jaime Rangel.
Entre las muchas cualidades que tenía el Camarada, es de destacar su disciplina de Partido “rayana en lo militar”, de la que hacía gala en la práctica. Entregó su vida por completo a la noble causa de construir el Partido de la clase obrera en Colombia, porque desde joven comprendió que es el dispositivo estratégico necesario para organizar la Revolución Socialista en el país, como parte de la Revolución Proletaria Mundial; comprendió también que, para construir ese Partido, se necesita un equipo de profesionales revolucionarios que le dediquen los días y las noches a las tareas teóricas y prácticas que exige una empresa de tal envergadura, y ¡vaya que él se esmeraba por obrar así!
Después de la derrota que sufrió el comunismo revolucionario y el proletariado en la URSS y en la RPCh, el camarada Jaime Rangel vio necesario enarbolar, defender y aplicar el marxismo-leninismo-maoísmo como ciencia de la Revolución Proletaria Mundial. Por eso, disciplinadamente se esforzó para estudiar, comprender y aplicar la teoría revolucionaria a las nuevas condiciones.
Entre los camaradas que lo conocieron, eran famosos sus numerosos cuadernos de estudio, en los que a mano apuntaba notas y reflexiones de las obras de los Maestros del proletariado, que constantemente estudiaba y reestudiaba. También eran famosas sus memorias USB en las que clasificaba minuciosamente, por carpetas, con nombres ordenados sistemáticamente, por temas, subtemas, fechas, etc., variados aspectos de investigación, de actualidad, de discusión programática, de planes e informes de diferente índole. Era tan organizado y disciplinado para sistematizar la información, que siempre sabía en qué carpeta de qué memoria se encontraba la información que se le solicitaba para trabajar en algún artículo o informe.
Ni las enfermedades que lo aquejaron pudieron vencer sus fuertes convicciones, aceradas en la práctica de la lucha de masas. Aún bajo los dolores y molestias propias de la enfermedad, asistió disciplinadamente a las marchas, mítines y actividades programadas por los obreros de una u otra fábrica que se encontraban en conflicto. Era común verlo cargando una pancarta o la roja bandera de la clase obrera, asistir en las madrugadas a alguna zona industrial para repartir un volante o vender la prensa, bien abrigado del inclemente frio capitalino, con gorro de lana, tapabocas y en primera fila, a pesar de que sus camaradas le dijeran que por esa vez no asistiera preocupados por su salud.
Jaime Rangel, en medio de sus dificultades de salud, que fueron muchas, siempre cumplió con disciplina militante sus compromisos con las masas en las calles, con los cursos de educación política revolucionaria en los que comúnmente era instructor y con los escritos para la prensa; contra las dificultades de salud, asistió a las asambleas de masas, participó en la distribución de la prensa obrera o de algún volante, no faltó a las reuniones clandestinas de los comunistas en las que se planificaban las tareas que exigían hacerse en ese momento para hacer avanzar la construcción del Partido en Colombia como parte de la futura Internacional Comunista que también está por construirse. El Camarada Jaime Rangel fue ejemplo y guía de muchos comunistas revolucionarios, pues supo beber de la disciplina obrera para aplicarla diariamente como revolucionario.
Hoy a un año de su partida, no olvidamos sus enseñanzas y luchamos contra la corriente por aplicarlas en este largo sendero que nos queda por transitar, especialmente en este momento en el que los comunistas revolucionarios tenemos la exigente tarea de marchar hacia el Congreso de Restauración del Partido en Colombia.
Camarada Jaime Rangel, reafirmamos nuestro compromiso con la construcción del Partido y con la Revolución Proletaria Mundial siguiendo tu ejemplo revolucionario: ¡Hacia donde tu ibas, marcharemos!
