INDIA: Appeal from the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Action Week from September 13th to 19th
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
Central Committee
5 June 2022
Appeal from the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Make success the Worldwide Action Week from September 13th to 19th for the release of Political Prisoners and demanding a stop to drone attacks as per the call of ICSPWI
The ICSPWI gave a call to observe Action Week for the release of political prisoners and with the demand to stop drone attacks on the revolutionary people and revolutionaries in the areas of revolutionary movement in India from September 13th to 19th on the occasion of 93rd death Anniversary of Comrade Jatin Das, a colleague of prominent National Revolutionaries Comrades Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. The Central Committee of our Party CPI (Maoist) calls upon the entire units of the Party, PLGA, Revolutionary people’s organs, revolutionary people, workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, women, religious minorities, Dalit and tribal people, the Marxist, Leninist, Maoist parties, organisations, anti-imperialist organisations, individuals, oppressed nationalities and oppressed classes in various countries of the world to participate in the Action Week with firm determination and make it a success.
In the background of further intensifying financial and economic crisis of imperialism, the imperialists are implementing globalisation policies to overcome the crisis, for markets of their MNCs and for natural resources. They are bringing fascist parties to power to speed up corporatisation in the backward semi-colonial, semi-feudal countries. As a part of it they brought the Modi government to power in the leadership of Brahmanic Hindutva Fascist RSS-BJP in semi-colonial, semi-feudal India. Since Modi government came to power fascist attacks further intensified all over the country. Constitutional organisations are saffronized/fascistized. Allotments
to the government, police, Para-military and Indian Army forces are constantly been raising in the Defense budget of the country and are being militarised. Several anti-people Acts, especially draconian repressive Acts that are against the interests of workers, farmers, middle class, small and medium kind traders and shop-owners were made. Fascist rulers cannot see the daily, fundamental and life and death problems of the people. They make a big propaganda that terrorist and left extremism is causing danger to the security of the country. Corporate media hypes the propaganda. Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA)-2019, Human Rights Commission Amendment Act-2019, NIA Amendment Act-2019, Right to Information Amendment Act-2019 and other such Acts that crush minimum freedom and independence of the people are part of it. As a result, there are fascist attacks on human rights activists, social activists, lawyers, worker and farmer leaders, activists, democrats, tribals fighting with the slogans of ‘jal-jungle-zameen-ijjat-adhikar’, ‘our government in our village’, Muslims, women, students, teachers, lecturers, Professors and artists. They are foisted with false cases under draconian Acts such as UAPA and Sedition and put to physical and mental tortures. Especially it has become a normal feature in the country to arrest the leadership, cadres, activists of Mass Organisation, Presidents and members of Revolutionary People’s Committees, activists of People’s Militia, sympathisers of our party who are fighting with the objective of liberating the country from the exploitation and oppression of the imperialists and comprador rulers and establish New Democratic system for the past above five decades, to arrest the leaders, activists and people of organisations fighting for the liberation of nationalities such as Kashmir, Naga, Manipur, Asom and Bodo. Hundreds of such people are languishing in jails in our areas of movement. They are not bothered about the repeated directions of the Supreme Court to the police and Para-military forces to implement minimum force when dealing with people’s movements or the number of reports released by government agencies such as the Human Rights Commissions on the lock-up murders, atrocities on women and police tortures. On the contrary they are imprisoning pro-people activists of various organisations and social activists. They are threatening lawyers who are taking up people’s cases and depriving the people of justice. The police do not exempt the rights’ activists and lawyers working professionally and with commitment for the release of political prisoners. Associations that have to protect the interests of lawyers and clients degenerated into ‘Khap Panchayats’ directing the lawyers not to take up any case of Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Maoists’. There are attacks on Magistrates who warn the inappropriate and indiscriminate arrests of innocent tribal people. The District Magistrate of Sukma Prabhakar Gwal was removed from his job in the name of ‘people’s interest’. Deputy Jailor of Raipur Central Jail Varsha Dongre was suspended. Sexual atrocity is used as a weapon to suppress the movements. There is constant pressure on the people to surrender, to work as informers and to join the various police, Para-Military forces. They are lured in various ways. Thousands of people left their villages unable to bear police harassment.
Leader of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) Professor Saibaba, Revolutionary writer Varavara Rao, Professor Anand Teltumbde and all those foisted with the false Bhima Koregaon case are languishing in jail for the past few years. One of the persons in the case Father Stan Swamy was murdered in the jail being deprived of minimum medical facilities. Member of the CC of our Party Comrade Milind Teltumbde was murdered in the Mardintola-Pareva encirclement attack with the collaboration of Modi’s Hindutva fascist government and the respective state government. Modi government is conspiring to murder the rest also in some or the other manner. Although Varavara Rao was granted bail owing to the pressure of people’s movements, he was kept in house arrest. Sudha Bharadwaj was granted conditional bail. We need to demand the lifting of conditional bail on them. The rest of those in the case are suffering with many prolonged diseases. We need to demand their immediate release. NIA is coming in the way to all the appeals to release them on bail. We are aware that all the judicial experts of the country and the world are severely opposing this.
In the process member of Polit Bureau of the CC of our Party and in-charge of the Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB) Comrade Kishanda (Prasant Bose) and CCM Sheela Marandi were arrested in Saraikela on 12th November 2021 by the Jharkhand police. Comrade Kishanda is 76 years old and is suffering with Coronary artery, Anstable angina and Cerebro vescular accident since 2014, Prostrate cancer for test, Osteo Arthritis, Blood Pressure and Sugar and other such diseases. Comrade Sheeladi is suffering from Blood Pressure hypertrophy and ventricular hypertrophy, Gall bladder stone, Osteo Arthritis, Osteoporosis and Senile Cataract and were undergoing treatment. The diseases need immediate treatment without delay. But the government plans to imprison and murder Comrade Prasant Bose alleging him to be the main person in the Bhima Koregaon case. In fact the prominent forensic Arsenal lab of US exposed the conspiracy of the government in the Bhima Koregaon case. NIA did not submit the charge sheet to the court in time. The judiciary that has to annul the case and release them is acting on the dictates of the government. The NIA was given all powers in such cases.
Member of the CC and member of Western Ghats Special Zonal Committee Comrade Vijay (BG Krishnamurty) was arrested along with a woman comrade Savitri on 9th November 2021 in Sultan Batheri village of Wayanad district of Kerala. Member of the CC Comrade Kanchanda (Arun Kumar Bhattacharya) was arrested along with Aakash Urang (Rahul/Kajallon 5th March 2022 in a tea plantation in Udarband area of Asom. He is 72 years old and is leading the revolutionary movement staying secret in spite of suffering with several diseases for a long time.
Member of the CC Comrade Jaspalji (Vijay Kumar Arya) was arrested in Samhata village in the jurisdiction of Rohtas police station of Rohtas district in Bihar on 13th April 2022. Journalist Rupesh Kumar Singh (Bhagalpur), Anil Yadav (Rafiganj, Aurangabad), Rajesh Gupta, Umesh Chowdary (Samhata, Rohtas) were foisted draconian Acts by NIA.
The comprador rulers plan to murder all these persons and especially our party leadership by foisting several draconian acts and murder them in prison. They are stamping the democratic value of ‘jail is not a necessity. Bail is a rule’. Supreme Court directed to give first importance to bail petitions but no one bothers it. This is unconstitutional.
Hindutva government of Modi did not arrest the actual conspirers, a Hindutva teacher Milind Ekbote and Anil Bhide and violated the nominal democracy in the country. None of the police officers was punished in spite of the reports of the massacres in Sarkinguda and Edsametta in Chhattisgarh that they were police murders. Nothing is said about action on the murderers of Father Stan Swamy. Dozens of extreme Hindutva organisations in the country are indulging in constant mob lynching, prestige murders chanting ‘Gayi, Ganga, Geeta’. Although these organisations have a hand in the murders of Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, Kalburgi and Gowri Lankesh these are working ‘legally’.
A religious minority of the country, the Muslims are the majority in the jails. Innocent oppressed Dalit and tribal people are imprisoned in thousands of numbers. All the victims of TADA, POTA and the present UAPA are mostly from the poor classes belonging to Muslim, Dalit and tribal communities. Father Stan Swamy wrote in his research paper that 97 percent of the three thousand tribal people languishing in the Jharkhand prisons for years together were foisted with false allegations. Especially most of the political prisoners are languishing in jails without trial. There are attacks on human rights activists, social activists, lawyers, democrats, secular, progressive persons, patriots, poets, writers and artists constantly fighting for the rights of women and people of Dalit, tribal and religious minorities. They are branded ‘urban Maoists’ and are put in jails. They are given life imprisonment and prolonged rigorous imprisonment. Thousands of people are behind the bars for many years on false allegations and are finally released not guilty.
The Jehanabad district court of Bihar proclaimed hanging to 10 comrades and life imprisonment to three in the Sinari case. The mercy petition on the hanging for four Maoist prisoners in the Bara case was pending with the President’s office for the past 24 years. Finally the President issued directions that ‘they have to stay in jail until they are alive’. The Munger district court gave death sentence to five tribal and farmer activists. The Dumka district court of Jharkhand proclaimed death sentence to Comrade Praveer, a member of the East Bihar- North East Jharkhand Special Area Committee of our Party. Ranaveer Sena, a private army of the oppressor caste landlords in Bihar massacred 256 poor Dalit people in 23 incidents in the 1980s and 1990s. None of the police or jail officers was given hanging by any court who massacred thousands of top leaderships, cadres of the revolutionary party in the past 50 years. None of the Congress or BJP leaders responsible for the 1984 Sikh massacre and the 2002 Gujarat massacre were given hanging. This is the class justice of the ruling courts.
Revolutionaries and fighters of national liberation are being harassed and tortured in many ways. In spite of decades of Supreme Court judgment not to chain the prisoners, they, especially the political prisoners are being chained all over the body in solitary confinement. Revolutionaries like Bhupeshda, Sadhanala Ramakrishna, Amit Bagchi, Asutosh, Madkam Gopanna are undergoing life imprisonment. These comrades are firmly holding high the revolutionary flag. They are moulding prisons into revolutionary schools and centers of people’s struggle. The leaders of our party are leading the struggles in jails all over the country with the main demand to recognise them as political prisoners, for the rights and minimum facilities for prisoners and other such utmost just demands thus turning the prison into another arena of war. We need to fight for the unconditional release of all of them. The main problem is that they are not being granted bail. They are not being taken to the court adjournments, trial is prolonged and are arrested outside the gate of the jail each time they are released. The courts have to direct the police to register all the cases on the arrested person within 4 months of his/her arrest. Measures must be taken to implement all the punishments given by courts in various cases at a time, i.e., in concurrency. But this is not happening. This is against the Indian Constitution. We need to take up a political campaign in the country and internationally so as the political prisoners have minimum facilities, their economic needs are fulfilled and to take up their cases.
Indian Constitution specifies that prisons must act as centres to reform prisoners. However the Indian Prisons Act and the manuals adopted by the various state governments are nothing but duplicates to the jail manual adopted by the British government in 1894. Another major hurdle to reforms in jail is that IPS officers happen to be jail officers. Thus the jail rules are implemented as per the interests of the police officers. As a result, the thousands of ordinary prisoners in the 1,382 prisons undergoing trial or punishment are in pathetic conditions. Indian prisons are considered to be utmost worse in the whole world. Misappropriation and atrocities of the jail officers are unlimited. Officers normally apply third degree tortures on the prisoners who question the violation of prison regulations and rights. It is noticeable that the Supreme Court commented that prisoners are stuffed in jails beyond capacity. To tell an example, while the capacity of Chhattisgarh prisons is 6,070, there were more than 16,000 prisoners by 2017. Forty three percent of the undertrial prisoners are being imprisoned for 6 months to 5 years. Punishment for the cases foisted on them would not have put them in prison for so long. Owing to poverty and police repression the relatives of prisoners are facing many difficulties to go for interviews.
Water and hygiene including food for the prisoners are horrible than cattle centers. There are no minimum health facilities in prisons. If a water pipe comes under repair, it takes 3 to 4 months to set it right. Unnatural deaths (murders) have become ordinary feature in all the prisons in the country. Many of our activists and rights’ activists laid down their lives this way. According to a survey 1900 to 2100 prisoners undergoing punishment or trial are dying in the country every year. Members of Polit Bureau Comrade Barunda (Susheel Roy) and Comrade Vijayda (Narayan Sanyal), members of the CC Comrades Tapasda (Patit Pavan Haldar) and Comrade Chintanda (Narendra Singh) died within a short time after their release due to the physical and mental tortures from the police and jail authorities when in prison. Comrade Narmada, a leader of Dandakaranya movement who went for treatment for cancer and her partner Comrade Kiran were arrested and Comrade Narmada laid down her life in the hospital on 9th April 2022 deprived of proper treatment. All these are the murders of the rulers.
Women are frequently suffering from ill health in prisons. Woman political prisoners are facing more problems. Brahmanic feudal patriarchy is suppressing them. Woman prisoners have to remove their slippers and bow to the jail authorities. They have to cover their head with the saree failing which they will have to hear severe abuses. Women need to be given nutritious food but it is not given. Certain special facilities are not available for women. Sexual atrocities are normal on women in the prisons. No one bothers such incidents. Police state is being unleashed under the rule of comprador rulers. Human intelligence (constituting informers, coverts and traitors), technical intelligence (various kinds of software of vigilance technology like Pegasus, mobile tapping, devices such as CC TV cameras and vigil through satellites and drones) are spreading all over the country and the entire country turned into a big prison. All these are a part of Fourth Generation Warfare to suppress the civil society, non-state groups, organisations and parties that are making various kinds of protests and people’s struggles against the imperialists and comprador rulers.
However, due to the militant democratic movements all over the country, the government had to rethink about Section 124 A (Sedition Act) and AFSPA-1958. It annulled AFSPA in many areas of North Eastern states. These apart, there are several democratic movements in the domestic and international planes for the annulment of draconian laws such as UAPA. We need to intensify these struggles. Democrats, human rights organisations, Dalit and tribal organisations organisations of women, students and teachers-lecturers, individuals and various Marxist, Leninist, Maoist parties, organisations, anti-imperialist organisations and individuals are fighting in the country with the slogan of save ‘democracy’.
On the other hand the danger of drone attacks is rising in the areas of movement, mainly in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. 12 bombs were dropped through drones between 2 and 3 o’clock in the early hours of 19th April in 2021 in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh. In 2022 more than SO high explosive bombs were dropped in four places from 1.09 am to 1.35 am on April 14- 15. These drone attacks clearly indicate the danger to the indigenous. Since our PLGA forces took necessary precautions and the bombs dropped in the fields of the tribal people there was no loss of life. However the lives of the tribal people are at stake with bombing as they are engaged with the daily agriculture work. On both the occasions of drone bombing, the tribal people mobilised in a big way and held protest demonstrations and meetings. Media widely covered these. It also covered the breaches formed in the ground and the affected trees in the two attacks. But the police officers did not agree that they made the drone attacks. In turn they alleged that the Maoists are propagating lies and are instigating the people. In both the cases the people and the media were eye witness. The CC, DKSZC and the South Sub-Zonal Bureau issues press statements condemning these bomb attacks. They attached the evidences regarding the attacks. In addition to the local police, COBRA, DRG, STF, Greyhound Commandos and Indian Army forces, mainly the Airforce officers, men, technicians, ultra- modern drones and helicopters took part in the second attack. The attack was coordinated among Pamed (Bijapur district) police camp, Vimpa (Sukma district) camp, Chennapuram (Bhadradri Kottagudem district of Telangana). Preparations were made for 50 days. There are heavy preparations in the Pamed police camp for more drone attacks. Preparations were made in the supervision of top officials within the camp camouflaged with green clothes. The Indian armies are unleashing war on the people. Presently the Indian Army forces are deployed in large numbers in the veil of local forces in all the camps in the areas of the movement.
The drone attacks were held in the direct supervision of the police, Para-Military, Army forces and the officials with the permission of the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Bhupesh Baghel in the guidance of the Central Home Minister Amit Shah, Ajit Dobhal, and Vijay Kumar as per the direction of PM Modi. Five to six thousand forces were deployed for these attacks. The forces were deployed in Cherla, Pamed, Basaguda including Kollai, Kadiyum, Pottong, Vimpa, Elmagunda, Sonad Ervu, Burkapal, Chintalnar, Chintagupha, Basaguda and Chennapuram. A new police camp was set up in Poosuguppa village on the border of Chhattisgarh and Telangana on 29”‘ April. The local indigenous people have been holding demonstrations for the past several months in protest to this proposed camp. But the authorities did not heed to the people’s protests. The same day there was another police camp in Uddipenta village. Fifth Schedule is in implementation in Bastar. The indigenous people of Bastar have been making agitation since 2019 November in many areas in protest to the proposed camps without the permission of Gram Sabha and the massacres unleashed by the police. New police camps are being set up in spite of these agitations. There are fake encounter murders. People are being arrested on fake reasons, beaten and atrocities on women are going on without stop.
This war has been imposed by the Indian government to loot the -jal-jungle-zameen and natural resources and to hand them over to the domestic and foreign big capitalists on the party and the people. It is not possible to loot the resources without displacing the tribal people and eliminating our party. The war is being made to eliminate the Krantikari Janatana Sarkars that stood as a ray of hope to the poor and oppressed people. This is gross violation of Indian Constitution. It is because the war is being made in the areas of Fifth Schedule. This heckles the rights of Gram Sabha as per PESA. This is violation of international judicial rules and the rules of chapter of indigenous people of the UNO.
Our war of resistance-People’s War is just. This is in the interest of the majority people. Our party is working in the interests of the entire oppressed people. We are fighting back the unjust war of the government. We are resisting the war in the interests of the broad masses, to stop environmental destruction and to protect the resources for future generations apart from protecting the tribal people. People, Mass Organisations, Party, PLGA, RPCs are resisting the war in order to protect and strengthen the RPCs and jal-jungle-zameen-survival- identity-self-respect. We will not surrender, we are prepared to make sacrifices to accomplish revolution. On the contrary the police, Para-Military and Army forces are making war against their people in the interests of exploiters such as Ambani and Adani. Unjust war never won in history. Even if it won it was temporary. People will gain the ultimate victory.
The CC of our Party appeals to the democrats, judicial experts, human rights organisations in the country and the world, organisations in solidarity to People’s War in India, ILPS to intensify protest movement against the rising attack of Brahmanic Hindutva Fascist Modi government on the revolutionary movement going on in the leadership of our party and the movements of the oppressed classes, sections and nationalities and democratic rights and especially the ongoing and proposed heavy drone attacks. It appeals to take up protest programs on the occasion of international Action Week from September 13″‘ to 19″‘ in front of the Indian embassies in the respective countries together with the workers and other toiling masses, employees, intellectuals and journalists of Indian background.
Demands
1. Release political prisoners unconditionally
2. Put a stop to the ongoing, proposed heavy drone attacks unleashed by the Modi government and the Chhattisgarh state government in the areas of the movement.
3. All those in jail on cases of social and political struggles must be provided the status of political prisoner.
4. Annul UAPA, AFSPA and security Acts in various states. Sedition Act must be removed from Indian Criminal Code. All those arrested under these Acts must be released unconditionally.
5. Put a stop to the violation of rights of the prisoners, especially the political prisoners and woman prisoner and the suppression and atrocities on them.
6. Jail manuals must be reformed. Conditions in prisons must be bettered as per the manuals.
7. Put a stop to the fascist ‘SAMADHAN’-Prahar offensive.
8. Put a stop to suppress the voice of those who speak against injustice.
9. Stop suppressing the struggles of the indigenous people to protect the natural resources of the country.
10. Stop the cruel suppression of the government mercenary forces on the national liberation movements of oppressed nationalities such as of Kashmir, Nagaland, Asom and Manipur.
11. Stop Brahmanic Hindutva fascist and Manuist offensive on workers, peasants and other oppressed classes, students-youth, Professors, religious minorities, Dalit people, women and other oppressed sections.
Abhay
Spokesperson
Central Committe
