Are we living in a State that mouths peace but shoots its messengers?

OPINION: AZAD KILLING

FAKERY HAS always been a key instrument of power. But last week, as the President and Prime Minister of India made their Independence Day speeches, cocooned symbolically in towers of glass, the scale of that fakery shot skyward. Both leaders augustly urged the Maoists, yet again, to "abjure violence" and come for talks. Few among the millions of Indians who heard them would have caught the cynicism.

by Cherukuri Rajkumar (Azad)

Reading B.G. Verghese's article Daylight at the Thousand-Star Hotel in Outlook (May 3), one is stunned by the abysmal poverty of thought and colonial mindset of this renowned intellectual. How is it that the illiterate, seemingly uncivilised, backward, half-naked adivasi thinks, analyses and acts a lot better than an established, well-read, highly qualified intellectual like Verghese?

S. V. Rajadurai and V. Geetha

A photograph featured in The Hindu, dated 17-06-2010 shows security personnel in West Bengal , carrying the body of a woman killed in a purported raid on a Maoist hideout. The woman's body had been trussed up like the carcass of a dead animal. The photo speaks volumes of how the Indian state views those it considers a threat to the internal security of the nation - as people beneath its contempt and consideration.

While the Indian Government considers deploying the army and air force to quell the rebellion in the countryside, strange things are happening in the cities. By Arundhati Roy

On the 2nd of June the Committee for the Protection of Democratic Rights (CPDR) held a public meeting in Mumbai. The main speakers were Gautam Navlakha, editorial consultant of the Economic and Political Weekly and myself. The press was there in strength. The meeting lasted for more than three hours. It was widely covered by the print media and TV. On June 3rd, several newspapers, TV channels and online news portals like Rediff.com, covered the event quite accurately. The Times of India (Mumbai edition), had an article headlined "We need an idea that is neither Left nor Right", and the Hindu's article was headlined "Can we leave the bauxite in the mountain?" The recording of the meeting is up on YouTube.

In the early hours of 28 May 2010, a goods train rammed 13 derailed coaches of the 2012 UP Howrah-Kurla Gnyaneswari Express between the Khemshuli and Sardiha stations in West Bengal, killing more than 150 people and injuring many others as reports last came in. The incident occurred around 1.30 a.m. when most of the passengers were fast asleep.  Immediately after the incident, the West Bengal DGP, Bhupinder Singh lost no time in blaming the Maoists for the disaster stating that the rebels had removed pandrol clips and fish plates from both up and down tracks leading to the accident. Mamata Banerjee, the Railway Minister, initially blamed the Maoists for an explosion on the track; later, however, she retracted and held that some political conspiracy was being hatched by the CPI(M) to malign her, her party and the railways department in order gain political mileage to stem inevitable defeat in the coming municipal elections.

Large sections of the media (Print and TV) have come all out against the Maoists and started publishing reports, editorials and articles almost every day. A section of the civil rights groups have also, without making any enquiry, have accused the Maoists of indulging in such 'terrorist' acts. What is particularly disturbing is that most of these reports appear to be blatantly biased and have not taken into cognizance the statement of denial of their involvement in the incident issued by the Maoists themselves.  Something like the mediaeval Europe type of witch-hunting has started with actors calling upon the central government to engage as many forces as possible to deal with this Maoist 'virus' and rejected any proposal for dialogue with them.

By Trevor Selvam

First, the Ms. Quasimodo of Bengal and Indian politics, Mamata Banerjee announces that it was a “bomb blast” with great bombast. Then, Bhupinder Singh, the Police IG and KPSGill-wannabee (who had earlier smeared and lied about Chatradhar Mahato’s insurance, property etc and never bothered to retract anything) says that two posters were found proving that the Maoist PCAPA had taken “responsibility ”for the train disaster. The two posters, it turned out, merely stated the intent of the local PCAPA the reasons for their on-going struggles. Ms. Bomberjee also claimed that a pilot vehicle had passed by just before. She did not state how “before” it was. One hour, two hours, five hours, one day? After the entire place is “infested” with Maoists. Is it not? 

Now the tone is changing gradually. A foot and half of fish-plates were found removed. A BBC cameraman has displayed the gap in one of their broadcasts. No evidence of a blast any longer. No evidence of gelatine, dynamite, ammonium nitrate. The foreign press had already expressed some caution, in their statements and terminology. But not the Indian press. They are so free, unfettered and dynamic when it comes to spreading innuendo!