Justice Rajender Sachar, Retired Chief Justice, Delhi High Court
Dr B D Sharma, Former National Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Tribes
Dhiraj Sengupta, APDR
Debaprasad Roychoudhury, General Secretary, APDR
Puskar Raj, PUCL
Varavara Rao, Revolutionary Poet
Apart from above speakers, some among the organizers will also speak.
Demands of the meeting:
The Central and State governments should immediately stop ‘Operation Green Hunt’ and physical elimination of Naxal /Maoist leaders and cadres.
The Central government should set up a high level Judicial Enquiry Committee on the killing of Kishanji.
The government should register a case of culpable homicide under section 302 of IPC, so that the killers of Kishanji are forced to face the court trial, as directed by Supreme Court and National Human Rights Commission.
The Fact-finding team of various civil and democratic rights organizations established beyond doubt that the Maoist leader Kishanji was first captured and severely tortured by security forces and then killed on 24 November 2011 in a planned fake encounter under the connivance of both West Bengal and Central governments.
On behalf of the cadres as well as the rank and file members of the Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist), we express our condolences for the cold-blooded murder and planned assassination of c. Kishanji alias Mallojula Koteswara Rao, Politburo Member of CPI (Maoist) on 24 November 2011. We strongly condemn the murderous Indian state which, once more, manifested its barbarous character against any revolutionary fighting to defend people’s rights and social liberation. This murder comes a few months after the torture and killing of c. Azad, another high cadre of PCI (Maoist) and exposes the hate but also the fear of the Indian reactionary establishment for the development of people’s struggle all over India.
Greek communists will by all means express their solidarity through their own struggle against imperialism and reactionary forces, promoting our common tasks for a revolutionary change and a socialist future.
Political Bureau of Communist Party of Greece (Marxist-Leninist)
"Angela Sontakke was assaulted and mercilously beaten by Nagpur jail staff."
Angela Sontakke, arrested from Mumbai on 24th April 2011 along with 4 young girls who were student activists and two boys from Pune, for having links with Maoists and charged under UAPA, is an undertrial. Angela and the four girls are currently lodged in Byculla women's jail under the judicial custody of the 13th Sessions Court at Sewri.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 01 November 2011 15:28 Read more...
The struggle for Telangana state has once again intensified, with the people observing two-days of successful Telangana Bandh on 5th and 6th June, after the MLAs and MPs from the region being forced to tender their resignation under popular pressure. The central government has been using all possible excuse and manipulation to delay the inevitability of the Telangana state, whether by forming the Srikrishna Committee in 2009, or insisting on building 'consensus' among the parliamentary parties ever since the submission of the Committee Report. The Committee was nothing more than a delaying tactic, while its Report was primarily concerned with advising the government how to effectively crush the movement, as the notorious 8th Chapter of the Srikrishna Committee Report has revealed.
Last Updated on Wednesday, 07 September 2011 14:24 Read more...
Please Sign this Online Petition against the authoritarian actions on the JNU Forum against War on People by the university administration, and circulate it widely: http://www.petitiononline.com/jnufawp0/petition.html
With regards,
JNU Forum against War on People --------------------------------------------------
A note on the petition
As you know, the JNU Forum against War on People have been consistently active in the last two years in opposing Operation Green Hunt, the Indian state's war on people. The activities and campaigns of the Forum has to a great extent mobilised a strong opinion against this repressive war by the state, which has made it a target of the JNU administration as well as the right-wing students' organisations. Now by using the pretext of an 'objectionable' image, the administration is conducting a farcical Proctorial Enquiry against the students associated with the Forum, and launched a witch-hunt for them. Moreover, it has effectively put a ban on all activities of the Forum including public meetings etc. by 'restraining' the Forum from all activities pending the enquiry. This highly objectionable and authoritartian act has been strongly opposed by the Forum, the student community of JNU as well as the teachers, since it is not an attack on one particular organisation, but on the democratic space and political culture of the university itself.
We, on behalf of the JNU Forum against War on People, appeal to you to support the struggle of the students in all possible manner. We request you to endorse and sign a petition to the Vice Chancellor opposing the actions of the administration, and demanding their immediate withdrawal. We look forward to your much-needed support to strengthen our collective struggle against Operation Green Hunt and state repression on the people.
To: Concerned Individuals and organisations against Operation Greenhunt
To,
The Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University
We are shocked to know that the JNU administration has given a “restraint order” in the campus, notifying students of an ongoing Proctorial Enquiry against the JNU Forum against War on People. This “restraint order” prohibits the Forum from holding any public meetings or other events till the enquiry is over. Furthermore, the JNU printing shops have been instructed not to photocopy any written material issued by the Forum.
This, we believe, is tantamount to imposing an undeclared ban on a democratic platform, that too in a university as acclaimed as JNU which is widely known for its democratic culture. The steps taken by the administration are regrettable.
The ‘JNU Forum against War on People’ was formed two years ago in JNU in opposition to the initiation of Operation Green Hunt. The context in which the Proctorial Enquiry is said to be going on is the distribution of a campaign document having “objectionable material” allegedly violating sections 3 and 7 of State Emblem Act, 2005. However, this “objectionable material” is nothing but a pictorial description of the Indian State smashing the people under its jackboot, which is widely available in the public domain.
We believe, the pictorial representation is an artistically made political expression. The Forum used it in the purpose of campaign for a public meeting organised on 5 March 2011 opposing Operation Green Hunt and state’s onslaught on the people. The meeting was addressed by noted writer Arundhati Roy and well known economist Prof. Amit Bhaduri, who is also the Emeritus Professor of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. The meeting saw an unprecedented attendance of more than 600 students.
At a time when there is a mounting onslaught on the Adivasis and various other oppressed and deprived sections of the people in the name of Development by the Indian State, it is imperative that the students and all other sensitised sections discuss the manifold dimensions of Operation Green Hunt. The JNU Forum against War on People has been mobilising public opinion on the same. The authoritarian administrative action of gagging the forum is reminiscent of the Indian State’s attempts to clamp down on the voices of dissent. The incarceration of Dr. Binayak Sen and scores of civil and political rights activists have been going on unabated in urban centres while the resisting Adivasis and other people are repressed by the Indian State in mineral rich forest areas. It is important for the powers-that-be to totally black-out these criminal acts of rape, murder, loot and plunder of the resisting Adivasis committed by the armed forces of the Indian state in central and eastern India.
In this context, irrespective of political agreement or disagreement with the Forum’s political views, we feel that it is uncalled for and unilateral on the part of JNU administration to interpret the use of a publicly and widely available image by the Forum as a supposed violation of legal provisions. A university as acclaimed as JNU should and must have spaces to discuss, debate and deliberate on all important issues of socio-economic and political significance, as that is what this University has been known for. We are of the opinion that the JNU Administration’s action is an infringement of students’ democratic and political rights. It is the curtailment both of students’ freedom to hold and convey their political views as well as of the freedom of artistic expressions. The Administration is setting dangerous precedents through the Proctorial Enquiry and these circulars, which will harm the widely known and acclaimed democratic culture of the JNU campus.
We strongly condemn this authoritarian and arbitrary act of the administration, which is nothing but stifling the voices of dissent that is the backbone of any democratic society. We demand that the JNU administration stop the ongoing Proctorial Enquiry on the students associated with the JNU Forum against War on People. We also demand that it withdraws the circulars issued by the Chief Proctor’s office on 19 May 2011 with immediate effect.
Abdul Nasar Maudany, a Muslim religious scholar and the founder of People's Democractic Party (PDP), Kerala has been in Bangalore Jail since August 2010 for his alleged role in the Bangalore blasts of 2008. He was incarcerated using the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and has been refused bail several times by the Karnataka High Court in the past few months. When the plea reached the Supreme Court this May it was further referred to a new Bench following differences between the two judges.
Last Updated on Sunday, 22 May 2011 21:59 Read more...
Solidarity
