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Joint International Statement: “Be it Surajkund or Kagaar, We Will Never Put Down Our Pens — They Are Our Weapons in this Struggle Against Injustice!”

W. Muncer

 

On 1st October, since 6 a.m. in the morning, around 11 mass movement activists, journalists, trade union activists and civil rights activists’ houses were raided in West Bengal by a joint operation conducted by the NIA, the Gestapo forces of the Brahminical Hindutva fascists RSS-BJP, and the fascist TMC government police’s Special Task Force »to contain Naxalism«. These raids were conducted on basis of the age-old excuse of »the suspicion of them being involved in the organizational work of CPI (Maoist)«.

They have confiscated books, mobile phones, pen-drive and computer hard-drive from RSF activist Comrade Suddha Satya Ray, film director and former member of RSF Abhinjan Sarkar, trade union activists Comrade Shipra Chakraborty, Comrade Sudipta Pal and Comrade Somnath Bera, journalist Prosenjit Chakraborty and all others including Bipasha Sarkar, Sushil Thakur, Jayanta Ghosh, Gour Majumdar, Siddheswar Biswas. Alongside this just to increase the harrassment, they have been summoned as witnesses to the Ranchi office of NIA instead of the NIA office that exists in Kolkata. It has turned out to be the norm of the “Viksit Bharat” that activists struggling for justice are branded as Maoists. State repression is brought down upon those who protest against the attempt to hand over the Jal Jangal Zameen of the country to the different Indian and Foreign big corporates.

All [those] who struggle against the genocide, rape, aerial bombings of the Adivasis, struggling against this ploy, and against the sustained attack on the workers, peasants, women, Dalit and minority community people of the country are branded as Maoists. National Security Adviser, Ajit Doval proudly claims that the civil society is the new »war front«. In the name of defeating Maoism, from the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case to the different raids in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and states across the country, is a manifestation of the Surajkund Action Plan taken by the Central Government to curb »Naxalite pen-wielders« along with gun-wielders. Home Minister Amit Shah has been conducting meetings across the country with administrative and security chiefs and proclaiming the death toll of Maoism.

Ironically, this goalpost constantly moves — what was initially said to be 2022 during the times of Bhima Koregaon, has now become 2026. Similarly, the state government of the fascist TMC are also enraged since these activists have been involved in protests against corruption, rape and genocide perpetrated by them from the very beginning of their regime. Most recently, the huge mass movement against the rape and murder of a PGT intern at RG Kar Medical College saw the participation of these activists. We know that various courts in the country have stated in various judgements that, it is not a crime under the law to believe in the ideology of Maoism or even to be a member of CPI (Maoist), unless the person is directly involved in acts of violence. However, various prominent social activists, lawyers, trade union activists and human rights activists are branded as »overground workers« of one specific banned Maoist organisation and are kept in jail without trial for years. Thus, the trial itself becomes punishment. We apprehend that in order to suppress the ever-expanding mass protests because of the increasing economic crisis in the country and the centre and the state’s anti-people policies, the centre’s NIA and the state’ STF are hatching a plot similar to the Bhima Koregaon case.

We, the undersigned organisations and individuals, strongly protest the raids conducted by the NIA and STF in the homes of 11 political activists in West Bengal to frame fake cases against them. We call upon all the progressive, democratic, and left forces and individuals to build mass resistance against this state repression brought down upon the political activists.

Signed by: —

Individuals:
  1. Prof. Saroj Giri, Delhi University
  2. Prof. Nandita Narain, Delhi University
  3. Prof. PK Vijayan, Delhi University
  4. Prof. Karen Gabriel, Delhi University
  5. K. Murali, Author
  6. N Venugopal, Editor, Veekshanam, Hyderabad
  7. Seema Azad, President, PUCL UP
  8. Deepak Dholakiya (Delhi), Indian Community Activists Network (ICAN)
  9. V. K. Singh, Trade Union activist & Author, Varanasi
  10. Sonmati Kumari, Advocate High Court Allahabad
  11. Dr Ashok Kumar Somal, Rtd IFS from Himachal Pradesh, Working with BJA and LRNA
  12. Himanshu Kumar, Civil Rights Activist
  13. Chaturanan Ojha, AIFRTE Uttar Pradesh
  14. Sharanya Nayak, IPLLK, Koraput
  15. Pradyuman Behera, Researcher, Mumbai
  16. Rajaraman, Student of Indigenous Movements
Organisations:
  1. AISA
  2. AIRSO
  3. COLLECTIVE
  4. CASR
  5. RSF, West Bengal
  6. CRPP, West Bengal
  7. DYSA, West Bengal
  8. PDSF, West Bengal
  9. Anushilan, West Bengal
  10. APDR, West Bengal
  11. ACRA, West Bengal
  12. SKM, West Bengal
  13. SSM, West Bengal
  14. RSA, Andhra Pradesh
  15. SFS, Punjab
  16. DSA, Kerala
  17. JMP, Kerala
  18. Porattom, Kerala
  19. SFPD, Karnataka
  20. BsCEM, Delhi
  21. Nazariya, Delhi
  22. PACHHAS, Delhi
  23. Mulnibasi Students & Youth front, Odisha
  24. Mulnibasi Literature Club, Odisha
  25. BSM, UP
  26. ICM, UP
  27. ILPS
  28. Ground Zero Network
  29. People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty
  30. RSYM, Bangladesh
  31. Chhatro Gonomoncho, Bangladesh
  32. PDSU, Bangladesh
  33. BSU, Bangladesh
  34. ABFSU, Myanmar
  35. ANSU, Nepal
  36. ANNISUR, Nepal
  37. FMN, Indonesia
  38. Tenda Merah Kolektif (Red Tent Collective), Indonesia
  39. Serve the People, Vietnam
  40. PSC, Pakistan
  41. YDG, Turkey
  42. YDK, Turkey
  43. Partizan, Turkey
  44. Federation of Socialist Assemblies (SMF), Turkey
  45. Socialist Youth Movement (SGH), Turkey
  46. Socialist Youth Associations Federation (SGDF), Turkey
  47. Partizan Martyrs and Prisoners Families (PŞTA) (Turkey)
  48. Marxist Students’ Collective, England
  49. Anti-Imperialist Front, Britain
  50. Portland Revolutionary Study Group, USA
  51. Oakland-Berkely Revolutionary Study Group, USA
  52. Material, USA
  53. Common Teachers Forum, Delhi
  54. Anti-Imperialist Action, Denmark
  55. Anti-imperialists – Helsinki, Finland
  56. People’s Dawn, Brazil
  57. People’s Student League, Brazil
  58. People’s Women’s Movement, Columbia
  59. Red League, Germany
  60. Red Mangue, Brazil
  61. Red Unity — Revolutionary Youth League, Brazil
  62. Revolutionary People’s Student Movement, Brazil
  63. Revolutionary Committee of Albacete, Spanish State
  64. Revolutionary Committee of Madrid, Spanish State
  65. Revolutionary Committee of Valencia, Spanish State
  66. Struggle Committee, Norway
  67. Student Movement Serve the People, Columbia
  68. Young Revolutionaries/League of Young Revolutionaries, France
  69. Anti-Imperialist Action, Ireland
  70. Communist Committee of the Netherlands
  71. Action for Democratic Rights of the People (ADRV), Austria
  72. Coordinating Committee of the Anti-Imperialist League
  73. Union of Migrant Workers in Europe (AGEB)
  74. Purple-Red Collective
  75. The Swiss Turkish Workers Federation (İTİF)
  76. Austrian Turkish Workers’ Youth Federation (ATIGF)
  77. Präriebrand, Sweden
  78. Material Journal
  79. Redspark Collective