tribune of the people

 Philadelphia

Solidarity graffiti in support of the People’s War in India as well as Indian political prisoners was documented in Philadelphia, reading, “Support the People’s War in India,” “Free GN Saibaba,” and “Free Varavara Rao.”

Armed Naxalites Carry Out Action In Chatra District

Chatra District, October 16: Armed Naxalites set a loader and two dumpers on fire at Bachra railway siding of Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) in Chatra district, police said on Friday.

Tandwa Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Ashutosh Satyam said around 15 Naxalites entered the Bachra railway sliding on Thursday night and to scare away the workers engaged in coal loading fired in the air.

The workers fled the spot in fear after which the Naxalites set a loader and two dumpers on fire, the police said.

The Tandwa SDPO rushed to the spot after getting the information. The fire was extinguished by the fire brigade personnel.

Superintendent of Police Rishabh Jha said police has started an investigation into the incident.

JOINT STATEMENT BY DU STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS ON THE RAPE AND MURDER OF A 17 YEAR OLD DALIT GIRL IN RAJPURA GURHMANDI AND FIR AGAINST DETAINED FAMILY, STUDENT ACTIVISTS AND JOURNALIST, 17-10-2020

A 17 year old Dalit girl from Rajpura GurhMandi who was working as a domestic worker at a house in Model Town was found dead in the employer’s house on October 4th. The family has alleged rape and murder of the victim by the employer’s son and driver. The family has stated that the girl attempted speaking to her aunt just hours before her death only to be interrupted by the landlady. Later, the family was called and after a heated exchange with the police, were briefly allowed to see the body of the girl who was found hanging from the ceiling of the drivers room. The body was later whisked away without disclosure of any details about the whereabouts of the body. It was finally on October 8th, that the police allowed the family to briefly view the body after the postmortem and forcefully took it away and cremated it without the consent of the family and in the presence of approximately 300 police officials. This was done despite repeated requests by the family to let them take the body to their house for a short duration of time.

Family members of the victim, including women, were subjected to extreme physical torture by male police personnel, while in police custody for a duration of 8 hours. This had occurred when they reached the police station to enquire about the whereabouts of the body.

On the 16th of October, a protest was called outside Model Town Police Station demanding an immediate registration of FIR, fair and impartial investigation into the incident and action to be taken against police officials involved in the forceful cremation of the girl’s body and custodial torture of the family. At this protest gathering 10 people were detained, taken into police custody and brutally assaulted by the police personnel. The detainees include family members, student activists and a Caravan journalist. The Model Town police have now registered an FIR agianst the detained persons under the Epidemic Act.

The brazenness with which the Delhi police have attempted to cover up, destroy evidence and crush the protesting family into silence shows the extent of state impunity granted to the police and the accused, when they belong to the affluent class or upper caste sections. Ever since the Hathras gangrape case effected massive outrage across the country, several reports of sexual violence and murder of women, especially from Dalit and marginalized sections, have surfaced along with news of Hathras style forceful cremations, procedural lapses, destruction of evidence and cover-ups.

While we recognise that these are not isolated incidents and are located in the larger social reality shaped and defined by caste, patriarchy and class based relations and institutions, it is imperative to recognise the blatant state sanction involved in shielding perpetrators that only serves to embolden such caste based sexual violence.

We have seen in the case of Hathras rape victim how from the local police, medical examiners, district administration to government, the entire state apparatus was in cohorts to distort the statement of the victim and family violating all principles of fairness and justice. This model keeps getting replicated everyday along with rising cases of sexual violence and heavy repression of public outrage and protests by the heavy state machinery. We condemn the illegal cover up, destruction of evidence, forceful cremation and custodial violence and the attempt to criminalize peaceful protesters by the Model Town Police.

We demand:
1) Immediate registration of FIR against the accused under relevant sections of IPC and SC ST Atrocities Act.
2) Independent and impartial investigation to be carried out into the case.
3) Immediate action to be taken against police personnel involved in committing procedural lapses and forceful cremation of the victim’s body.
4) Action to be taken against police personnel who were involved in the custodial violence of the family members, student activists and a journalist.
5) Withdraw the FIR filed against family members, students and journalist for peacefully protesting.

BSCEM

Disha

DSU

KYS

PinjraTod

SFI

Varavara Rao’s Continued Custody Amounts to Inhuman Treatment, Says Wife in SC Petition

Pendyala Hemalatha’s petition said the writer and poet should be granted bail, citing various health issues that he is facing.

A file image of Varavara Rao.

The Wire StaffLawRights

New Delhi: The wife of Telugu poet and writer Varavara Rao, arrested in connection with the Elgar Parishad case, moved the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking bail for him, claiming that his continued custody amounted to cruel and inhuman treatment.

The petition, filed by Pendyala Hemalatha, urged the court that during the pendency of the petition, the 81-year-old accused be released on temporary medical bail and be allowed to travel to Hyderabad to be with his family and loved ones.

It sought the immediate release of Rao on the ground that his continued custody amounts to cruel and inhuman treatment, violating Article 21 of the Constitution (life or personal liberty) and violative of his dignity in custody.

The plea said that he has lost about 18 kg and is suffering from various health issues and is “basically bed-ridden”.

The plea said: “The health condition of the Petitioner’s husband is very feeble and he suffers from various co-morbidities. It is submitted that it is well known that COVID-19 patients do not have similar symptoms. It is further known that COVID-19 hampers all organs including neurological or/ and every patient displays different symptoms.”

The petition says that when Rao was arrested on August 28, 2018, he had no neurological problems. “It is therefore highly likely that COVID-19 and the fall that he had in St. George Hospital has led to neurological problems as reflected in the medical report filed by Nanavati Hospital dated July 30,” it adds.

The petition, filed by advocate Sunil Fernandes, said that considering the co-morbidity factors of age, persistent hyponatremia in COVID-19 case, the patient will require close monitoring.

Earlier when he was discharged, he was advised to undergo sodium test, which apparently had not been done by the jail authorities.

The petition says that after Rao was hospitalised on May 27, he was “hurriedly discharged” in June, while his bail plea on the ground of his medical problems and COVID-19 was pending. This was despite the fact that he needed constant follow ups and the move was only to “avoid judicial determination of his bail on medical grounds”, the petition says.

The petition says Rao’s health condition continues to be precarious.

Rao lacks bowel and urine control, the petition says, adding that he has a catheter urine bag and has to use diapers. He is being given swab baths by the co-accused as he is ‘basically bed-ridden’, the petition says, adding that Rao’s mental status is also not sound.

Rao was among several activists and lawyers who were arrested by the Pune Police in the Elgar Parishad case in 2018. The case has been transferred to the National Investigating Agency (NIA), which has subsequently arrested more activists and academics, with Stan Swamy the latest to be taken into custody.

With Swamy’s arrest, 16 people have been arrested in connection with the case. Those arrested earlier were Sudhir Dhawale, a writer and Mumbai-based Dalit rights activist; Mahesh Raut, a young activist from Gadchiroli who worked on displacement; Shoma Sen, who was the head of the English literature department at Nagpur University; advocates Arun Ferreira and Sudha Bharadwaj; Varavara Rao; activist Vernon Gonsalves; prisoners’ rights activist Rona Wilson; Surendra Gadling, a UAPA expert and lawyer from Nagpur; Delhi University professor Hany Babu; and Kabir Kala Manch artists Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Jyoti Jagtap.

G.N. Saibaba to Go on Hunger Strike in Nagpur Prison to Protest Denial of Essentials

The former DU professor’s wife A.S. Vasantha Kumari said he has been denied access to reading material, medicines and clothes.

G.N. Saibaba. Photo: PTI

The Wire StaffGovernmentLawRights

New Delhi: Professor G.N. Saibaba, who is serving a life term in the Nagpur Central Prison for alleged links with Maoists, has decided to go on a hunger strike from October 21 as he is not been provided with clothes, medicines and books for a month.

According to a Hindu report, Saibaba’s wife A.S. Vasantha Kumari has said he has been denied access to reading material, medicines and clothes. “Saibaba who is lodged in jail since 2014 has been denied all basic human rights where he is not given any letters or allowed any phone calls from me since over a month,” she said.

Kumari has sent letters about “the hardships and harassment Saibaba faces in jail” and the “unfair restrictions” imposed on him to the Maharashtra additional director general of prisons Sunil Ramanand and the superintendent of prisons (Nagpur) Anupkumar Kumre.

“Sometimes all the medicines given by his advocates are not being given to him. He has multiple health problems and needs to take prescribed medicines every day to save his life,” Kumari told The Telegraph.

Advocate Aakash Sarode, who regularly delivers medicines, clothes to Saibaba, said that last month he had delivered a shirt, under garments, medicines, four books and two notepads for him. “However none of it was taken by the prison authorities, without giving any reason for the same. I went back again two weeks back but they refused to take anything I got. I will try going once again before October 21,” Sarode said.

Kumre, however, denied the “baseless allegations” according to The Hindu‘s report and confirmed that Saibaba was going on hunger strike from October 21. “Due to coronavirus we have stopped taking newspapers in jail since March but other than that books and letters are given to him after we go through them and decide on what is ‘right’ and needs to be given to him,” he said.

Clarifying what was considered “right”, Kumre said, “the administration (which includes the SP, Additional SP and another prison official) verifies the books and sees if they are “nice”,” and added that books on Gandhi, freedom fighters or mythology were usually allowed. “A magazine or any other reading matter has to be ‘correct’ for the inmate. As far as clothes are concerned, due to coronavirus we have stopped allowing any civil clothes inside the jail as it spreads the virus,” he said.

ADG (Prisons) Sunil Ramanand said that “the DIG is going to Nagpur jail tomorrow to ascertain the situation.”

In March 2017, a sessions court in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district convicted Saibaba and four others, including a journalist and a Jawaharlal Nehru University student, for Maoist links and engaging in activities amounting to “waging war against the country”.

The court held Saibaba and others guilty under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The ailing activist had recently filed a plea seeking bail on medical grounds as well as to meet his mother, who was suffering from cancer, in Hyderabad. The bail was denied by the Bombay high court four days before his mother passed away.

English Language Collection Of Poems By Political Prisoner Varavara Rao To Be Released In 2021

A collection of poems by revolutionary activist-poet Varavara Rao, giving a peek into his political beliefs and assertion of the primacy of people’s rights, will be translated into English, announced publishing house Penguin Random House on October 10, 2020.

Titled “Varavara Rao: India’s Revolutionary Poet”, the book edited by N. Venugopal and Meena Kandasamy, will be published under Penguin’s ‘Vintage imprint’ next year, they added.

One of India’s foremost revolutionary poets, Rao, who is presently incarcerated for the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case, has picked about “two-thirds of the poems” to-be featured in the book himself before the arrest.

“This is like fulfillment of a long-cherished dream, as making Varavara Rao’s work accessible to English readers has been my dream for decades. As a person who has closely watched the making of his poems, as one of the first readers in manuscript form, I believe his poetry is an expression of his complete personality that blended social history, alternative people’s politics, people’s right to self- determination and unceasing urge for freedom,” said Venugopal, co-editor and nephew of the poet.

Rao, 79, has authored 13 collections of poetry and 16 books of prose — including seven books of literary criticism — in Telugu. A collection of his letters from prison, “Captive Imagination”, was also published by Penguin.

According to the publishers, the book, a commemoration of Rao’s immense talent and passion for poetry, will be a first “authentic, representative collection” of his poems coming out in a single volume also including some poems translated into English exclusively for the edition.

“The image of Varavara Rao, smiling and fist raised, as he was taken into custody is imprinted on our minds. He exuded an aura of optimism, fortitude and strength. Who is Varavara Rao? What does he stand for? Where better to turn for answers than to his own words, the poems that convey with such extraordinary power his emotions, his thoughts and purpose,” Elizabeth Kuruvilla, executive editor, Penguin Random House India.

Rao has been in jail since the end of 2018 for alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017, which, the police claimed, triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial located on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city.

The CPI (Maoist) have allegedly placed wall posters in agency villages in Eturu Nagaram mandal of Mulugu district against the TRS government. The wall posters are seen in Chinnaboinapalli, Kotthuru and Shapelli villages.

The posters read–“TRS government is trying to grab the lands of the people and for the same it is conducting surveys”, “KCR is looting the state”, “People should not fall prey to his words of betrayal.” The posters also claim that the current state government is taking no action but preaching loud. When any person raises his voice for his needs, false cases are being imposed on them. Police forces, “grey hounds” are combing the agency villages. Innocent people are being tortured, the posters read.

“If the combing is not stopped in Telangana agency areas, we will not spare TRS and BJP leaders. Those who act as police informers will have to face the wrath. Villagers should not go to police stations, but resolve their problems and issues at the village level only. Police may hatch any conspiracies but people will take care of the Maoist party,” the posters read. The wall posters have been released in the name of Eturu Nagaram Bhupalpalli Committee of the CPI (Maoist).

Meanwhile, police have been on high alert after receiving information that a group of armed CPI (Maoist) cadres entered Mulugu district from Chhattisgarh state. P Shoban Kumar, OSD of Jayashankar- Bhupalpally and Mulugu, said that combing operations with 10 teams have begun in forest tracts. They have intensified vehicle checks across Eturunagaram, Tadavai, Wazed and Venkatapuram mandals.

I n Pittsburgh, numerous displays of graffiti were documented, including one in solidarity with the Indian People’s War, reading, “Long Live the People’s War in India! Death to US Imperialism!”

RAIPUR: Hundreds of villagers from tribal hamlets attended the weekly 16th Foundation Day (sthapna diwas) celebration organized by the CPI (Maoist) in the conflict zone of south Bastar district.

A week ago, the posters and leaflets left by the CPI (Maoist) exhorting the local tribals to support their Foundation Day celebration from September 21—27, were recovered in some parts of Bastar district.

The CPI (Maoist) came into existence following the merger of the People’s War Group of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) with another rebel outfit Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) of India in 2004.

The security forces were on alert across the strife-torn district of Bastar as senior state police officials visited the base camps in the hostile Maoist hotbed areas to boost the morale of the forces and resolve their issues.

“Of late the Maoists are preparing the video clippings and images of their meetings and circulating as part of their propaganda. This will help us in identifying their cadres as well. They force the villagers to attend their programme where the locals are misguided. There is nothing new about them holding such big meetings in remote areas where the villagers are forced to participate”, said Sunderraj P, IG of police (Bastar district).

However, the Bastar police claimed that the locals who attended such gatherings out of fear also realize the anti-tribal and anti-development attitudes of the Maoists.

The New Indian Express accessed images of the rebels celebrating their Foundation Day in the remote forested terrain of Abhujhmad, close to Bijapur district border, amid the presence of hundreds of villagers. The rebels belonging to Maad Division Committee and Bhairamgarh Area Committee reportedly attended the event that saw tribals from around 20 villages participating.

An unconfirmed report stated that besides the local leaders, several Maoist cadres were present during their show

HYDERABAD/ ADILABAD/ MULUGU/ BHUPALPALLY/ KHAMMAM: The bandh called for by the CPI (Maoist) went off peacefully in Telangana on Monday. Security forces were in a heightened state of alert in Adilabad, Bhadradri Kothagudem and Komaram Bheem districts. According to the police, letters were sent out in the name of Telangana CPI (Maoist) State secretary Jagan alias Haribhushan, calling for a bandh in protest against the fake encounters which took place between the Maoists and police recently.

The police have been checking each and every vehicle going to and returning from Maharashtra, as well as those from Mulugu and Jayashankar Bhupalpally districts. They have also increased combing operations in areas along the banks of the Pranahita river, in interior forest areas of Tiryani, Bejjur and Penchkalpet. The police are also monitoring the areas with drone cameras. Incidentally, posters against the Maoists appeared at Cherla, Kaliveru and Peddamidiseluru in Cherla mandal and at Dummugudem in Bhadradri Kothagudem district on Monday.

The state of Punjab rose to the occasion in resurrecting the spirit of immortal martyr Bhagat Singh on September 28th.Commemoration conferences or rallies engulfed the whole state shimmering the spark of the ideology of Bhagat Singh in context of the Imperialist policies enslaving the whole population.

It is ironical that the homage assemblies coincided with one of the most impactful bandhs ever carried out in the history of Punjab on September 25th.The present wave is literally writing a new chapter in the history of Punjab. The atmosphere was reminiscent of lightning engulfing every area comprising every part of the society. What was remarkable was how every section of the society was galvanised to the optimum be it peasants, agricultural labourers, teachers, students, youth, women or industrial workers. The scene in the Malwa belt was similar to an army waging a war with people’s wrath at its zenith. This region comprised districts like Sangrur, Faridkot, Bathinda ,Patiala, Ludhiana, Malout, Mansa and Muktsar The rulers were struck at their very chord. Rarely have people in Punjab brimmed with such confidence as here. The-unity of so many revolutionary and progressive streams was also heartening. An adjective is hard to find to do complete justice to the intensity of the protestors whether obstructing the traffic or blocking the rail roads. The event was in striking contrast to the practice of the ruling class parties like Akali Dal or Aam Admi Party who also condemned the bills. All the 31 participating groups exposed the nefarious nature of the opposition parties and pledged not to have any truck with them. In Gaggarpur village of Bhawanigarh region the BKU(Ugrahan) literally took the rulers to ransom.

The struggle blended the planning of an architect with the fury of a boxer and the craft of a surgeon. What has come to light is how imperialism has penetrated every sphere of society. and semi-feudal opression in agriculture is determined by it. Articulate planning has been done to chalk out protest areas by participants. The most remarkable feature was the implementation of the mass line in taking democratic fervour to simmer at its boiling point with the very core of the soul touched of every person.

The most notable participants comprised the BKU(Ugrahan),BKU(Dakaunda),Kirti Kisan Union, BKU(Krantikari)Kisan Sangharsh Commitee, Thermal Workers Union, Democratic Teachers Front, Naujwan Bharat Sabha ,Punjab Students Union ,motormen services Union in addition to several other fronts like Lawyers organizations, intellectuals, writers etc.

In Khatkar Kalan the Punjab Students Union and the Naujwan Bharat Sabha mobilised around 2000 youth and students in a rally and conference on 28th September. Thousands of youths took a pledge on the occasion of Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birthday.

1) The ongoing scheme against agricultural bills will be taken full loudly until the bills are returned.

2) BJP and R in Punjab. Ace. The offices of the A.S. and the homes of the leaders will be surrounded.

3) Ambani and Adani companies will be boycotted. JIO sims will be shut down and reliance pumps will be boycotted.

4) Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his colleagues will make a museum and library by leaving illegal occupation at a secret place located in Ferozepur.

The Punjab Radical students union held a film show educating the youth about the relevance of Bhagat Singh in context of saffron fascism prevailing today.

Commemorating Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s birthday, The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) garnered the maximum forces creating the crescendo of an inferno at Longowal in Sangrur.15000 persons were mobilized, including around 11000 youth. Rallies were also organized in Buttar (Moga), Jaito (Faridkot), Ber Kalan (Ludhiana) and Mattenangal (Amritsar)The speakers touched all the burning issues of the day. There was tremendous participation of Women which was heartening. At the very core the anti-people essence of the agricultural bills was summed up connecting it to the offensive of globalization as a whole and ascendancy of Hindutva fascism. In particular the policies of Narendra Modi were attacked. The speakers adopted the language of the common people in the manner Bhagat Singh did and made a perfect liason between the policies and the day to day lives of the masses.BKU(Ugrahan) secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said that over ten thousand farmers, including a large number of women and thousands of youth, joined the gathering.

The main speakers addressing the gatherings included young boys and girls in addition to state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Vice President Jaswinder Singh Longowal, Harinder Kaur Bindu, Rajwinder Singh Ramnagar and district level leaders. They advised the youth to emulate Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s farmer labour-friendly revolutionary thinking. It was highlighted how Corona was used as a false pretext to block people’s struggles. A massive rail roko has been called for October 1st by all 31 organizations. The speakers invited the people to garner or channelize their justified anger. They alleged that the new offensive was an attack by Modi government to give an open licence to corporates for blindly looting in farming sector. The Modi government was patronising the loot of the Adanis and Ambanis. The leaders devised a strategy to confront the enemy at it’s very core. A plan was formulated to mobilise farming community to gherao the warehouse of Adani Group where grains are stored as well as the malls and petrol pumps of Ambani group. The speakers elaborated how such protests would confront the corporates at their very backbone and send shivers down their spines. Leaders said that the Adani Group has built large warehouse to buy grains and store them in Punjab. The laws passed would be a virtual passport to loot the grain of the farmers. Instead of distributing grains to poor families, they have to be sent to countries and abroad for big profits. The message will be rendered by the surrounding of agricultural warehouses. Farm labourers and other poor families would also show their true metal by participating in these surrounding actions. The struggle will be taken to the next stage by the surrounding businesses of big capital businesses like toll plazas, multi-company shopping malls like Wal-Mart’s Best Price etc and Pepsico. The current agitational phase will be dedicated as a protest week from today’s birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh to the cruel day of the Moga Goli incident created by the Congress government on 5 October 1972 They invited people to join in these surrounding actions. The people were guided not to resort to any anarchy as well as maintain strict discipline and guard against enemies.

 for this anniversary we propose read and study of the texts of the first 10 years of PCI (Maoist)

[Books: CPI(Maoist) 10th Anniversary Commemorative Volumes] “Collected Interviews — September 2004 – August 2014”, (October 2014), interviews given by the CPI(Maoist) leadership, 564 pages.   English: PDF Format   [1,470 KB]

[Books: CPI(Maoist) 10th Anniversary Commemorative Volumes] “Collected Statements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), 2004-2014”, (October 2014), in 2 different layouts, each in 3 volumes. The “View” layout has the pages sequentially in order, while the “Print” layout has them in the proper order for printing the sheets double-sided and then combining them into printed volumes (with 16-page signatures).         

we propose still  the 10th Celebration’s texts and speechs of the Meeting in Italyask ICSPWI csgpindia@gmail.com

IndiaPeople’s War

CPI Maoist Cadres Carry Out Propaganda Action In Gadchiroli District Ahead Of Party’s Foundation Week Observance 

Cadres of the CPI (Maoist) have blocked a road in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district and put up banners there asking people to observe the foundation week of the party, police said on Wednesday.
The CPI (Maoist) observes its foundation week from September 21 to 27.
The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and People’s War Group (PWG) merged to form CPI (Maoist) on September 21, 2004, and since then it has been observing the foundation week every year during this period.
On Tuesday night, CPI (Maoist) cadres blocked Dubbaguda-Malampodur road in Bhamragadh taluka of Gadchiroli district and put up banners and pamphlets on trees in the area, asking people to observe their foundation week with enthusiasm,

IndiaPeople’s War

CPI Maoist Banner And Posters Appear In Kandhamal District