First published: Jun 6, 2015
Sanhati / By Stan Swamy
‘Minerals are an essential part of the land …the ownership of sub-soil/mineral wealth should normally follow the ownership of the land” – (SC:CIVIL APPEAL NO. 4549 OF 2000, delivered on July 8, 2013)
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First published: 2016
■ A POET AGAINST THE STATE: TALKING WITH VARAVARA RAO (Part 1)
RAIOT / By Ramu Ramanathan
In the first of the two part interview with Varavara Rao, founder member of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers’ Association), by playwright Ramu Ramanathan, the Maoist ideologue and Telegu poet reaffirms the role of an intellectual and reflects on the history of repression of the Indian state, and on the issues surrounding the statehood of Telangana
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■ The poet as the revolutionary – Talking with Varavara Rao (Part 2)
RAIOT / By Ramu Ramanathan
In the second part of the ongoing series of interviews with Varavara Rao, founder member of Virasam, by playwright Ramu Ramanathan, the Maoist ideologue and Telegu poet narrates his revolutionary journey, about people’s movements in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, about writing and publishing revolutionary literature and how the movement has produced some great writers.
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First published: Jun 30, 2016
RAIOT / By Ramu Ramanathan
In the first of the two part interview with Varavara Rao, founder member of Virasam (Revolutionary Writers’ Association), by playwright Ramu Ramanathan, the Maoist ideologue and Telegu poet reaffirms the role of an intellectual and reflects on the history of repression of the Indian state, and on the issues surrounding the statehood of Telangana.
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Sanhati India / By Sanhati India Collective
On 28th August, 2018 the Pune Police swooped down on prominent rights activists of the country: Sudha Bharadwaj, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navalakha, and Varavara Rao. They were to be taken to Pune on the fabricated charge of being linked to CPI (Maoist) party and funding Elgar Parishad. At the same time, premises of Stan Swamy and Anand Teltumbde were also raided, and both have been shown as “suspected accused” under various sections of the UAPA. All of the arrested and accused are long-standing contributors to various public discussion fora, including Sanhati, espousing their commitment to the people and democracy.
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First published: Oct 5, 2014
National Confederations of Human Rights Organisations / By Kareena Gilani
Colours Of The Cage is an unsparing account of the nearly five years activist Arun Ferreira lost forever in Nagpur Central Jail after being accused of being a Naxalite. In May 2007, Ferreira was forced into a car by 15 men, beaten and blindfolded as he heard his abductors discussed the option of killing him off in an encounter. Till September 2011, Ferreira languished in prison while nine cases were slapped against him.
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First published: Nov 20, 2015
Counterview.org / By Fr Cedric Prakash sj*
On September 27, 2011 Arun Ferreira was released from the Nagpur jail after being illegally incarcerated since May 2007 on charges of being a Naxalite. Just as he stepped out from the gates of the jail even as his aged parents and other family members waited outside the jail to welcome him back into their loving embrace, Arun was forcibly arrested once again and that too without a warrant.
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First published: Sep 30, 2014
Book: Colours of The Cage – A Prison Memoir. By Arun Ferreira (Publisher: Aleph, 2014)
From 28 May to 14 June 2007, I was slapped with five more cases relating to Naxalite violence in Gondia, a district about 150 kilometres from Nagpur. Gondia and especially Gadchiroli, the other district lying at the extreme end of Maharashtra, are areas of intense Maoist activity. In almost all of Gadchiroli and parts of Gondia, armed Naxal squads have fought the police and paramilitary forces with support from the local tribals and peasants.
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The Caravan / By Tusha Mittal
The Caravan publishes report of police-appointed committee, headed by Dhende, that finds Hindutva outfits “pre-planned” the Bhima Koregaon violence.
On 1 January this year, Dalits from across India gathered in Bhima Koregaon, a village 30 kilometers from Pune, to commemorate the bicentennial anniversary of a historic battle that took place in the village in 1818. The battle had culminated in the victory of a small British battalion, largely comprising soldiers from the oppressed Mahar caste, over an army of dominant-caste Peshwas. On the 200th anniversary, as lakhs marched towards the Koregaon Ranstambh, or Vijay Stambh—a memorial pillar erected by the British to commemorate the battle—mobs of people carrying saffron flags attacked the predominantly Dalit gathering.
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As part of an India-wide police operation on 28th August activists Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Gautam Navlakha and Varavara Rao were arrested and the homes of many more raided. Sudha Bharadwaj is a trade unionist and lawyer. The following pictures document protests from her working area in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh immediately after her arrest.
The Wire / By Maaysha
“If fighting for the rights of Adivasis, fighting for workers and peasants, fighting against repression and exploitation and giving up one’s whole life for them is being a Naxalite, then I guess Naxalites are pretty good!”
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