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NIA Arrests three Kabir Kala Manch Activists, Calls it ‘Maoist Front’ / What is Kabir Kala Manch?

NIA Arrests three Kabir Kala Manch Activists, Calls it ‘Maoist Front’ / What is Kabir Kala Manch?

Poets Branded Naxals by Both Cong & BJP: What is Kabir Kala Manch?

The Quint / by Asmita Nandy

What is Kabir Kala Manch and why are they repeatedly targeted by governments?
Kabir Kala Manch, a group of artists singing songs of Bahujans and Karl Marx, have been branded “naxals” by both Congress and BJP.
On Tuesday, 8 September, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the Elgar Parishad case arrested three members of the group saying that they were in touch with senior leaders of CPI(Maoist), a banned organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act “so as to spread the ideology of Maoism/Naxalism and encourage unlawful activities”.
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NIA Calls Kabir Kala Manch ‘Maoist Front’, Takes Activists into Custody

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

08/09/2020

Mumbai: The National Investigations Agency has accused the cultural group Kabir Kala Mancha (KKM) of being a frontal organisation of the banned terrorist Communist Party of India (Maoist) …
KKM is a Pune-based cultural troupe that was formed by youth belonging to the Bahujan community from across Maharashtra. Several working-class musicians and poets had come together after the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat and formed their own cultural group to sing songs of resistance and state repression. They have also been vocal against caste atrocities across the country.
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Kabir Kala Manach cultural activist Jyoti Jagtap arrested / #StandWithBK15

08/09/2020

Kractivist / by Bhima Koregaon Shauryadin Prerana Abhiyan

Pune ATS has today arrested Jyoti Jagtap (Member of Bhima Koregaon Shauryadin Prerana Abhiyan and Kabir Kala Manch). She will be transfered to NIA for custody. Yesterday, on 7 September, Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor were arrested late evening and today Jyoti Jagtap has been arrested.
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NIA Arrests Two Kabir Kala Manch Activists

07/09/2020

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

Mumbai: After questioning them over several days, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested cultural activists Sagar Gorkhe and Ramesh Gaichor in the Elgar Parishad case. With their arrest, 14 persons – all academics, lawyers and activists – have been arrested in the 2018 Elgar Parishad case in total.
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When contesting repressive laws makes you a dangerous citizen: a profile of Rona Wilson

When contesting repressive laws makes you a dangerous citizen: a profile of Rona Wilson

The Polis Project / by The Polis Project and maraa

Rona Wilson, a forty-seven-year-old activist from Kollam district in Kerala, has made Delhi his second home since the late 1990s. Having come to the capital during his post-graduation, Wilson almost immediately took to activism.
Rona Wilson is a member of the Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP), which has campaigned against the UAPA and other repressive laws.
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NIA Summons Two More Academics, a Journalist for Questioning

NIA Summons Two More Academics, a Journalist for Questioning

P.S. Ray, K. Satyanarayana and K.V. Kurmanath / The Wire

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

All three – Partho Sarothi Ray, K. Satyanarayana and K.V. Kurmanath – have said they have no relation to the case whatsoever, and see this as an intimidation tactic.
Mumbai: Expanding its net further, the National Investigations Agency has now issued summons to academics and a journalist from Hyderabad and Kolkata for questioning in connection with the ongoing Elgar Parishad investigation.
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Statement by K Satyanarayana – Click to enlarge

‘Family in distress’: NIA summons sons-in-law of Varavara Rao in Bhima Koregaon case

07/09/2020

The News Minute / by Balakrishna Ganeshan

Senior journalist KV Kurmanath and K Satyanarayana, professor at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad are in shock after the National Investigation Agency has summoned them, as part of the ongoing Bhima Koregaon case probe. The duo, both prominent personalities in Hyderabad, are the sons-in-law of revolutionary poet Varavara Rao.
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NIA calls activist K Satyanarayana, academic Partho Sarothi Ray for questioning

07/09/2020

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

The National Investigation Agency has summoned Dalit scholar and activist K Satyanarayana to appear before it for questioning in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case on September 9. Satyanarayana is the son-in-law of Telugu poet-activist Varavara Rao, who is imprisoned in Mumbai’s Taloja Jail after being arrested in the Elgar Parishad cases on August 31, 2018.
Satyanarayana’s brother and senior journalist KV Kumarnath was also summoned to appear on the same day. Both of them have been asked to come to the central agency’s Mumbai office for questioning.
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The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five

The Making of Varavara Rao: Parts Four & Five


Solidarity poster by PSO (Sep 2020)

Indian Cultural Forum / by N Venugopal Rao

I wouldn’t have been who I am without Varavara Rao, and it is true for the generation I come from and the one that followed … Here, I will attempt to paint the 80 years of his life in seven angles – a rainbow of seven colours that characterise him – a creative writer, teacher, editor, organiser, activist, and lastly, a victim of the state, yet a humane individual.
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Denial of Bail by Bombay HC is Gross Injustice: Kin and Colleagues of Sudha Bharadwaj

Denial of Bail by Bombay HC is Gross Injustice: Kin and Colleagues of Sudha Bharadwaj

Chhattisgarh August 28, 2020

Kractivist / by Kin and Colleagues of Sudha Bharadwaj

Exactly two years after her arrest in the infamous Bhima Koregaon Conspiracy Case, on Friday 28 August, a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court turned down the medical bail application of Sudha Bharadwaj, a well-known trade unionist and lawyer from Chhattisgarh.
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Incarcerated, ‘erudite’ scholar Rona Wilson worked for release of political prisoners

Incarcerated, ‘erudite’ scholar Rona Wilson worked for release of political prisoners

Counterview / by Atul, Sandeep Pandey

Rona Wilson is a prison rights activist who has been in jail since April 2018 and denied bail several times. The Pune Police raided his home in Delhi on April 17, 2018, and arrested him subsequently for his alleged role in the Bhima Koregaon violence in January that year. A few months later, the agencies also accused him of being part of a larger naxal plot to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a Rajeev Gandhi style and overthrow the current government.
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Bombay HC disposes of Vernon Gonsalves & Anand Teltumbde’s petition for Covid-19 test

Bombay HC disposes of Vernon Gonsalves & Anand Teltumbde’s petition for Covid-19 test

Anand Teltumbde allowed medical check-up

29/08/2020

The Times of India / by Times of India

Mumbai: A special NIA court on Friday allowed Elgar Parishad case accused, scholar and activist Anand Teltumbde (68), to have a medical check-up.
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Bombay HC disposes of Vernon Gonsalves, Anand Teltumbde’s petition for Covid-19 test

28/08/2020

Hindustan Times / by K A Y Dodhiya

Vernon Gonsalves and Anand Teltumbde had moved the petition for getting themselves tested for Covid-19 after Telugu poet and co-accusedin the Elgar Parishad/Bhima Koregaon case , P Vara Vara Rao tested positive for Covid-19.
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Video: DISSIDENT STUDENTS ON ROAD! For their beloved dissidents imprisoned!

Video: DISSIDENT STUDENTS ON ROAD! For their beloved dissidents imprisoned!

By Release The Poet

bengali song | 4:19min | 2020
THE VOICE OF DISSIDENCE!
For the dissidents imprisoned! The ‘Release BK-12’ Protest at Jadavpur, Kolkata
Watch video

Organised by
RELEASE THE POET COMMITTEE & CRPP
Supported by
RSF, APDR, PUCL, BMC, BHIM ARMY, PFI, IFTU, NAREE CHETONA, GANATANTRIK SANGRAMI UDYOG, AIPF & NO NRC MOVEMENT
LAL-ON, LAL LANTHAN, JANOGANOMANO, PRATISARAN, EBONG JALARKA, UBUDASH & UNIT THEATER