Repression – free them all

Politics Of Division: Why Autocrats Foster Binary Thinking

21/02/2025 Asha

Outlook India / by Anand Teltumbde

Autocratic and fascist regimes consolidate power by reducing complex socio-political realities into rigid binary oppositions. Instead of addressing systemic economic inequalities, they redirect public anger toward scapegoats – immigrants, minorities and dissenting voices.
… A deadly consequence of this binary-driven autocratic politics is the erosion of democratic institutions. The judiciary, independent media and civil society organisations are labelled as enemies of the state if they challenge the ruling regime.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ To Think of Modi 3.0 as Less Dangerous Would Be a Misreading (The Wire | Anand Teltumbde | June 12, 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

Why Double Standards of Justice in India?

15/02/2025 Asha

Mainstream Weekly / by Sumeet Singh

According to the Indian Constitution, both Central and State governments have a constitutional duty to guarantee the democratic rights of citizens, including their Freedom, Equality, Security, Prosperity, Development, Social justice, and Social protection. Although India claims to be the world’s largest democracy, recent actions by the Central government have raised concerns.
… Numerous Intellectuals, Lawyers, and Social activists have been detained for years on unproven charges of sedition, often without trial, indicating a failure to uphold constitutional rights to liberty. For the past six years, many prominent Intellectuals, Lawyers, and Social activists in the country have been languishing in jail without trial, under false charges of sedition in the alleged Bhima Koregaon violence case. No charges of sedition have been proven against them to date, yet the Judiciary, under pressure from the Central government, has repeatedly denied them bail.
Read more

Also read:
▪ ‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ in Barnala, Punjab (Countercurrents / Jan 2025)
▪ Fadnavis’ obsession with ‘urban naxals’, and a lawless Beed (National Herald / Dec 2024)
▪ The SC Is Making Bail Easier In Terrorism, Money Laundering Cases – Except When It Ignores Itself (article 14 / Sep 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)

After six years in jail, Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale have been released on bail

07/02/2025 Asha

Peoples Dispatch / by Abdul Rahman

After spending six years in jail without trial, Indian activists Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawle were finally granted bail.
Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawle, two of the 16 human rights activists arrested in the Bhima Koreagaon case under India’s draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), were released on bail on January 24 after spending nearly six and half years in prison waiting for trial.
… Nevertheless, they were released on stringent bail conditions including regular visits to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) headquarters, surrender of their passports, restrictions on travel outside Mumbai and a surety of 100,000 rupees (USD 1,142).
Read more

Also read:
▪ Sudhir Dhawale interview: ‘The law remains blind to injustice even with the blindfold gone’ (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on (The Wire / Feb 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson interview: ‘My arrest was a warning to others who stand against the abuse of power’ (Scroll.in / Feb 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)

Interview | Sudhir Dhawale’s Work Will Go on

04/02/2025 Asha

The Wire / by Sukanya Shantha

The lifelong activist spent 2,422 days in jail. But through personal loss, injustice and 23 months of solitary confinement, the activist has fought for what he has believed to be right.
A day after Father Stan Swamy passed away, Sudhir Dhawale, overcome with emotion, sat down in his barrack and wrote a long poem. “Words just flowed,” he says.
Dhawale, a prolific writer, author of several books, and editor of the radical anti-caste bi-monthly magazine Vidrohi, had never before written poetry. This was his first. But in the three-and-a-half years since Swamy’s death, Dhawale has written at least a hundred more – on issues that directly impact him, on news that stirs his emotions, on politics that kept him awake in prison, on Modi, on the “Manuwaadi” government, and even on society’s apathy towards “corroding democracy.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ Rona Wilson and Sudhir Dhawale released: Seven years of injustice by a state that punishes dissent [read order] (Sabrangindia / Jan 2025)
▪ Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale Get Bail After 6.5 Years of Jail in Elgar Parishad Case (The Wire / Jan 2025)

Convention demands protection of adivasi rights, repeal of repressive laws

22/01/2025 Asha

‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ in Barnala, Punjab

22/01/2025

Countercurrents / by Harsh Thakor

The Democratic Front against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab, organised a ‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ at Tarksheel Bhawan in Barnala on January 19th. The convention, convened by Buta Sing, Parminder Singh and AK Maleri and by prominent tribal rights activist and researcher Bela Bhattia, as well as Narvsharan Kaur; garnered leaders, intellectuals, and activists of diverse spheres discuss issues concerning tribal rights and state repression and unite at a common platform.
…
Narvsharan … also delved into the conspiracy launched by the pro-Hindutva state, in the Bhima Koregaon case. She addressed how the Hindutva brigade plagued the rights of all sections of society, and stripped civilians of basic human rights in Manipur and Kashmir.
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Convention demands protection of tribal rights, repeal of repressive laws

22/01/2025

The Tribune / by Tribune Correspondent

The Democratic Front against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab, organised a ‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ at Tarksheel Bhawan in Barnala recently. The convention, presided over by prominent tribal rights activist and researcher Bela Bhattia, brought together various leaders, intellectuals, and activists.
The Democratic Front against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab, organised a ‘Provincial Convention against Repression’ at Tarksheel Bhawan in Barnala recently. The convention, presided over by prominent tribal rights activist and researcher Bela Bhattia, brought together various leaders, intellectuals, and activists to discuss issues concerning tribal rights and state repression.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Himanshu Kumar’s cycle march and advocacy against opression (The Polis Project / Dec 2025)
▪ Statement against the drone bomb attacks in Chhattisgarh, India (India Matters / April 2023)

Fadnavis’ obsession with ‘urban naxals’, and a lawless Beed

28/12/2024 Asha

National Herald / by Navin Kumar

Several observers believe that the BJP government anticipates a number of popular unrests in the state in the coming months and is gearing up to deal with people’s anger
… It was during Fadnavis’s last tenure as chief minister that the Maharashtra police initiated the infamous Bhima-Koregaon conspiracy case. Though the case is crumbling in court, it enabled the police to arrest a large number of human rights activists including Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde in addition to Father Stan Swamy (who died in prison), Rona Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Vernon Gonsalves and Prof. Shoma Sen. Activists and civil society believe Fadnavis is setting the stage for a sequel.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Is Devendra Fadnavis planning another crackdown like Bhima-Koregaon? (National Herald / Dec 2024)
▪ Maharashtra re-introduces Bill to curb ‘urban Naxals’ (Rediff.com / Dec 2024)
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire / Jul 2024)
▪ Police Linked to Hacking Campaign to Frame Indian Activists (Wired.com / June 2022)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Transfer of Bhima-Koregaon case to NIA appropriate: Devendra Fadnavis (Deccan Herald / Jan 2020)

Is Devendra Fadnavis planning another crackdown like Bhima-Koregaon?

21/12/2024 Asha

Is Devendra Fadnavis planning another crackdown like Bhima-Koregaon?

21/12/2024

National Herald / by AJ Prabal

Why would the Maharashtra chief minister require a new law to deal with alleged ‘urban Naxals’?
One of the first acts of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been to introduce a special legislation to deal with ‘urban Naxals’ in the state.
… Recalling the Bhima-Koregaon case lodged in 2018 when Fadnavis was once again chief minister, Yadav suspected that Maharashtra Police could be planning a similar crackdown on political rivals and activists.
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Fadnavis won’t be called for deposing before Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry

19/12/2024

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Prakash Ambedkar had submitted a letter in June 2023 to the commission demanding deposition of Fadnavis, Mallick and Suvez Haque, the then superintendent of police, Pune Rural, as witness in connection with the ongoing inquiry into the Koregaon Bhima violence.
The Koregaon Bhima Commission of Inquiry, which is probing into the causes of violence reported in Koregaon Bhima area in Pune district on January 1, 2018, has decided not to call Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for deposing as a witness.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Maharashtra re-introduces Bill to curb ‘urban Naxals’ (Rediff.com / Dec 2024)
▪ A New Bill Shows Maharashtra Wants to Become a Police State Before Combatting Left-Wing Extremism (The Wire / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Transfer of Bhima-Koregaon case to NIA appropriate: Devendra Fadnavis (Deccan Herald / Jan 2020)

5 Indian Academicians Politicising The Field Of Research In Humanities And Social Sciences

21/11/2024 Asha

Feminism India / by Anchal Soni

Here is a list of 5 academicians who have transformed higher education into an inclusive model of academia through theory and research.
Academic freedom has become a contested term in contemporary Higher Education in India. While the spaces of universities have always been political, the current trend is best described as Saffronisation. Political interference in the recruitment process of faculty has become a persistent problem hindering the scope of research. A curb on critical voices seems in place to evoke a culture of self-censorship.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ India among top 10 countries to jail writers, academics in 2021, shows Pen America’s report (Scroll.in / Apr 2022)
▪ International Mother Language Day: Take Action for Hany Babu (Pen International | Feb 2022)
▪ Joint Statement: Freedom for Varavara Rao (Pen International | Oct 2021)
▪ A Dark Day for Democracy and Freedom of Expression (Pen International | Aug 2018)

India: Death of human rights defender and continued repression of dissent highlights risks facing activists

20/11/2024 Asha

CIVICUS / by CIVICUS

India’s civil space is rated as ‘repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. In recent years, the government has misused the draconian anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and other laws to keep activists behind bars and fabricate cases against activists and journalists for undertaking their work. The authorities have blocked access to foreign funding for NGOs and human rights defenders, using the restrictive Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA).
… There are other human rights defenders who have remained in jail for years under the draconian UAPA and also died in custody.
They include those implicated on baseless charges linked to the Bhima Koraegon violence in 2018 including Surendra Gadling, Hany Babu, Rona Wilson, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut and Jyoti Jagtap.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS / Jul 2024)
▪ Civic Freedoms in India ‘Repressed’: Global Monitor Civicus (The Wire / Oct 2023)

Video: Bhima Koregaon, Dalit Assertion, Upper Caste Backlash and the Deep State

31/10/2024 Asha

The AIDEM / by The AIDEM / Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

Writer and Senior Journalist Ajaz Ashraf discusses the perspectives in his recently published book “Bhima Koregaon Challenging Caste“ in the context of the history of the Elgar Parishad, the relevance of Bhima Koregaon as a symbol of struggle and the upper caste backlash that has manifested in this background. Ashraf also discussed the Deep State factor in Indian polity. Watch The AIDEM interactions with Venkitesh Ramakrishnan here.

en │ 25:25 min │ 2024
Watch video

Also watch/read:

▪ Video | Many Meanings of Bhima Koregaon: Ajaz Ashraf

By Daanish Bin Nabi

en | 20:12min | 2024
Watch video
▪ Process as Punishment – Recent books that bear witness to the BK-16’s incarceration (The Caravan / Jul 2024)
▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)