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‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

‘Maoist’ from Pune, known as ‘laptop’, arrested 15 yrs after he went missing

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

Prashant Jalinder Kamble, an expert with computers, was arrested in Pune
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) nabbed a Pune resident, who was reported “missing” 15 years ago, for allegedly being an active member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
… A graduate from a college in Pune, he was allegedly associated with the city-based cultural outfit Kabir Kala Manch (KKM), which according to the police is a “frontal organisation of Maoists”.
Read more

Also read:
▪ Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship (Outlook / Aug 2024)
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Maharashtra: Top Cop Accuses Decades-Old Cultural, Rights Orgs of Working as ‘Naxal Fronts’ (The Wire / Feb 2022)
▪ Maharashtra: Activists, Lawyers Added to ‘Union War Book’, Listed as ‘Enemies of the State’ (The Wire / Jul 2021)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

‘Target dissenting individuals’: NIA conducts raids across Bengal in alleged Maoist link probe

Counterview / by Our Representative 

In the predawn hours of October 1, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) executed raids at 12 locations throughout West Bengal, targeting the residences of several activists in connection with alleged “Maoist links.” The agency confiscated mobile phones and laptops belonging to numerous individuals during these searches, which reportedly resulted in significant property damage. 
Several activists received notices to report for further questioning at the NIA’s office in Ranchi.
Read more

Also read:
▪ India: Submission to the UN Human Rights Committee on the deterioration of civic space (CIVICUS /Jul 2024)
▪ McCarthyism in INDIA?: The Return of The Urban Naxal Bogey! (The Crossbill /Jul 2024)
▪ Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Ajay Kumar targeted for role as anti-displacement activist, opponent of ‘corporate loot’

Counterview.net / by Campaign against State Repression (CASR)

The Campaign against State Repression (CASR) unequivocally condemns the arrest of human rights activist and Advocate Ajay Kumar by National Investigation Agency early morning 3 am from Chandigarh.
…
Ajay was actively involved in the Forum Against the War on People to oppose the attack by state forces and corporate-sponsored militia, Salwa Judum, on the Adivasi peasants of central India under Operation Green Hunt. He was also founding member of Vistapan Virodhi Jan Vikas Andolan (VVJVA), a conglomeration of more than 50 organisations from across the country seeking to challenge the forcible displacement of peasants particularly Adivasis, for the furtherance of corporate loot and land grab. VVJVA works against the forceful displacement of peasantry, particularly Adivasis for building big dams, industrial projects, mines, Special Economic Zones, highways, National Parks, Smart City projects etc. Ajay Kumar worked alongside the likes of Dr. B.D. Sharma (retired IAS officer), K.N. Pandit (trade union leader), Dr. B.P. Kesari, Father Stan Swamy, Sudha Bhardwaj, Dr. G.N. Saibaba and J. Madhuri in the formation of this forum in 2007.
Read full statement

Also read:
▪ TU activist Anirudh Rajan, lawyer Ajay Kumar in custody: Wounded reputation of world’s largest democracy? (Counterview / Sep 10, 2024)
▪ Student Activist’s Room Raided in Prayagraj by NIA Over Alleged Naxal Links (The Wire / Aug 2024)
▪ Senior activist Ajay Kumar’s arrest ‘imminent’ in same vein as Rona Wilson, Stan Swamy (Counterview / Jan 2024)

Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship

Poetic License: Outside of Village Periphery – Artists in Kabir Kala Manch struggle to earn a living due to censorship

Outlook / by Rupali Jadhav

Artists in Kabir Kala Manch are struggling to earn a living due to state-sponsored censorship
Kabir Kala Manch, a Pune-based protest performance art troupe, has been a target of the State since its inception in 2002. The group propagates the anti-caste and equality ideology of Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar and Marx through songs and street plays.
In 2019, police arrested three members, Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Gorkhe and Jyoti Jagtap, in the Bhima Koregaon case for allegedly inciting communalism through songs at Elgar Parishad.
Read more / read poem

Also read:
▪ How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order (Scroll.in / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order

How Kabir Kala Manch, the anti-caste cultural troupe, challenges the hierarchical social order

Scroll.in / by Ajaz Ashraf

An excerpt from ‘Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste’, by Ajaz Ashraf.
Maharashtrian academic Amarnath Chandaliya founded the Kabir Kala Manch in the wake of the 2002 pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. The troupe’s avowed mission was to use songs and skits to inoculate the lower classes and castes against the virus of communalism concocted by the votaries of Hindutva, or militant Hindu nationalism. Given the communal-caste linkages, the Kabir Kala Manch subsequently deployed its artistic oeuvre to sensitise its audiences to the oppression and violence built into the Hindu hierarchical social order. 
Read more

▪ Bhima Koregaon: Challenging Caste. Brahminism’s wrath against dreamers of equality

Author: Ajaz Ashraf  
Publisher: AuthorsUpFront
Publishing Date: June 2024
Binding: Paperback
Language: English
Pages: 496
Read more/order

▪ Book Excerpt | How Bhima Koregaon Became a Trope for Dalit Pride and Assertion (The Wire │ by Ajaz Ashraf │ June 2024)

Also read:
▪ How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’ (The Print / Jul 2024)
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022

How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’

How Dalits, Muslims, Adivasis encounter the State. ‘It has its boots on our necks’

The Print / by Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia

In ‘How Long Can The Moon Be Caged’, Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia look at present-day India through the lived experiences of political prisoners.
A Dalit activist we spoke to said that most people don’t encounter the state the way Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims do. She told us: ‘The state has always had a boot on our necks.’ Forget living; imagine what it takes to survive this. The boot is always pressed against minorities’ necks, making it hard to breathe, demanding that they beg for dignity every day. She added: ‘[For us] it doesn’t matter who is in power; oppression is the only thing that hasn’t changed.’
Read more

How Long Can the Moon Be Caged?
Voices of Indian Political Prisoners
Authors: Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia
Publishing Date: Aug 2023
Publisher: Pluto Press
Pages: 247
A powerful look at authoritarian India through the experiences of political prisoners
How Long Can the Moon Be Caged? includes visual testimonies and prison writings from those falsely accused of inciting the Bhima Koregaon violence, by student leaders opposing the new discriminatory citizenship law passed in 2020, and by activists from the Pinjra Tod’s movement. In bringing together these voices, the book celebrates the courage, humanity and moral integrity of those jailed for standing in solidarity with marginalised and oppressed communities.
Read more / order

BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: RUPALI JADHAV TRAVELS TEN HOURS FOR FLEETING EXCHANGES WITH JYOTI JAGTAP

BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: RUPALI JADHAV TRAVELS TEN HOURS FOR FLEETING EXCHANGES WITH JYOTI JAGTAP

To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. Each piece in the series is complemented by Arun Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.

THE POLIS PROJECT / BY RUPALI JADHAV

This is the story of that day, when Jyoti was supposed to meet us, but did not show up. Two other members of Kabir Kala Manch, Ramesh and Sagar, had already been arrested in connection with the Bhima Koregaon case, and the NIA had summoned Jyoti to Mumbai for questioning for the third time. The next day, on 8 September 2020, Jyoti was supposed to meet me and some of our sathis, or friends, at Sarasbaug in Pune. We waited for her for a long time. Her phone was unreachable. I became anxious because she is usually very punctual and disciplined, and I told the others that she never takes this long. Only after I started searching for her did I receive the call. “We are calling from Pune ATS. Jyoti Jagtap has been arrested. You can come here to collect her keys and belongings.”
Read more

Also read:
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: JENNY ROWENA ON THE FEAR OF PRISONS AND THE BRAHMINICAL SYSTEM BEHIND IT (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: ANAND TELTUMBDE REFLECTS ON HIS ARREST AND INCARCERATION (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: STORIES OF LOVE, MURDER AND CHILD MARRIAGE FROM SHOMA SEN’S YEARS IN PRISONS (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: ARUN FERREIRA ON THE FARCE AND TRAGEDY OF THE PANDEMIC IN PRISON (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ BK-16 PRISON DIARIES: VERNON GONSALVES ON THE STRUGGLE TO READ AND WRITE BEHIND BARS (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)
▪ INTRODUCING THE BK-16 PRISON DIARIES SERIES (THE POLIS PROJECT / JUNE 2024)

What is Kabir Kala Manch, the cultural group accused of being a Maoist front?

What is Kabir Kala Manch, the cultural group accused of being a Maoist front?

The Indian Express / by Chandan Haygunde

The KKM was formed by a Pune activist, Amarnath Chandaliya, after the Gujarat riots in 2002 for promoting unity.
An alleged operative of the banned CPI-Maoist, Santosh Vasant Shelar alias Vishwa alias Painter, who went missing from Pune in November 2010, returned home over a week ago in bad health.
… The KKM was among the outfits that organised Elgaar Parishad at Shaniwar Wada in Pune on December 31, 2017, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima, fought between Peshwas and Britishers on January 1, 1818.
Read more

Also read/watch:
▪ Kabir Kala Manch: A History of Revolutionary Singing and State Repression (ritimo / April 2022)
▪ Video: Dafachya Talavar (Songs of Defiance) – A short documentary on Kabir Kala Manch | Hindi, Marthi (subtitles: English) | 24:01min | 2022
▪ The Security Playbook Used To Erode Democracy In Modi’s India & How The Tide Might Turn (article 14 / March 2022)
▪ Who are the three Kabir Kala Manch artistes arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case this week? (Scroll.in / Sep 2020)

“Today If You’re Working With An NGO, You’re Either Anti-National Or Corrupt”

“Today If You’re Working With An NGO, You’re Either Anti-National Or Corrupt”

Youth Ki Awaaz / by Surbhi Singh

It was a normal day for Malika Shah, a social worker working in Bal Raksha Bharat. She woke up with the feeling of doing something for the children, motivating herself by saying that nothing can stop her and her team from doing good. As she exited the house, her neighbors stared at her and called her anti-national.
… In 2018, several activists from human rights NGOs were arrested and accused of being associated with Maoists and working against the state.
Read more

Also read:
● Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)
● Report: UAPA – CRIMINALISING DISSENT AND STATE TERROR (PUCL / Sep 2022) Download report
● Narendra Modi’s Government Is Using False Charges of Terrorism to Repress Its Opponents (Jacobinmag / April 2022)

We don’t want more Bhima Koregaon bogus conspiracy case / Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana

We don’t want more Bhima Koregaon bogus conspiracy case / Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana

Condemn the NIA’s raid in Andhra-Telangana to suppress democratic voices critical of war of corporate plunder

06/10/2023

Countercurrrents / by Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization

On 2nd October, 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids across various locations belonging to various democratic and pro-people activists in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.  The organisations that have been targeted, include, Coordination of Democratic Rights Organizations (CDRO), Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee (AP CLC), Chaitanya Mahila Sangam (CMS), Pragatisheela Karmika Samakya (PKS), Patriotic Democratic Movement (PDM), Praja Kala Mandali (PKM), Vasantha Meghum, Virasam (RWA), Indian Association of People’s Lawyers (IAPL), Kula Nirmulana Porata Samiti (Struggle Committee for Caste Annihilation; KNPS), Amarula Bandhu Mitrula Sangham (ABMS), Committee for the Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP) and Human Rights Forum (HRF).
Read full statement

We don’t want more Bhima Koregaon bogus conspiracy case in the name of National Security

03/10/2023

Asianspeaks.com / by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)

“In the overall situation in India, no form of democratic assertion is left untouched by the NIA’s repression in the name of Maoist links, whether they be organizations fighting for the rights of minorities, anti-caste organizations like KNPS, women’s rights organizations like the CMS or even Gandhian or Marxist-Leninist organizations. All forms of democratic assertions are under threat in this current spate of repression…”

Statement By Campaign Against State Repression

CASR STRONGLY CONDEMN THE NIA RAID IN TELENGANA AND ANDHRA PRADESH
In the early hours of 2nd October, 2023, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raided 62 different locations in the states of Andhra Pradesh (53) and Telangana (9) as part of their recent string of raids all over the country against democratic rights organizations.
Read full statement

NIA Conducts Coordinated Raids on Rights Activists Across 62 Locations in Andhra, Telangana

03/10/2023

The Wire / Sukanya Shantha

The raids were in connection with the 2021 Munchingiputtu CPI (Maoist) conspiracy case. Devices and literature belonging to functionaries and lawyers of the Indian Association of People’s Lawyer and Human Rights Forum, along with various other rights bodies were seized.
Officials of the National Investigating Agency (NIA) arrived in groups of four and five in 62 locations across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh on October 2, in coordinated raids at the homes of human rights activists and researchers.
The raid teams – comprising of NIA officers from Delhi and the local police – arrived between 5.30 am and 6 am on the day, and stayed at the locations till afternoon.
Read more

Also read:
● Chronology Samajhiye: 5 Days, 4 Agencies Under Modi Govt Control Target Opposition, Journalists, Activists (The Wire | Soumashree Sarkar | Oct 6, 2023)
● Blatant use of UAPA by Telangana Police to suppress dissenting voices (Countercurrents / June 2023)
● Telangana Govt to ‘Drop’ UAPA Case Against Prof Haragopal, Sudha Bharadwaj, 150 Others (The Wire / June 2023)