Firstpost / by Debobrat Ghose
Home Minister Amit Shah gave a strong message in the Lok Sabha on Thursday: Under the garb of ‘social activism’ and ‘ideological movement’, Maoism — especially ‘urban Naxalism’ and violence against common man, villagers and tribals under its pretext — won’t be tolerated at any cost.
Read more
Pune Mirror / by Archana More
Two months after the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court order granting him bail, Konnath Muralidharan, … was released from Yerwada Central Jail on Tuesday. In a free-wheeling conversation with Mirror, the man who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on May 8, 2019, along with along with his alleged courier — Ismail Hamzaa (29), delved into country’s judicial system, his stay at Yerwada and experience with the jail administration, the new-found obsession with “urban Naxalism” and the government’s efforts to silence his voice.
Read more
Sabrangindia.in / by Deborah Grey
A common characteristic of right wing supremacists in India appears to be their extremely limited and rather vapid imagination. This is best illustrated in a booklet published by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The booklet is an out and out smear campaign against some of India’s most respected intellectuals and human rights activists. However this sinister agenda is driven by a rather banal set of stories.
Read more
en | 39:25 min | 2019
The Wire / with Happymon Jacob
Dr Happymon Jacob speaks with author Niranjan Sahoo about the Maoist insurgency in India, Salma Judum and the debate surrounding the so-called ‘Urban Naxals’.
Watch video
The Hindu / by Sonam Saigal Mumbai
`If we want democracy to function as per Constitution political prisoners must be released’
All nine activists arrested and booked for cases related to the Bhima Koregaon violence have written to Maharashtra’s Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao appealing, “if we really want democracy to function as per the Indian Constitution then all political prisoners should be released.“
Read more
Sanhati / By U. Punyark
Bhima-Koregaon witnessed the progressive manifestation of the resistance against dominant Hindutva brahmanical cultural coercion on the vast masses of people in the country.
The celebration at Bhima Koregaon brings to ashes the Hindutva political conspiracy of unifying India on the basis of brahmanical theological practices. Bhima Koregaon is a spatial manifestation of the resistance which the oppressed has presented to the oppressing class and caste of people. It has been the site of the people`s resistance against brahmanical feudal forces.
Read more
The Wire / By Rohit Kumar
Intellectuals are imperative to a democracy and are connected closely with our right to think freely – which is why they figure high on an authoritarian regime’s list of targets.
The Assamese Sahitya Akademi awardee, Hiren Gohain has been charged with sedition, and Dalit scholar Anil Teltumbde is facing a prison sentence on charges of being part of an ‘urban Maoist’ plot to incite violence at Bhima Koregaon. Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Gautam Navlakha and Vernon Gonsalves – some of the most respected voices in the field of tribal rights activism – were arrested last year on similar charges.
Read more
Newslaundry / By Prateek Goyal
The primary evidence of the Pune police is a clutch of letters, but it’s subject to too many flaws.
Nine activists and lawyers have been arrested till date by the Pune police in the Koregaon-Bhima case. They’ve been termed “Maoists” by the police on the basis of some letters produced by the police—the credibility of which are questionable.
Read more
Asia Times / By Asia Times
The arrest of activists linked to the Bhima Koregaon violence continues amid fears case has been politicized.
The Bhima-Koregaon riots case in Maharashtra has taken multiple twists and turns over the past year, from arbitrary arrests to dubious evidence and delayed investigation to a conspiracy theory about a plot to kill Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But recent developments show this has become a “state versus activists” case ahead of the election this year.
Read more
Scroll.in / By Romila Thapar
In November, the historian delivered a video message at the Unesco headquarters on the freedom of speech and expression in India.
Read more