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Banned CPI (Maoist) calls for Bharat bandh on Oct 24
The CPI (Maoist) said the bandh is to protest against what it termed as the ongoing war waged by the government against the Maoist party leaders and cadre in the interests of corporate forces
Hyderabad: The central committee of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) has called for a countrywide bandh on October 24 to protest against what it termed as the “ongoing war waged by the government against the Maoist party leaders and cadre in the interests of corporate forces.”
In a statement issued on October 15, that was released to the media on Monday, CPI (Maoist) central committee spokesperson Abhay alleged that the security forces were carrying out an extended “counter-insurgency war” for over five-and-a-half months in regions such as Narayanpur, Bijapur, Kanker, Sukma (Chhattisgarh), West Singhbhum (Jharkhand), and parts of Odisha, leading to large-scale operations against Maoist cadres.
The Maoist party spokesperson claimed that several of their senior leaders, including Comrade Manoj (Modem Laxmi Krishna), Comrade Vijay (Chinna Haas), and others were “killed in fake encounters” in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand during September.
The party accused security forces of arresting, torturing, and executing its members in custody without following due legal process.
Abhay alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government was turning India into a “corporate Hindu state” by destroying democratic institutions, persecuting minorities, and silencing dissenters. He also accused the government of turning anti-urban dissenters and intellectuals into “urban Naxalites” as part of what it called a “dangerous fascist conspiracy” to eliminate all opposition.
He appealed to all progressive, democratic, left-wing parties, Dalit and Adivasi organisations, women’s and student groups, and the general public to participate in the protest week and make the October 24 bandh a success.
The Maoist party urged citizens to organise meetings, rallies, and cultural programmes in villages and towns during the protest week to “expose and resist the anti-people war being waged by the government.
Earlier, the CPI (Maoist) had declared its surrendered top leaders including Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu and Takkallapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Rupesh as “traitors to the revolution” and called upon the revolutionary cadre to punish these “betrayers” according to revolutionary justice.
In a four-page Telugu statement dated October 16 that was released to media on Sunday, CPI (Maoist) party’s central committee spokesperson Abhay said the surrender of Sonu, along with Dandakaranya special zonal committee member Deepa and 60 others before Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on October 14 at Gadchiroli was a counter-revolutionary act, a betrayal of the Maoist party and an action that weakens the revolution.
