http://www.petitiononline.com/Dipankar/petition.html Bien entendu, l'utilité de cette pétition est probablement petite mais c'est au moins une opportunité de montrer que nous nous solidarisons des luttes indiennes. Puis, mine de rien, amnisty international a sauvé pleins de militants ouvriers, preuve que parfois les pétitions, ca marche.
a écrit :> Dear Friends,
>
> Dipankar Bhattacharya, the General Secretary of the CPI(ML), has been
> charged with attempted murder for leading a march to the State
> Assembly protesting against mass killings by the BJP-led government of
> Jharkhand state (see below for details).
>
> While arrests and frame-ups of progressive activists are everyday
> occurrences in India, this charge of attempted murder against the
> General Secretary of a recognised political party leading a political
> > protest is probably unprecedented in the annals of Indian politics. It
> represents a new and sinister offensive by the forces of Hindutva
> fascism against the very right to protest, and an attempt to close
> down any space for political opposition.
>
> We urge you to sign the petition to the President of India demanding
> an immediate withdrawal of these completely fabricated charges against
> > Dipankar Bhattacharya and four others arrested with him.
>
> Please sign the petition by clicking on
>
> http://www.petitiononline.com/Dipankar/petition.html
> >
>
>
> South Asia Solidarity Group
>
>
> Why is the CPI(ML) on the BJP Hit List?
> >
> The CPI(ML)'s Gherao of the Jharkhand Assembly was a high point of a
> sustained and spirited resistance to the repression that had marked
> the birth of the Jharkhand State. The crackdown on the Gherao was an early
> attempt to crush the CPI(ML)'s growing challenge.
>
> The State of Jharkhand had been formed in November 2000, and a shaky new
> BJP Government with a wafer-thin majority, headed by Babulal
> Marandi, had been installed. Right from the start the Marandi Government
> behaved like a Government under siege, living in fear of
> its own people, rather than like a popular elected Government celebrating
> the culmination of long people's struggle for a new State.
> The new Government took oath behind closed doors in a high-security
> auditorium, far from the public gaze, citing the threat of a Naxalite
> attack. The then Home Minister Advani had advised the Marandi Government
> that its primary task must be to break the backbone of
> Naxalism. On the ground, naturally, this translated to a war on the rural
> and tribal poor, minorities as well as on popular leaders of the
> ML movement.
>
> On November 30, 30,000 people marched in the CPI(ML)'s Nav Nirman Rally in
> Ranchi, setting a radical agenda for the new Jharkhand. At
> that Rally, Comrade Dipankar gave a call for a satte-wide bandh on
> December 6 (the day of the demolition of the Babri Masjid), to protest
> against the appointment of Prabhat Kumar (the man who was Chief Secretary
> in UP during the Babri Demolition) as Governor. The bandh
> call, supported by most of the opposition forces in Jharkhand, evoked a
> tremendous response, with youth on the streets defying RSS goons to
> > support the bandh.
>
> The first 100 days of BJP rule were marked by a series of police firings,
> revealing the new Government’s hatred and fear of the
> State’s considerable Christian and Muslim population as well as it tribal
> people. The CPI(ML) was at the forefront of protest at every
> incident.
>
> Doranda Firing
>
> On 28 December 2000, barely a month after the first Jharkhand Government
> took oath, four Muslim youth, who were part of a crowd
> protesting against the killing of a 5 year-old girl run over by a BMP
> vehicle, were gunned down in Doranda on the day of Id right in the
> middle of Ranchi town. Following this daylight murder by the police,
> thousands came out on the streets in protest. The police promptly
> communalised the situation, allowing the RSS to hold provocative
> processions while imposing curfew in Muslim localities. The CRPF-RAF
> went on a rampage, arresting and harassing Muslim youth all night. It was
> the CPI(ML) which again called for a bandh against this communal
> > witch hunt by the police (as well as against the Tapkara firing) â€" and
> > most opposition forces responded. The Marandi Government peddled
> the stale rumour of a lungi-clad "ISI agent" instigating trouble at
> Doranda.
>
> > Kurpania Rape and Police Cover-Up and Crackdown
>
> A nun who taught in a girls' school in the Kurpania area of Bokaro, was
> brutally gang raped. Repeated attacks on churches and missionaries
> in Jharkhand by the Sangh Parivar had marked Christians as easy game. The
> rape, coming on the heels of such attacks, sparked off several
> protests. Tribal students protesting in the capital of Ranchi were >
> lathicharged by the police. The police also conspired to deny the rape
> by doctoring the medical report, even though the main accused had confessed
> to the rape.
>
> > Murder of Dhobi Termed "Encounter" with Extremist
>
> A poor dhobi, Jayram Rajak, was killed in broad daylight by police in
> Bokaro Steel City on 22 January 2001, on the flimsy excuse that he had
> been drunk and creating a nuisance in the neighbourhood. The police tried
> to get rid of the body without a postmortem, but was foiled by
> workers led by CPI(ML), who put up a determined protest. Initially, the
> police spread the story that an extremist had been killed, but the
> district administration was eventually forced to suspend the three police
> officers guilty of the crime and file criminal cases against them.
>
> Tribals Resisting Displacement Gunned Down at Tapkara
>
> Tapkara in the Torpe Block of Ranchi district had been a major centre of
> the 20-year-old struggle of tribals against the Koel Karo dam which
> threatened to displace thousands of tribal homes and entire villages. The
> Marandi Government had announced that they would revive the work
> on the Koel Karo project, which had been stalled due to the tribals'
> movement. This sparked off a fresh wave of protest, and tribals at
> Topkara erected barricades on the Tapkara-Torpa Road to block the movement
> of project officials, demanding scrapping of the Koel Karo
> hydro-electric project. The CRPF-RAF, in an attempt to break the
> barricades, manhandled tribal activists. In protest, tribals gheraoed
> the Tapkara O.P. on January 2, 2001. The police firing that followed was
> like a blueprint for the Kalinganagar firing in another new year 5
> years later. Here, too, police resorted to an unprovoked firing, killing 8
> tribals and injuring many. The CPI(ML) called for a bandh in
> protest, supported by other opposition parties.
>
> Other incidents leading upto the Assembly Gherao included the massacre of 7
> dalits in Semri-banjari village in Garhwa district in a fake
> > encounter by the police, and massive booth capturing by the CRPF-RAF and
> > Sangh Parivar in the Ramgarh by-election contested by Babulal
> Marandi. This blatant attack on democracy was met by a spirited blockade
> of two national highways by CPI, CPI(ML) and the JMM, as well
> as a Jharkhand bandh on 21 February.
>
> The Crackdown on the Assembly Gherao
>
> The Jharkhand Assembly was in its very first budget session, and the
> CPI(ML) called the Assembly Gherao to confront the Government with the
> demand for action against those responsible for various acts of police
> firing, immediate scrapping of the Koel Karo project and steps to
> > safeguard tribals from land alienation. On March 1, 3000 people led by
> > Comrade Dipankar marched from Hatia Station towards the Assembly. At
> the barricade at Birsa Chowk, police launched an unprovoked and ferocious
> assault on the marchers, with tear gas shells, rubber
> bullets and lathis. Several activists were left badly injured. 40
> activists were arrested including Comrade Dipankar and detained
> without their whereabouts being made public. Before the event at Birsa
> Chowk, 100 activists managed to reach the entrance of the Assembly and
> shout slogans. They too were severely lathicharged and arrested.
> Meanwhile, inside the House, Comrade Mahendra Singh led other
> Opposition MLAs to shout slogans in the well of the House in support of
> the Gherao outside. When these MLAs rushed to Birsa Chowk, even
> they were lathicharged, with Comrade Mahendra being specially targeted.
>
> The CPI(ML) Assembly Gherao became the focal point for a massive
> Opposition upsurge it made sure that police repression was the central
> agenda throughout the Assembly Session. As long as Comrade Dipankar amd
> others remained in jail, protestors thronged to a dharna at Albert
> Ekka Chowk. Activists, civil libertarians and journalists including Medha
> Patkar, Prabhash Joshi and former Chief Justice of Bombay HC, S
> M Daud, participated in the dharna and visited the activists in jail.
> Eventually, with the Marandi Government under huge pressure, bail
> orders were issued for Comrade Dipankar and other comrades. The massive
> democratic movement sparked off by the crackdown and the
> arrests culminated in a ‘Save Democracy, Save Jharkhand’ March in
> Ranchi on March 14, in which 10,000 people participated despite
> Section 144 being clamped in the city and tremendous police obstruction
> and intimidation.
>
> The BJP Government in Jharkhand targeted and assassinated Comrade Mahendra
> Singh, the most consistent democratic voice inside the
> Jharkhand Assembly. Their latest attempt to frame the topmost leadership
> of the CPI(ML) is yet another display of their commitment
> to a repressive police force and fear of the growing movement of the poor
> and tribal people of the State.
