Skip to main content

GoI 'feeling threatened' by forces which can potentially fight 'Brahmanical fascism'

Counterview Desk 
A network of civil rights and people’s organisations, Campaign Against State Repression (CASR)*, has characterised the recently-imposed ban on Popular Front of India (PFI), National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO) and other organisations as “Brahmanical Hindutva fascist” move of the Government of India (GoI), calling it “onslaught on democratic dissent”.
In a statement, CASR said, the move is aimed at terrorizing and vilifying the Muslim community, adding, at the same time, the GoI is curbing any protest and demonstration against the “fascist diktat of ban”, with peoplebeing “detained and arrested.” It added, “This kind of attack on right to oppose or criticize any step of government should be conceived as an attack on the very democratic values of the people.”

Text:

On 28 September 2022, Central Government led by BJP-RSS banned the Popular Front of India, National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations, Campus Front of India, National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Rehab India Foundation, All India Imams Council, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala, as an 'unlawful association', under sub section 1 of section 3 of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967.
This ban came after a week long crackdown of two waves of raids carried out through joint operation code named “Operation Octopus” comprising of NIA, ATS, RAW, ED, CRPF and RAF, in which almost 350 activists have been arrested or detained, many of whom have not been presented in court. The arrestees include professors, lawyers, students and community activists.
PFI and other above mentioned organisations have been banned by the Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist government because it feels threatened by each and every force that has the potential to fight Brahmanical Hindutva fascism on ground. It wants to isolate and attack every force by tagging them as “terrorist organization”, “anti-national” “urban Naxal” etc.
According to NIA’s press note dated 22nd September 2022, two rounds of raids were conducted on various locations of PFI, in 16 states, in relation with 5 cases, namely, (RC 14/2022/NIA/DLI, RC 41/2022/NIA/DLI , RC 42/2022/NIA/DLI, RC 2/2022/NIA/KOC, RC 3/2022/NIA/HYD) on Charges that PFI leaders and cadres were involved in funding of terrorism and terrorist activities, organising training camps for providing armed training and Radicalizing people to join banned organization.
These 5 cases, alleging the cadres of providing arms training and etc., along with murder cases of Mr. Sanjith (Kerala, 2021) and Mr. Praveen Nettaru (Karnataka, 2022) are the material grounds for ban, presented by this fascist government. The allegations should be analyzed in historical context of how such cases have unfolded in later stages of trial.
The recent acquittal of 127 activists of SIMI (banned under the very law) is one such example. It is also important to bring into notice, past record of allegations of providing ‘arms training’ by the PFI members. In Bihar’s Phulwari Shareef, the police registered an FIR against PFI members in July 2022, alleging them of providing arms training, following which a vilification campaign against PFI was launched in newspapers.
The People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Bihar Unit, a respected civil rights organisation conducted a fact finding in the matter and found that ‘prima facie, there were no training camps held'. This frivolous framing of charges isn’t a new one and it can’t be ignored while we look at the present cases being slapped against the PFI.
The 5 cases registered by NIA under UAPA has not even been probed properly let alone go on trial, where trial itself is a punishment. Further, the above mentioned murder case allegations against PFI cadres are also not proved.
Even if the murder cases and the other 5 cases are to be proved, which is unlikely considering the less than 2 percent conviction rate of cases under Draconian Law like UAPA, it is still not a reasonable and justifiable ground for ban and stands as blatant arbitrary attack on democratic rights of oppressed minorities.
Furthermore, if India is anymore a democratic country, it should uphold the position of plurality of thoughts and dissenting views and organisations having such dissenting views rather than banning them. By arbitrarily banning organizations because of their thought process, the BJP-RSS government is making known it’s objective of dismantling any democratic ethos that this country has.
Though we do not support actions such as severing Prof. Joseph’s hand, we iterate that ban on organisations having dissenting opinion should not be accepted as an ‘attempt to safeguard democracy’.
PFI was formed to struggle on the question on socio-economic concerns of Muslim minorities and it also included in its perspective to forge broader solidarity with other oppressed and exploited groups such as Dalits and Adivasis to fight for a just society and proper representation of Muslim community in the political sphere.
The Brahmanical Hindutva fascist forces know that the broader unity of the oppressed and Exploited communities will be a force to reckon with and hence they want to break this chain of unity by attacking every link.
The repression that has been unleashed on the cadres of PFI and other organizations at unprecedented levels is matter of concern because it’s also a brutal state crackdown on democratic right to unionize and dissent. This attack should be seen as a part of continuing attack on the larger democratic movement in India and should be fought back.
The ban should be seen as a part of continuing attack on the larger democratic movement in India
What equally concerning is the targeting of NCHRO, an umbrella organisation of democratic, civil and human rights forces that has a history of working extensively on the state repression on oppressed and exploited communities, be it fact finding in programmes, indiscriminate incarceration and slapping of draconian penal charges of Muslim people, the social exclusion of Dalit people in villages of Haryana or the attack on labour struggles such as that on Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan in Kundli, NCHRO has always took a democratic position and stood by the oppressed and Exploited. It is this reason that democratic rights organization such as NCHRO has been targeted by associating it with PFI without any proof.
It is also pertinent to point out that this repression should be seen as an attack that started back with anti-CAA-NRC-NPR movement because of PFI and other organization’s role in organizing the masses and struggling against Anti-muslim and anti-democratic law brought forth by the BJP-RSS.
Since then, the Brahmanical Hindutva fascist government of Uttar Pradesh has been hell bent on portraying the PFI as “unlawful organization” and had recommended the central government to ban the organisation. This attack on a political force that resists Brahmanical Hindutva fascism, is not a first one and this spree will not end with PFI.
The draconian law UAPA that provides the state to unleash such repression, arbitrarily without any substantiation and proof, has been a tool to jail thousands of people and activist fighting for the rights of oppressed and Exploited communities. This law should be recognized as a weapon of crackdown on democratic rights and should also be fought unitedly.
Afraid of the opposition to the fascist diktat, the government has deployed hundreds of paramilitary forces and imposed section 144 in ghettoised Muslim localities such as Batla House, Jamia Nagar and Shaheen Bagh (once the epicenter of Anti CAA-NRC-NPR movement) to terrorize and vilify the Muslim community at same time.
The Brahmanical Hindutva fascist government is hell bent to curb any protest and demonstration against this fascist diktat of ban and people are being detained and arrested. This kind of attack on right to oppose or criticize any step of government should be conceived as an attack on the very democratic values of the people.
We, Campaign Against State Repression, urge all democratic, progressive and pro-people forces to unite in this hour of Brahmanical Hindutva fascist upsurge and repression and oppose the ban on PFI, NCHRO, CFI, Women’s Front, Junior Front, Rehab India Foundation , All India Imams Council, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala. We call upon the broader masses to fight against this brutal crackdown on democratic rights to unionize and dissent.
We demand the following:
  • Uplift the ban from PFI, NCHRO and all other above mentioned organizations.
  • Release all the activists arrested in the two waves of raids on PFI, NCHRO and various other organization.
  • Repeal UAPA
  • Stop witch hunt of Muslims.
  • Stop crackdown on democratic right to unionize and dissent.
---
*CASR organising team: AISF, APCR, BCM, Bhim Army, Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, BSCEM, CEM, CRPP, CTF, Disha, DISSC, DSU, IAPL, IMK, Karnataka Janashakti, KYS, Lokpaksh, LSI, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, Mehnatkash Mahila Sangathan, Morcha Patrika, NAPM, NBS, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Satyashodak Sangh, United Against Hate, WSS

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

Modi govt intimidating US citizens critical of abuses in India: NY Christian group to Biden

Counterview Desk  the New York Council of Churches for its release of an open letter calling on the Biden administration to “speak out forcefully” against rising Hindu extremist violence targeting Christians and other minorities in India. In the letter addressed to President Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other major elected officials, the NY Council of Churches expressed "grave concern regarding escalating anti-Christian violence" throughout India, particularly in Manipur, where predominantly Christian Kuki-Zo tribals have faced hundreds of violent attacks on their villages, churches, and homes at the hands of predominantly Hindu Meitei mobs.

Green revolution "not sustainable", Bt cotton a failure in India: MS Swaminathan

MS Swaminathan Counterview Desk In a recent paper in the journal “Current Science”, distinguished scientist PC Kesaven and his colleague MS Swaminathan, widely regarded as the father of the Green Revolution, have argued that Bt insecticidal cotton, widely regarded as the continuation of the Green Revolution, has been a failure in India and has not provided livelihood security for mainly resource-poor, small and marginal farmers. Sharply taking on Green Revolution, the authors say, it has not been sustainable largely because of adverse environmental and social impacts, insisting on the need to move away from the simplistic output-yield paradigm that dominates much thinking. Seeking to address the concerns about local food security and sovereignty as well as on-farm and off-farm social and ecological issues associated with the Green Revolution, they argue in favour of what they call sustainable ‘Evergreen Revolution’, based on a ‘systems approach’ and ‘ecoagriculture’. Pointing ou

Link India's 'deteriorating' religious conditions with trade relations: US policymakers told

By Our Representative  Commissioners on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) raised concerns about the “sophisticated, systematic persecution” of religious minorities by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a hearing on India in Washington DC.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Why is green revolution harmful for nutrition, food safety, environment, climate change

By Bharat Dogra*  A lie repeated a hundred times will not turn a lie into a truth. The big media should realize this and stop perpetuating the lie of the green revolution saving India from hunger, long after the world has awakened to the reality of how harmful the green revolution has been from the point of nutrition, food safety, environment and climate change.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Busy in political event, Gujarat govt 'evaded' plans to reduce massive Narmada floods

Counterview Desk  Farmer rights group Khedut Ekta Manch Gujarat in a letter to Bhupendrabhai Patel, chief minister, with copies sent to the officials concerned, has asked the Gujarat government to form an independent committee to investigate the recent massive flooding in Narmada, even as seeking proper compensation to those affected by the disaster, many of whom are farmers.