Revolutionary Workers' Party of India (RWPI) and various mass organisations such as Naujawan Bharat Sabha, Disha Students' Organisation, Stree Mukti League, along with Indian People in Solidarity with Palestine had given a countrywide call for protest demonstrations against the ongoing genocide of innocent Palestinians in the Gaza by the Zionist Israeli state on 13th October. The protests were conducted at various places in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Allahabad, Patna, Banaras, Vizag, Chandigarh, Haryana.
However, the frantic response given by the Modi government in crushing these protests in support of Palestinian liberation cause once expose or illustrate repressive regimes world over are sent shivers down their spine in face of resistance put forth by the people.
It is no surprise that Modi government hammered every nail in the wall to disrupt the pro-Palestine and anti-Israel demonstrations on 13th October. The chord that Indian fascists share with Israeli Zionists was blatantly exposed.. The Modi government got into the act very promptly and tried to quell the situation by detaining and arresting activists of RWPI and other organizations, placing them under house arrest, and breaking up protests within minutes.
These protest demonstrations and the organizations declared their unflinching support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and statehood. The imperialist media as well as Indian Godi media are characterizing the resistance of the Palestinian people against the colonial occupation by Zionist Israel as a "terrorist attack", while concealing the mass murders, systematic genocide, indiscriminate bombing of Gaza and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli state with full cooperation from Western imperialist powers. It was also declared that supporting Palestinians' national liberation struggle does not equate to supporting the Islamic fundamentalist ideology of Hamas. In the absence of any secular alternative, they have chosen those who are actively and militantly spearheading their fight at the moment. Moreover, the origin of Hamas lays its roots in Zionist occupation and settler colonialism of Israel. It is a fact of history that Israel and the US bred and funded Islamic fundamentalist groups in Palestine in the1980s to derail the liberation struggle and marginalise the revolutionary and secular forces within it.
The historical stand of the Indian bourgeois state of at least formally supporting Palestinian national self-determination and opposing hegemony of Israeli settlements has also been done away with under the current Modi regime. It was the consistent policy of Indian state since 1967 to endorse the two-state solution.
Reports of RWPI activists being put under house arrest poured in from Delhi, Allahabad and Mumbai. Shivani Kaul in Delhi, Prasen in Allahabad, Baban Thoke, Ashay, Shashank, Dhananjay in Mumbai were picked up, put under house arrest and then detained. Detentions were made in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Allahabad, Banaras as protestors gathered at various places to express solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In Mumbai, later in the day Supreeth and Ruchir were picked up and detained. Ruchir has sustained a serious head injury as well as other injuries as the Mumbai police resorted to open violence. The latest reports confirm that Ruchir and Supreeth have been arrested by police on some flimsy grounds. In Delhi, Priyamvada, Vishal, Naureen, Ashish, Shirshava, Karan, Tushar, Rihan and others were detained at Mandir Marg Police Station.
In Uttar Pradesh, members of Disha Students' Organization, Awinash, Ambarish, Dharmraj and Aakash have been detained in Allahabad and are yet to be released. It is most likely that some charges will be framed against them which is in complete consonance with the fascist Yogi Government in the state.
Disha member Amit has been detained in BHU, Varanasi. In Telangana, Bhargavi, Hina, Sreeja, Sam, Geetha, Anita, Mahipal, Anand and others were detained.
On 12th October 2023, Baban Thoke was detained by Mumbai Police. After this, on the very next day, 13th October 2023, three comrades- Shashank, Aashay and Dhananjay were pulled from their library by the police and were detained by them. Thus, the protest which was planned in Dadar was sabotaged by the police. They also tried to terrorise the protesting people who had gathered at Lallubhai Compound, Mankhurd through means of force. However, members of RWPI unflinchingly combated, with loud, clear sloganeering and with the support of the people. Pro-Palestine slogans and speeches were raised amongst the people.
Unfortunately in the confrontation with the police, Comrade Ruchir has suffered a head injury. The Mankhurd police are now filing case against Com. Supreeth and Ruchir. It is clear that, Mumbai police and Central Government intention is to crush the voice of the people by any means necessary.
This merciless suppression of voices in support of Palestine is nothing but Prime Minister Modi standing in league with Israel, one of India’s leading arms supplier. It must be noted that Mossad and Zionist police are hand in glove with with Indian intelligence agencies such as RAW. Israel supplied Pegasus spyware to India.. Hence, this is India’s communal fascists bondage with their racist Zionist brothers. However, the oppressor ruling classes are highly mistaken if they think that they can silence the voices of justice through these repressive machinations.
On October 16th,a protest demonstration was called at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against the occupation of Palestine by Zionist Israel and in support of the liberation struggle of the Palestinians, whereby just few minutes into the protests, the Delhi police brutally attacked the activists. Protestors were being beaten, dragged, and pushed into the buses, due to which many protesters suffered injuries. After boxing the protesters into two buses, police kept the protesters floating across Delhi for around 2 hours. Even after repeatedly asking, the police did not bother to tell where exactly they were taking the protesters. At last, they dropped the protesters at a police station in Jafarpur Kala village, an outer part of Delhi. However, facing volatile public pressure and rage from all over the country, the police were forced to release the detained protesters.
Democrats should salute the determination or unflinching commitment of the Revolutionary Workers party of India activists. It has always been the nature and character of the oppressors and rulers across the world to underestimate dissent. However, across the world, people ‘s wrath is escalating in no uncertain terms against the Zionist occupation of Palestine by Israel, against their own ruling classes and are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation struggle.
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*Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist. Thanks reports from Revolutionary Workers Party of India
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