How BJP govt across India crushed protests against Israeli attack on Palestine

By Harsh Thakor
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.
---
*Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist. Thanks reports from Revolutionary Workers Party of India

Comments

Budget for 2018-19: Ahmedabad authorities "regularly" under-spend allocation

By Mahender Jethmalani* The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s (AMC's) General Body (Municipal Board) recently passed the AMC’s annual budget estimates of Rs 6,990 crore for 2018-19. AMC’s revenue expenditure for the next financial year is Rs 3,500 crore and development budget (capital budget) is Rs 3,490 crore.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

As 2024 draws nearer, threatening signs appear of more destructive wars

By Bharat Dogra The four years from 2020 to 2023 have been very difficult and high risk years for humanity. In the first two years there was a pandemic and such severe disruption of social and economic life that countless people have not yet recovered from its many-sided adverse impacts. In the next two years there were outbreaks of two very high-risk wars which have worldwide implications including escalation into much wider conflicts. In addition there were highly threatening signs of increasing possibility of other very destructive wars. As the year 2023 appears to be headed for ending on a very grim note, there are apprehensions about what the next year 2024 may bring, and there are several kinds of fears. However to come back to the year 2020 first, the pandemic harmed and threatened a very large number of people. No less harmful was the fear epidemic, the epidemic of increasing mental stress and the cruel disruption of the life and livelihoods particularly among the weaker s...

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Call to "enjoy" pilgrimage of Sabarmati beyond Ahmedabad, where river water turns black

Sabarmati at Vautha By A Representative Nagrik Sashaktikaran Manch (NSM), a Gujarat-based civil rights organization, has called upon the state's citizens to join in a "unique yatra" along the river Sabarmati, starting in Ahmedabad and ending off the Gulf of Khambhat, where the river is supposed to merge with the sea. Pointing out that in Hindu culture, rivers are equated with Mother Goddess, NSM convener Jatin Seth says, it will be a "special event of pilgrimage", because, just like Ganga, Sarbarmati possesses "special properties." "Starting at Giaspur, one can see how industries are releasing chemicals in Sabarmati, and you get a Thumbs-Up like colour of the water, and if you drink it, you are sure to be at least affected by cancer, and this way would enable you to book your ticket in the paradise. The river has a special smell, too, emanating from a black cocktail-type colour", says Seth in a statement. A village next to Sabarmati river In...

Search This Blog