India: STOP THE ILLEGAL INVESTIGATION AND “RED-TAGGING” OF bsCEM

We hereby publish a joint statement, which we received via email:

On the morning of 24th of May 2024, Baadal, President of Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, and Uthara, member of bsCEM were abducted from inside their college, Delhi School of Journalism, by Delhi police who were dressed in civil clothes. They were forcefully pushed into a police vand and their phones were snatched. They were then taken to Maurice Nagar police station and placed in different rooms and were not told why they were brought there Comrade Baadal was then abruptly placed in a room full of investigating officers, all in civil clothes. The investigating officers refused to disclose their post or identity. Later, when Comrade Gaurav and Dev went to enquire the police about the abduction, they were also forcefully detained and made part of the illegal investigation which continued for more than 8 hours. This was all done without serving any prior notice of investigation. The investigation was carried out by Delhi Police, and some unrecongnized foreign-looking people who could be from anywhere, even CIA or ISI. All this happened on the basis of an FIR lodged by ABVP and DU administration under the bogus charges of defacement of public property. Later, Comrade Gurkirat was summoned alone on 30th June for further interrogation and investigation. Before her summon on 30th June she ahd constantly been harrassed by the Delhi police, they called her daily and intimidated her to come to the inquiry. They went as far as cracking innapropiate jokes about her and religion.

The comrades were subjected to constant mental harassment and female comrades in particular were repeatedly questioned about their personal lives. The investigating officers threatened to call the parents of the comrades being investigated and to tag them and their entire families as Maoists to ensure they never get any jobs. They even threatened to press UAPA charges on the comrades and event to beat up Comrades Baadal and Gaurav. They even asked all the comrades to resign from bsCEM if they wanted to save their families from being red-tagged. All of this shows that the investigation was done solely to intimidate students whoare raising their voices against the Fascist Indian State. Little was asked regarding the act fo “defacement” which the wall paintings allegedly caused, rather the investigating officers used this case only as an excuse to question of bsCEM and terrorise them. This incident is not an isolated one but a part of the broader crackdown on democratic and revolutionary voices all over the country. Ever since the Fascist RSS-BJP came to power in 2014, they have unleashed an unprecedented attack on Muslims, Dalits and Adivasis through corporate plunder and militarized State terror. During the anti-CAA protests, the Indian State punished the students of Jamia Milia Islamia for their resistance by using the UAPA law on more than a hundred students activists. This same pattern was repeated in the case of the Delhi pogroms and the Nuh violence in Haryana. Activists leading democcratic movements against imperialist plunder of natural resources in India are often tagged as “Maoists” as a pretext to unleash bruthal fascist repression. Similarly, Muslim activists fighting against State repression and State terror in Kashmir and against Islamophobic violence sponsored by the Indian State anywhere in the country were also tagged as “terrorists” to break the backbone of this resistance. On the other hand, instead of punishing arch-reactionary Hidutva fascist like Sadhvi Pragya and Bittu Bajrangi whoare responsible for targeted attacks on Muslims, the Indian State has protected them and, in many cases, rewarded them with government positions. This model of repression is not new or Indian in origin. The Indian State’s strategy of labelling democratic resistance as “Maoist” mirrors McCarthyism in the USA, while branding Muslim resistance as “terrorism” echoes the rhetoric of George Bush’s “war on terror” that sought to dehumanize the Muslim masses to make their displacement and genocide all the more acceptable.

In the past decades, Operations like SAMADHAN-Prahar-Kagar and the Surjkund scheme have been launched by the Indian ruling classes which now want to target all dissenting voices as “urban naxals”. The term “urban naxals” has no concrete definition, rahter the Idian state tags democratic voices who expose its true nature and therefore pose danger to it with this label. Many prominent activists and journalists such as Medha Patkar, Sudha Bharadwaj, Rupesh Kumar Singh, and Ravish Kumar have also been red-tagged by the present regime as “urban naxals”. It has been invoking “anti-terror” laws against internationally acclaimed members of civil society such as Arudhati Roy and Prof. Sheikh Showkat Hussain. In fact even leaders of other ruling class parties did not escape the accusation of being “urban naxals” just because they raised the issue of poverty and unenployment, if only in words. This is the level of political degeneration we are witnessing in the country, a trend which is not new but started with Prof. G. N. Saibaba, Hem Mishra and the BK16 who were imprisoned for raising their voice against the war waged by the Indian State on its people. The Indian state is intensifying its repression as imperialism falls into more and more severe crises. This attack on Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch is also a part of this wider phenomenon.

The Indian state continues to suppress democcratic voices and revolutionary movements while failing to address fundamental issues such as unenployment, education and attacks on marginalized communities. Tags lik “Maoists” or “urban naxals” are used by fascists to discredit those advocating for the voicelss, but these tactics will not deter those who are committed to fundamentally transforming this exploitative and oppressive system. We, the undersigned organizations, demand an immediate end to the red-tagging that is being done against bsCEM and to drop all charges against their members. In a purportedly democratic country, the people must also be given the right to raise their voice and resist the oppressive policies enacted by the state if it desires to claim even the shell of democracy. We condemn the constant harassment and intimidation done by the police and investigating agencies and urge everyone to unitedly struggle against the fascist offensive.

Signatories:

Organisations:

India:

1. All India Democratic Students’ Organisation
2. All India Forum for Right to Education
3. All India Lawyers’ Association for Justice
4. All India Progressive Womens’ Association
5. All India Revolutionary Students’’ Organisation
6. All India Students’ Association
7. Ambedkar Students’ Association, DU
8. Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch
9. Bhagat Singh Students’ Morcha, BHU
10. Campus Teachers’ Front, DU
11. Collective
12. Dayar-i-Shauq Study Charter, JMI
13. Democratic Students’ Association Kerala
14. Democratic Students’ Union, DU
15. English and Foreign Languages University Students’ Council, Hyderabad
16. Fatima Sheikh Study Circle, Mumbra
17. FRATERNITY MOVEMENT
18. Hindu College Women’s Development Cell
19. Nayariya Magazine
20. Parivartankami Chhatra Sangathan
21. Porattam, Keralla22. Progressive Democratic Student’s Federation, West Bengal
22. Progressive Student Youth Association
23. Progressive Students’ Association, JNU
24. Revolutionary Student’s Front, West Bengal
25. Revolutionary Students’ League
26. Revolutionary Youth Association
27. Students for People’s Democracy
28. Students for Society
29. Spark Magazine
30. Students’ Uprising Movement for Social Welfare, Tamil Nadu

International:

1. Lal Morich Bari, USA
2. Portsmouth Marxist Students, England
3. Revolutionary Students’ Organisation-Bay Area, USA
4. Revolutionary Students’ Organisation-Santa Cruz, USA
5. Revolutionary Students’ Union, Davis, USA

Individuals

1. Prof. Abha Dev Habib
2. Anil Chamadia
3. Adv. Bela Bhatia
4. Prof. GN Saibaba
5. Himanshu Kumar
6. Ipsa Satakshi43. Prof. Jenny Rowena
7. Prof. Karen Gabriel
8. Medha Patkar
9. m.n. Ravunni, Chairperson, Porattam Kerala
10. Prof. Nandita Narain
11. N Venugopal, Journalist, Hyderab
12. Adv. N.D. Pancholi
13. Prof. PK Vijayan
14. Prof. Saroj Giri
15. Prof. Shamsul Islam