Left Parties Protest to Protect Human Rights in India

Six Left parties – the CPI(M), CPI, RSP, AIFB, CPI(ML), and SUCI(C) – have started a nationwide protest against the increasing human rights violations being committed by the ruling party BJP in India.

In a statement, they said the Left parties strongly condemn the attack launched by the RSS-BJP against the Left and all other progressive forces. It is clear that under the false allegation of being “anti-national” the RSS-BJP have mounted an all-India attack against the Indian people.

The Left parties while strongly condemning the attack mounted by the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) under the patronage of this BJP-led NDA government against the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) see this as part of a larger design by the communal forces to carry forward their agenda in institutions of higher learning.

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This systemic pattern is clearly visible in the incidents in Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Hyderabad Central University leading to the tragic suicide of Rohit Vemula, the incidents in IIT Chennai and now in Jadavpur University, according to the statement.

Last week, the leaders of Left parties met President of India to express their concerns over the increasing lawlessness in the country.

In their memorandum to the President, the opposition leaders said, “We strongly condemn the attack launched by the RSS-BJP against the Left and all other democratic and secular forces in the country. It is clear that by spreading the canard of being “anti-national” the RSS-BJP have mounted an all-India attack against the Indian people.”

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It is clear that the RSS-BJP are mounting an open attack on the democratic and constitutional rights of the people. Further, such attacks are part of the efforts to sharpen communal polarisation in the country to also divert the attention of the people from the growing burdens being imposed upon them by the total failure of this NDA-led Modi government on all fronts.

The Left parties demand that the JNU Students Union President, Kanhaiya Kumar, must be released and all cases of sedition filed against students must be withdrawn forthwith.

No harassment and witch hunting must be allowed. The truth has now come out that most of the evidence produced by the government was fabricated. Those who have fabricated the evidence and propagated it, must be punished under the law.

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The Left parties have decided to call for an all-India protest from February 23 to 25, against the machinations of the Central government under RSS guidance. This countrywide campaigns amongst the people to expose such attacks on the people including the violence in the courts will be under the banner “Defend People’s Constitutional Rights”.

The Left parties appealed to all progressive, democratic, and secular forces to join this protest.

The Left parties leaders who have issued the call for protest include Sitaram Yechury, Prakash Karat and S. Ramachandran Pillai – CPI(M), Sudhakar Reddy, Gurudas Dasgupta, and D. Raja – CPI, Swapan Mukherjee – CPI(ML)-Liberation, Abani Roy – RSP, Pran Sharma – SUCI(C) and Debabrata Biswas (AIFB).

Photo courtesy: CPI(M)