Maoistroad agree and relaunch the appeal to condemn the
ban imposed on RDF by the Andhra
Pradesh government, and fight for its immediate withdrawal.
August 16, 2012
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) has been banned by the Andhra
Pradesh government on 9 August 2012 through Government Order No.430
under Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act 1992. This comes as the latest
of the anti-people repressive measures that the Andhra Pradesh
government have persistently adopted to over the last few decades to
crush democratic voices and peoples’ movements under the garb of
fighting Maoism. This comes as another glaring example of the hollowness
of Indian government’s claim as ‘largest democracy of the world’. We
strongly condemn this act of banning and criminalisation of our
organisation and demand the immediate withdrawal of this authoritarian
ban.
The Government Order brands RDF as “unlawful” and bans it “with
immediate effect”. The GO links RDF with the banned CPI(Maoist) by
calling it a “frontal organisation” of the Maoist party. Falsely
implicating RDF as “part of Tactical United Front”, it dubiously enlists
the following as “unlawful activities” of the organisation:
(1) Subserving the interest and objectives of the Communist Party of
India (Maoist) whose avowed objective is to overthrow the lawfully
established Government by means of force and violence through terrorist
activities involving the use of firearms and explosives;
(2) Urging people to fight against the Police and join the Maoist movement;
(3) Opposing and demanding stoppage of anti extremist combing
operations of the police and security forces in the left wing extremism
affected area of the States and there by abetting and encouraging the
violent activities of Maoist;
(4) Organising dharnas, rallies and other forms of agitations in
support of the unlawful activities of the Communist Party of India
(Maoist) and
(5) Opposing lawful actions of police and criminal justice system and
inciting the people to take violence against the democratically elected
government established by law.
The arbitrary and knee-jerk reaction of the AP government in banning
RDF in the state comes just three months after the organisation
successfully held its First All India Conference in Hyderabad on 22-23
April 2012. The indication of the AP government’s response was visible
during the conference as well. It banned the Public Rally of 23 April in
an arbitrary manner by serving us a letter which alleged that some
Maoists were present in the conference and that the Rally would
‘disturb’ the law and order situation of the state. Under instructions
from the state government, Andhra Pradesh police also arrested a team of
35 cultural activists from Chhattisgarh on false charges and prevented
them from attending the conference.
There is no organisational structure of RDF in Andhra Pradesh at
present. It is therefore ridiculous to attribute the so-called unlawful
activities to our organisation. Presently only the RDF All India
President Varavara Rao (member of Virasam or Revolutionary Writers’
Association) and Vice-President Ganti Prasadam are our members from this
state. The only activity conducted under the banner of RDF in Andhra
Pradesh after the Conference was a round-table meeting that raised
voices of protest against the recent massacre of 20 adivasis in Bijapur
district of Chhattisgarh. This was a well attended meeting with the
participation of several prominent intellectuals, writers and
representatives of civil rights organisations besides being attended and
addressed the meeting by three senior editors of newspapers. Is there
any basis or justification for terming such a meeting as ‘unlawful’?
Opposing and resisting the massacres of adivasis or protesting
against the police and armed forces’ operations in the tribal tracts is
being frivolously mentioned in the Government Order as unlawful
activities. All democratic individuals and organisations across the
country and the world have been opposing and demanding a stop to the
paramilitary operations in the tribal regions of central and eastern
India in the name of fighting the Maoists. RDF too has been consistently
raising its democratic voice against all forms of state and
ruling-class violence – be it massacres, murders in the name of
encounters, torture, arrest and burning down of tribal villages, and so
on. By criminalising dissent and silencing democratic political
opposition through the ban on RDF, the government has once more exposed
its fascist fangs.
RDF held a day-long dharna against the Bijapur massacre on 31 July
2012 at the Parliament Street with space allotted by the Delhi Police in
front of the Parliament Street police station. A number of prominent
speakers and democratic organisation from different parts of India
participated and addressed the dharna. A number of renowned public
personalities of the country including Justice Rajinder Sachar, Dr. B D
Sharma, Bojja Tharakam, professor of economics, Jean Dreze, prominent
Hindi writers and poets like Madan Kashyap, Manglesh Dabral and others
joined their voices with us against the massacre of adivasis. After the
dharna RDF submitted two memorandums with a charter of demands to the
President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as well as UPA and NAC chairperson Ms.
Sonia Gandhi. In fact, we requested both the President and Ms. Gandhi
for a meeting with a delegation of concerned citizens, which was duly
acknowledged. Does the Andhra Pradesh government consider these
activities too as unlawful?
We stand against the draconian instrument of ban which the government
have consistently used to stifle political opposition. In 2005,
Revolutionary Writers’ Association (Virasam) was banned by Andhra
Pradesh government. Varavara Rao and G Kalyana Rao, two members of the
organisation acted as the emissaries of CPI(ML) Peoples’ War and
participated in the talks with the AP government. The same government
banned their organisation and arrested them soon after the talks broke
down. Virasam waged a successful struggle along with intellectuals,
writers and democratic forces against the Andhra Pradesh government to
withdraw the ban.
Similarly, Odisha government imposed a ban on RDF, Chasi Mulia
Adivasi Sangh, Kui Labang Sangh, Bala Sangam, Daman Pratirodh Mancha and
Krantikari Mahila Sangh in June 2006 under sections of the colonial
CRPC of 1881 amended in 1967 as Criminal Amendment Act. RDF has been
consistently fighting against these bans. After Daman Pratirodh Manch
challenged the ban in Odisha High Court, it did not approve of the ban
and suggested that these organisations should register their names and
fight elections. A second option given by the High Court was that the
organisations should approach the government to review its decision. The
case at present is before the Supreme Court which has issued notice to
the Odisha government to file its affidavit.
RDF strongly condemns the ban imposed on the above organisations by
the Odisha government and and demands their withdrawal. We demand that
the Andhra Pradesh government revoke the ban on CPI(Maoist) and six mass
organisations – All India Revolutionary Students Federation (AIRSF),
Federation of Workers of Singareni Coal Mines, (Singareni Karmika
Samakhya or SIKASA), Radical Students Union (RSU), Peasants and Workers
Association (Rythu Coolie Sangham), Radical Youth League (RYL) and
Revolutionary Workers’ Federation (Viplava Karmika Samakhya or VIKASA).
We also demand that the ban imposed by the central government on
CPI(Maoist) and 30 other organisations under the Unlawful Activities
Prevention Act (UAPA) be lifted immediately.
RDF is a peoples’ democratic organisation working at the all-India
level, raising issues and demands of the masses. We consider this ban as
a direct assault on the democratic rights of the people to organise and
protest against the anti-people policies of the government and the
ruling classes. RDF refuses to be cowed down by this authoritarian ban.
We pledge to resolutely stand amidst the people and join shoulder to
shoulder with all democratic and revolutionary organisations in the
country and worldwide to fight against this undemocratic and criminal
ban on our organisation. We declare that we will take up all means of
democratic protests, rallies, meetings and dharnas to put pressure on
the AP government to withdraw the ban. We will also explore all judicial
avenues to remove the ban and to challenge the draconian AP Public
Security Act, 1992.
RDF appeals to all the democrats and democratic organisations in the
country and worldwide to raise voices against the authoritarian,
arbitrary and undemocratic ban imposed on our organisation by the Andhra
Pradesh government, and fight for its immediate withdrawal.
Varavara Rao
President
Rajkishore
General Secretary
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