Report of the Demonstration in Delhi
Protesting the Dastardly Murder of Revolutionary Leader Ganti
Prasadam
Today, 10th of
July, 2013, democratic and revolutionary voices from across Delhi came together
to condemn the brutal attack and murder of Ganti Prasadam in a protest
demonstration at Jantar Mantar. A dastardly murder of a
popular trade union leader with a long-standing history of leading the workers’
movement in his home district, Vijiyanaram, a revolutionary leader who stood the
ground for the poor – the dalits, adivasis, workers, and all the oppressed and
destitute, and a prolific poet and writer who stood tall amongst the people as a
tireless voice for the genuine demands of the people, Ganti Prasadam was killed
by state sponsored goons on the 4th of July. Ganti Prasadam was
serving as the All India Vice-President of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF)
and was an Executive Member of the Committee for the Relatives and Friends of
Martyrs at the time of his assassination in Nellore.
Ganti Prasadam was a
post-graduate from Banaras Hindu University in 1960’s, and has ever since
remained devoted to the revolutionary movement and its culture as a poet, a
writer and a political analyst, besides being a public intellectual. On the
4th of July, a three-member state sponsored vigilante group with
pistols and knives attacked him at 3:40 pm in front of a government hospital in
Nellore. He was there to address the annual meeting of the Committee of the
Relatives and Friends of Martyrs, which is held every year to commemorate
revolutionaries, activists and ordinary people who have lost their lives at the
hands of the state in fake encounters or in police custody and missing peoples
in the state of Andhra Pradesh as part of people’s movement and revolutionary
struggle over the years. After the meeting, he went to the local hospital to
meet a family member of a martyr who was hospitalized. While coming out of this
hospital, he was brutally attacked by the three-member assassins’ team of the
Andhra Pradesh State Intelligence Bureau with knives and then shot thrice with a
pistol at close range. Though he was operated on for hours, the wounds proved
fatal and in the early hours of the 5th of July, Prasadam’s life came
to an end.
The targeting of mass
revolutionary leaders in Andhra Pradesh and the criminalizing of people’s
activists through fabricated cases and extended incarceration has been common
practice of the state government. Over the years, Ganti Prasadam repeatedly
faced arrest for upholding genuine people’s movements. He fought incessantly for
the rights of the oppressed masses and political prisoners, particularly
adivasis in Odisha and Andhra. Despite the repression he faced, he continued to
lead and participate in people’s movement. He also wrote prolifically engaging
in contemporary political and literary debates.
In the protest
demonstration held in Delhi, many democratic and revolutionary organisations and
individuals condemned the murder. In this demonstration, Revolutionary
Democratic Front’s President Rajkishore exposed the preplanned nature of the
assault on him. He reiterated that Ganti Prasadam was not a lone voice but the
voice of thousands of people fighting for their genuine demands for jal, jangal,
jameen in all parts of the country. Thousands of people
in the past have been attacked in this way over the years and the lives that
have been silenced are testimony to the brutality of the Indian State.
Banojyotsna of Democratic Students’ Union drew attention to the civil war waged
by the Indian State on its own people in the name of Operation Green Hunt. This
killing of Ganti Prasadam is an extension of this war on people and reflects the
desperation of the Indian State to violently repress all voices of dissent.
Mrigank from Naujawan Bharat Sabha stated that the way in which Ganti Prasadam
was killed once again reveals the fear of the ruling classes of the power of the
revolutionary struggle. Ever since the emergence of the revolutionary struggle,
such incidents as this one have continued unabated. P K Shahi of AIFTU appealed
to the revolutionary and democratic forces of the country to unite and answer
back this murder on Ganti Prasadam. Arjun Prasad of PDFI saw this murder of
Ganti Prasadam as an extension of the larger agenda of the state reflected in
Operation Green Hunt. Leaders from People’s Front- Delhi, Inquilabi Mazdoor
Kendra, Viplava Sanskritik Manch, Mehanatkash Mazdoor Morcha, Krantikari Yuva
Sangathan, Krantikari Naujawan Sabha and others spoke in this
demonstration.
It is clear to us that this
attack was to eliminate a revolutionary mass leader who could reach out to the
vast sections of society and successfully lead the revolutionary masses against
the military campaign launched by the Indian state on its own people. This
campaign codenamed Operation Green Hunt has resulted in the death and
destruction of thousands of lives and livelihood in the states of Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra
Pradesh. These organisations have come together to stand united in demanding the
constitution of a high-level judicial inquiry with a sitting Supreme
Court or High Court judge into this cold-blooded murder of Ganti Prasadam and identify its
perpetrators and subsequently, the punishment of those officials, politicians
and goons responsible for this brutal killing of a revolutionary leader.
The Home
Minister of this country should break his silence act. The Central Government must
answer for the death of a people’s leader.
At the end of the
demonstration, a memorandum was submitted to the Union Home Minister demanding a
judicial inquiry on the brutal murder of Ganti Prasadam.
The Organizations participated in the Demonstration.
All India Federation of Trade Unions [AIFTU (New)], All India
Students' Association [AISA], Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, Campus Front of India [CFI],
Communist Part of India Marxist-Leninist (New Democracy) [CPIML (ND)], Committee
for Release of Political Prisoners [CRPP], Democratic Students' Union [DSU],
Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra [IMK], Krantikari Lok Adhikar Sangathan, Krantikari
Naujawan Sabha [KNS], Krantikari Yuva Sangathan [KYS], Mehnatkash Mazdoor Morcha
[MMM], National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations [NCHRO], Nawjawan
Bharat Sabha, New Democratic Party of India [NDPI], Nowroz, People's Democratic
Front of India [PDFI], People's Front- Delhi [PF (Delhi)], Pratidhwani, Radical
Notes, Revolutionary Democratic Front [RDF], Sanhati, Students Islamic
Organisation [SIO], Viplava Sanskritik Manch, and individuals.
G N SAIBABA
Asst. Professor
Department of English
Ram Lal Anand College
University of Delhi
Mobile: 8800100490
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