August 1, 2025
*Press Statement
Date: 31 July 2025*
*CASR Strongly Condemns the Arrest of Student and Labour Rights Activist Priyanshu Kashyap by NIA under the Fabricated Lucknow Conspiracy Case*
Campaign Against State Repression unequivocally condemns the arrest of Priyanshu Kashyap, a former student at the Department of History, Delhi University, by the National Investigation Agency on July 29, 2025. He was earlier picked up by the Haryana Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) from Hisar district around July 26-27 and was later arrested and taken to Lucknow by the NIA in connection with the fabricated Lucknow Conspiracy Case FIR No. RC/01/2023/NIA/Lucknow. From December last year, the state had been trying to intimidate and harass him for his activism when his rented room was raided by the NIA in connection with the same case along with other activists. Priyanshu, an activist from an Adivasi background belonging to Bastar, has always stood for the rights of students, workers, peasants, Adivasis, women, Dalits, religious minorities, and other oppressed sections of society.
As a student at Delhi University, he was involved in student activism, fighting against fee hikes, paper leaks, and advocating for a democratic and equitable campus. He also raised concerns for the oppressed and exploited masses of the country, speaking out against the genocidal war on Adivasi people in Central India and the exploitation of their resources. After completing his master’s in history, despite qualifying for a Junior Research Fellowship (JRF), he chose to work with the working class. He was working with the Delhi General Mazdoor Front (DGMF), a labor rights organization based in New Delhi, when his room was raided by the NIA.
Agencies like the NIA and draconian laws like the UAPA, along with tactics of red-tagging with cases such as the Lucknow Conspiracy Case, are weapons in the hands of the state to harass and arrest activists and silence dissent. It’s possible that Priyanshu’s role as a student activist and later as part of a labor rights organization advocating for workers’ rights has brought him into the state’s crosshairs.
Lucknow Conspiracy Case that started in September 2023 with targeting activists in UP, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab has now become a weapon in the hands of the state for a wider crackdown on students, labour rights activists, advocates, journalists, intellectuals and others. NIA, the Gestapo force of the Brahminical Hindutva fascist RSS-BJP has been cooking up the “Maoist’s NRB Revival case” or Lucknow Conspiracy Case in an attempt to arrest, threaten and silence dissent. They claim that Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, UP, Bihar have many social activists who are Over Ground Workers (OGW) of CPI Maoist. By labeling these activists and their activities to be CPI (Maoist)’s reconstruction of North Region Bureau, it tries to legitimize raids, harassment and arrests. This is nothing but a similar attempt as that of Bhima koregaon conspiracy case, in which multiple pro people activists from working class, anti displacement, peasant and cultural people’s movement across the country were labeled as OGW or urban naxals, falsely implicated and jailed. Bhima Koregaon is same case which killed father Stan Swamy. We see this same pattern of conspiracy cases being repeated through this new series of raids, search and seizures and arrest of democratic pro-people activists, while many of the BK16 prisoners are still behind bars and haven’t even been tried yet. It is notable that no charge has been filed yet against advocate Ajay and Vishal Singh arrested earlier in the Lucknow conspiracy case as the state has been unable to do so. They are now targeting activists around other states to keep the case going. This , therefore, is the old tactic of Bhima Koregaon used by the Indian state to crackdown on all democratic voices, packaged in the new cover of Lucknow Conspiracy.
This In the name of “war against Maoism” as announced by Amit Shah, promising to bring an end to the movement by March 2026, the state has shamelessly and openly taken to new heights the war on Adivasi people fighting for their Jal-Jangal-Jameen through aerial bombing and fake encounters, and on social activists and democratic voices exposing the anti-people nature of the state through harassing, threatening, red-tagging and prolonged legal harassment. They arrest individuals and treat them as guilty until proven innocent, contradicting natural justice principles. This attempt to silence the resistance and fighting voices of the exploited and oppressed masses has reached new heights since the introduction of Surajkund Scheme in 2022, which, in the name of ending “naxalism of pen” targets activists, students, professors, intellectuals, labor rights activists, journalists, artists and all democratic voices. We also know that various courts in the country have stated in various judgements that, it is not a crime under the law to believe in the ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism or even being a member of CPI (Maoist). However, various prominent social activists, lawyers, trade union activists and human rights activists are tagged as “overground workers” of CPI (Maoist) and are kept in jail without trial for years. Thus, the trial itself becomes punishment, snatching away people’s right to life with dignity as well as tearing down all pretext of rule of law.
Campaign Against State Repression stands with the unflinching activism of Priyanshu Kashyap and demands for his release. We also demand for the release of all political prisoners falsly implicated in fabricated cases, and an end to such baseless cases as the Lucknow Conspiracy case used to target and witchhunt activists, and silence dissent. We appeal to all democratic and progressive sections of the society to stand with our activists and resist the Brahminical Hindutva Fascist crackdown on democratic freedoms.
*CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION
Organising Team*
(AIRSO, AISA, AISF, APCR, ASA, BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM, CEM, COLLECTIVE, CRPP, CSM, CTF, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Forum Against Repression Telangana, Fraternity, IAPL, Innocence Network, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA, Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, NAPM, Nazariya Magazine , Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad, Smajwadi lok manch, Bahujan Samjavadi Mnach, SFI, United Peace Alliance, WSS, Y4S
No comments:
Post a Comment