INDIAN WORKERS’ ASSOCIATION – GREAT BRITAIN declaration for 28th protest against Operation Kagar

I ndian Workers’ Association is thankful to the Joint Committee to Stop Repression in India for extending the invitation to us to join this very important protest.

What is this war on the People of India? This has been waged by various successive governments of India on the Adivasis – the tribal population – who happen to live in the dense forests in the heartlands of India. They have lived in these lands since time immemorial but recent geographical explorations have revealed that the Adivasis occupy the hills and jungle, underneath which there are vast quantities of very rich minerals. These minerals, coal, aluminium, iron, steel and numerous others are much sought after by the national and multinational corporations from which they hope to make super profits. Their problem is of course the tribal populations who live on that land, in harmony with their environment. The Adivasis refuse to vacate their land for the government sponsored mining corporations.

The Adivasis have been fighting to save their land for many, many decades and hundreds of thousands have been displaced thus far with no compensation and nowhere to go. Their difficulties to adapt to life outside of their hills and forest have been completely overlooked, with complete disdain by the ruling elites of India. In the past three to four decades the Adivasis have befriended the revolutionary Naxals, also known as Maoist, and together they have engaged in the movement of resistance against the onslaught of government backed corporates greed in these areas. This collaboration – between Adivasis and Naxals – has been going on for so long it is increasingly difficult to decipher between an Adivasi and a Naxal. Are the Naxals leading the Adivasi or is it the other way around? Their combined struggles have had to endure numerous militarised operations such as Operation Green Hunt, Salwa Judum at the hands of government’s armed police and elite paramilitary forces. The latest one being Operation Kagar.

The previous Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leading the Congress government, called the Naxalites the “single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country”. To eliminate that threat, the current Home Minister of the BJP government, Amit Shah, has vowed to “… ensure that by March 31, 2026, India will be free from Naxalism.” That date is due in a few days. One wonders if Home Minister’s objective will indeed be realised?

One wonders, with the Naxals “completely defeated”, will the resistance of the Adivasis against the mining corporates be also annihilated? One wonders how peoples’ resistance ceases in the face of continued repression? One wonders how pursuit for justice disappears in the face of continued gross injustice. If one gazes over the entire landscape of India, injustice is everywhere to be seen. The patriarchal subjugation of women, complete disregard of the rights of differently oriented communities, deep caste prejudice against Dalits, persecution of religious minorities, particularly the Muslim and Christians, and the unconstitutional, near imperialist, attitude towards national minorities are amongst the injustices being carried in India, only a daily basis. The government’s majoritarian approach in legislating against the hard-won rights of the workers and throwing the peasants to the mercy of foreign agricultural multinationals are yet other forms of injustices prevailing over the whole stretches of India. One wonders how resistance against such injustice can be killed off?

Returning back to the jungles of India, the Indian government may well believe that they can wipe out Naxals, Maoist, etc. However, so long as governments remain lackeys of the greedy corporations, and the elite ruling classes, in of support of maintaining feudalism and serving imperialism, whilst ignoring the rights of workers and peasants of India, countless other people’s resistance movements will inevitably emerge. That is human nature. That is the history of people’s movements. It remains to be seenwhether the 31st March will bring an end to the Naxals/Maoist as the Home Minister Amit Shah has proclaimed.

The Indian Workers’ Association GB is grateful for the opportunity to share its views with you and stands in solidarity at this historic event. Let us keep exposing the Indian government’s subservience to imperialism, feudalism and greedy corporations. Let us keep routing for Peoples’ fundamental democratic rights to life, privacy, liberty, freedom from torture, fair trials, freedom of expression, and equality. Let us continue the fight for justice and Peoples’ Democracy.

INDIAN WORKERS’ ASSOCIATION – GREAT BRITAIN
28th March 2026