Join Demonstration (April 1 2010) against TATA sponsored Orissa Govt’s attack on Kalinganagar

Posted by Radical Notes March 30, 2010 at 10:18 pm in Delhi, Events, India, Orissa, Press Release, State Repression

CPI(ML) New Democracy
Delhi Committee

Friends,

Adding to its criminal assault on the tribals of Kalinganagar on January 2, 2006 and continuous encirclement of the area since then killing, maiming and framing the people in false cases, the Naveen Pattnaik’s armed police along with hired armed goons of TATA have launched a serious armed attack on the tribals of Kalinganagar from 30th morning. Since morning firing by the police has injured over a dozen, four of them seriously. This criminal armed assault has been launched to force the tribals to hand over their land to TATA.

The assault has been coming for days. 26 platoons of Orissa State Armed Police (OSAP) and 2 platoons of the special Operations Group (SOG) had been added to the already massive police deployment in the area. According to press reports, seven Magistrates and 35 Police inspectors had been deployed in the area. Obviously they did not come with any peaceful intent.

Since the past few months, under the general cover of Chidambaram’s ‘war’ against people’s movements, the Maven Patina Govt., under TATA’s tutelage, had again stepped up the attack on Kalinganagar. The affected villages have been effectively cordoned off for months, neither anganwadis, PDS shops nor dispensaries are functioning.

The assault on Kalinganagar tribals is to be viewed in the context of Naveen Pattnaik Govt. signing a large number of MOUs with foreign and Indian corporates for exploitation of mineral resources of Orissa. Police barracks are being constructed in Jagatsinghpur to be used against anti-POSCO protesters. Despite severe violations by Vedanta even admitted by Govt. panel, the Orissa Govt. is extending all help to them. Naveen Pattnaik Govt. is using the might of state to displace the tribals. The direction being taken by this Govt. for Orissa is disastrous for the people of Orissa and their long term interests.

The Kalinganagar tribals have been opposing this long drawn assault on their ancestral lands. To express solidarity with them, to condemn this brutal, heinous assault on them and to demand of Naveen Pattnaik Govt. that all forces be immediately withdrawn from Kalinganagar and the TATA Project be scrapped immediately, please assemble at Jantar Mantar on 1st April (Orissa Day) at 12 noon. We appeal to all revolutionary and democratic organizations and individuals to unitedly raise their voice against the trampling of democratic rights of tribal people. A memorandum signed by all who oppose this brutal attack and stand in solidarity with the fighting people of Kalinganagar will also be submitted to Orissa Govt.

Naujawan Bharat Sabha (NBS)
Delhi Committee
Contact

Mrigank (09268708291, 09868854489)
Veerendra (09210186894)
Rajesh (09818834175,09953960163)

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The Battlefield of Kalinga Nagar

Posted by Radical Notes March 30, 2010 at 10:06 pm in India, Orissa, State Repression

Satyabrata

On the 28th of March, while the district magistrate of Jajpur was talking to the protestors of Kalinga Nagar who have been opposing the establishment of a plant by Tata Steel since 2006, the Superintendent of Police declared that “protestors will not be spared”! The Government of Orissa has continuously been attempting to protect its ‘clean image’ while at the same time taking ahead its brutal agenda of pandering to the capitalist interests. The day after the talks, i.e. on the 29th of March, 2010, the construction started and the day after, i.e., today on the 30th, twenty four platoons of police encircled the villages that were protesting and started firing rubber bullets. This was followed by the entry of the troops into the village and their evacuation. Houses in the villages were burnt and cattle and food destroyed. This was followed by firing of real bullets in which Member Kanuriya, a local inhabitant got injuries. About twenty people had fatal wounds. The alternative media that is present there is also being harassed so that news from the region doesn’t go out. And then there is the mainstream media, the State’s strongest Ideological ally that has shown in news channels that the police fired back because of the violence of the agitators present there. It is a completely planned out attack against the people of Kalinga Nagar with no hidden ambitions.

This is the moment of suppressing of the democratic part of the movement and the State is successful in brutally suppressing it. What fate democratic dissent has under the brutal rule of capital is evident from this moment of the movement. There is no other alternative for the movement to survive other than getting militarized which the State is forcing it to be. Then, of course, there is the Operation Green Hunt to deal with it after it has been militarized.

No matter what the State does, its brutalities shall ultimately dissolve into the idea of “development” that capital has constructed for itself as a notion to be imposed on the people and coerced into them via its Ideological Apparatuses. It is high time the people deconstruct this notion of development and question the nepotism of this “developmental” process. The ruling party of Orissa, the BJD, has as its sole weapon, this notion of “development” that it has been utilizing in continuing its rule with all its brutalities. The task here is to discern the notion and unmask the State exposing its true demonic face.

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