The Anti Caste Discrimination Alliance is shocked to hear of the raids by Indian police across the country on the homes of activists and public intellectuals who are critical of the government and the current BJP ruling party.
The arrests of prominent activists and intellectuals: Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Gautam Navlakha, Varavara Rao, Arun Ferreira and others are nothing but an attempt by the government to strike terror among those who are fighting for justice for the marginalised and give voice to the voiceless. These current arrests and raids have taken place in the backdrop of the arrests of five human rights activists – Advocate Surendra Gadling, Professor Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhawale – who were also arrested on 6th June 2018.
The ACDA unequivocally condemns the process in which these raids were conducted. We believe there has been a systematic abuse of the legal process by the Government to malign the human rights activists and advocates over the past couple of months. The arbitrary arrest and raids is nothing but an escalation of the Government’s campaign to crush dissent and criminalise any person or organisation that questions or opposes the violation of fundamental rights and human rights by the State and its agencies. The motivated actions against them fit neatly into the present Government’s concerted campaign against marginalised and oppressed sections of society and any person, whether students, activists, academics or individuals who question the policies, actions and the abuse of power by the government.
Ravi Kumar, General Secretary said: “The raids and arrests are part of the government’s growing attempts to stifle dissent and intimidate those who are fighting for justice. This is also an attempt by the BJP to invent a false enemy and engage in scaremongering in order to polarise the 2019 elections in its favour.
We demand an immediate release of the arrested individuals and the dropping of all false charges against them, as these arrests and raids are politically motivated and unjustified.”
A number of protests are being arranged in the UK in response to this outrage, namely: ‐
Protest Outside India House, has been arranged by India Matters UK, for Friday 31st August, 4:30 pm.
A meeting with the Birmingham Indian High Commission Office, has been arranged by United Front for
Wednesday 5th September 2018, at 3pm.
We appeal to all those who support the right to dissent, question and criticize anti‐ people policies of the Indian BJP government to express their solidarity and join us at these protests, at this time of crises.
Ravi Kumar
General Secretary
