Working people of Chhattisgarh protest rights violations

Despite countrywide protests against the fascist operations of the state sponsored Salwa Judum in the tribal areas of the state, the Chattisgarh government continues to rape, murder, terrorise and displace the people into camps run by the state using the Salwa Judum vigilante forces.

According to reports received, on February 16, 2009, hundreds of activists of different organisations organised a protest at Raipur, the state capital, protesting the cold-blooded murder, rape and abduction of adivasis in 5 villages of Singharam recently. The adivasis had to pay this heavy price because they refused to abandon their homes and villages and move to the camps organised by the state.

Earlier, on February 13, 2009, thousands of adivasis organised a protest rally at the initiative of the Jamen Bachao Sangharsh Samiti in Jashpur. Thirty two villages of Kunkuri Tehsil and nineteen villages of Bagicha Tehsil are proposed to be evacuated for Jindal to do prospecting for gold and precious gems.

Meanwhile, working class and peoples organisations in the state have decided to launch a Satyagraha in Raipur demanding the release of Dr Binayak Sen, who has been incarcerated in the dungeons of the state on the flimsiest of charges for nearly two years, under the draconian Chattisgarh Public Safety Act.