Following the abduction and illegal detention of Chhatradhar Mahato, leader of the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), there have been mass protests by communists and progressive people belonging to different parties and organizations against the state terror unleashed by the Left Front government of West Bengal in collusion with the Central government.

Hundreds of activists took out a rally on October 8 in Kolkota protesting the detention of Mahato and others. It must be noted that several other activists of the PCPA, the publisher and editor of People’s March, as well as activists putting up posters condemning the detentions have been arrested and locked up in police custody on the charge of being supporters of the banned CPI (Maoist) or of the PCPA.

Members of different human rights groups, communist parties and groups, the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), Bandi Mukti Committee and some peasants organisations like MKP joined the rally that set out from College Square and ended at Esplanade, where they also held a meeting to protest against the arrest of Mahato and other activists such as Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee.

The protestors condemned the Left Front Government of West Bengal for invoking the fascist UAPA to crush the voice of dissent and for deploying police and para military forces against the people of Lalgarh, who have organized themselves to fight state repression.

"We demand the unconditional release of Chhatradhar Mahato and others who are booked under UAPA and falsely implicated in criminal cases under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. We demand that joint forces must be withdrawn, UAPA must be repealed and dialogue must be opened with Janashadharan committee” said Sujato Bhadra, APDR secretary. "The UAPA puts a seal on what we call state-sponsored terrorism to stifle dissenting voices," said Manas Joardar, working president of Bandi Mukti Committee.

On October 10, 2009, intellectuals took out a rally from College Square condemning the rampant use of UAPA as a suppressive measure. The forum of artists, cultural workers and intellectuals, Silpi, Sanskritik Karmi O Buddhijibi Mancha, has condemned the killings in Jangalmahal as well as the repression unleashed by the state.

It is totally unacceptable that the CPM, which calls itself communist, should unleash fascist repression on the people of the Jangalmahal area, who have organized themselves under the banner of the PCPA to fight police atrocities and the savage exploitation of the tribal people and their lands and forests. It is totally unacceptable that a party which calls itself communist, which less than a year back declared that it was opposed to the amendments introduced to the UAPA by the UPA government following the Mumbai terror attacks, terming it as draconian, should use the same law against communists and other activists who are exercising their right to conscience and organizing the people in defence of their rights.

The Central government has unveiled its plans to crush the resistance movement in different parts of the country, particularly in the mineral rich belt of Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. It is known that Indian and foreign multinationals have signed major projects with the different state governments to carry out the plunder of the land, forests, and natural resources of this region. Communists of different parties and groups are in the forefront of organizing the people in defence of their rights and livelihood. The Central government has launched a vicious offensive on communists, with the slogan that Naxals are the biggest threat to internal security. In these conditions, the activities of the CPIM and the Left front Government of West Bengal play right into the hands of the Indian bourgeoisie and the Central government’s anti communist, anti people onslaught.