Report of the Demonstration in Delhi Protesting the Dastardly Murder of Revolutionary Leader Ganti Prasadam
Press Release
Ganti Prasadam was a post-graduate from
Banaras Hindu University in 1960’s, and has ever since remained devoted to the revolutionary
movement and its culture as a poet, a writer and a political analyst, besides
being a public intellectual. On the 4th of July, a three-member
state sponsored vigilante group with pistols and knives attacked him at 3:40 pm
in front of a government hospital in Nellore. He was there to address the
annual meeting of the Committee of the Relatives and Friends of Martyrs, which
is held every year to commemorate revolutionaries, activists and ordinary
people who have lost their lives at the hands of the state in fake encounters
or in police custody and missing peoples in the state of Andhra Pradesh as part
of people’s movement and revolutionary struggle over the years. After the
meeting, he went to the local hospital to meet a family member of a martyr who
was hospitalized. While coming out of this hospital, he was brutally attacked
by the three-member assassins’ team of the Andhra Pradesh State Intelligence
Bureau with knives and then shot thrice with a pistol at close range. Though he
was operated on for hours, the wounds proved fatal and in the early hours of
the 5th of July, Prasadam’s life came to an end.
The targeting
of mass revolutionary leaders in Andhra Pradesh and the criminalizing of
people’s activists through fabricated cases and extended incarceration has been
common practice of the state government. Over the years, Ganti Prasadam
repeatedly faced arrest for upholding genuine people’s movements. He fought
incessantly for the rights of the oppressed masses and political prisoners,
particularly adivasis in Odisha and Andhra. Despite the repression he faced, he
continued to lead and participate in people’s movement. He also wrote prolifically
engaging in contemporary political and literary debates.
In the
protest demonstration held in Delhi, many democratic and revolutionary organisations
and individuals condemned the murder. In this demonstration, Revolutionary
Democratic Front’s President Rajkishore exposed the preplanned nature of the
assault on him. He reiterated that Ganti Prasadam was not a lone voice but the
voice of thousands of people fighting for their genuine demands for jal,
jangal, jameen in all parts of the country. Thousands of people in the
past have been attacked in this way over the years and the lives that have been
silenced are testimony to the brutality of the Indian State. Banojyotsna of Democratic
Students’ Union drew attention to the civil war waged by the Indian State on
its own people in the name of Operation Green Hunt. This killing of Ganti
Prasadam is an extension of this war on people and reflects the desperation of
the Indian State to violently repress all voices of dissent. Mrigank from
Naujawan Bharat Sabha stated that the way in which Ganti Prasadam was killed
once again reveals the fear of the ruling classes of the power of the revolutionary
struggle. Ever since the emergence of the revolutionary struggle, such
incidents as this one have continued unabated. P K Shahi of AIFTU appealed to
the revolutionary and democratic forces of the country to unite and answer back
this murder on Ganti Prasadam. Arjun Prasad of PDFI saw this murder of Ganti
Prasadam as an extension of the larger agenda of the state reflected in
Operation Green Hunt. Leaders from People’s Front- Delhi, Inquilabi Mazdoor
Kendra, Viplava Sanskritik Manch, Mehanatkash Mazdoor Morcha, Krantikari Yuva
Sangathan, Krantikari Naujawan Sabha and others spoke in this demonstration.
It is clear
to us that this attack was to eliminate a revolutionary mass leader who could
reach out to the vast sections of society and successfully lead the
revolutionary masses against the military campaign launched by the Indian state
on its own people. This campaign codenamed Operation Green Hunt has resulted in
the death and destruction of thousands of lives and livelihood in the states of
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and
Andhra Pradesh. These organisations have come together to stand united in
demanding the constitution of a high-level judicial inquiry with a sitting Supreme Court or High
Court judge into this cold-blooded murder of Ganti Prasadam and identify
its perpetrators and subsequently, the punishment of those officials,
politicians and goons responsible for this brutal killing of a revolutionary
leader. The Home Minister
of this country should break his silence act. The Central Government must answer for
the death of a people’s leader.
At the end of
the demonstration, a memorandum was submitted to the Union Home Minister
demanding a judicial inquiry on the brutal murder of Ganti Prasadam.
The Organizations
participated in the Demonstration.
All India Federation of Trade Unions [AIFTU (New)], All India
Students' Association [AISA], Bigul Mazdoor Dasta, Campus Front of India [CFI],
Communist Part of India Marxist-Leninist (New Democracy) [CPIML (ND)],
Committee for Release of Political Prisoners [CRPP], Democratic Students' Union
[DSU], Inquilabi Mazdoor Kendra [IMK], Krantikari Lok Adhikar Sangathan,
Krantikari Naujawan Sabha [KNS], Krantikari Yuva Sangathan [KYS], Mehnatkash
Mazdoor Morcha [MMM], National Confederation of Human Rights Organisations
[NCHRO], Nawjawan Bharat Sabha, New Democratic Party of India [NDPI], Nowroz,
People's Democratic Front of India [PDFI], People's Front- Delhi [PF (Delhi)],
Pratidhwani, Radical Notes, Revolutionary Democratic Front [RDF], Sanhati,
Students Islamic Organisation [SIO], Viplava Sanskritik Manch, and individuals.
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