PRESS RELEASE

THE BAN ON DEMOCRATIC AND REVOLUTIONARY ORGANISATIONS in ANDHRA AND THE ARREST OF VARVARA RAO CONDEMNED!

Delhi: 19.8.2005

The Reddy Government of Andhra Pradesh has banned CPI (Maoist) along with many democratic and revolutionary organizations and started a crackdown on the cadres and leaders of the revolutionary democratic movement. Condemning the arrest of Varvara Rao, the revolutionary poet, the Revolutionary Democratic Front of India (RDF) has strongly criticized the state and central governments for reverting to unbridled and naked terror tactics to scuttle the ongoing revolutionary struggles of the oppressed and exploited vast masses of the country. The ban which was imposed on 17^th August, 2005 has come after the failure of the state to cow down the revolutionary movement and leadership through talks. The talks between the revolutionary communists and the state had broken down in January 2005 because the state was not ready to genuinely look into the massive problems of the people and unwilling to take any steps to ameliorate them. Instead, it sought to destroy the revolutionary movement by making it to throw down arms and become part of the same oppressive system which had forced it to take up arms against it.

The RDF states that it is a desperate act on the part of the Andhra government after it failed to achieve its immoral objective through talks. The renewed fascist onslaught on the revolutionary and democratic movement will not be able to stop the march of revolutionary forces towards liberation from oppression, exploitation and state violence which is being perpetrated with all the despicable undemocratic and autocratic means. The ban only further exposes the truth that the state of India is undemocratic and anti-people in essence and is a servile agent of the imperialists as it looks after the interests of the imperialist masters and their MNCs and TNCs.

The state of Andhra, whether under the Telgu Desam or Congress Party has been ruthlessly unleashing oppression against the revolutionary and democratic movement. Two and a half decades of naked terror have been unable to break the resolve of the movement and the movement again will prove its mettle against the current onslaught.

The RDF calls on the revolutionary, democratic and progressive forces and the toiling masses of the country to take up the challenge thrown by the government and launch a wide reaching protest movement against the draconian act of ban. The RDF declares it to be a criminal act of the state not only against the banned organisations which include CPI (Maoist), Radical Youth League, Radical Students Union, Raitu Coolie Sangham, Singareni Karmika Samakhya, Viplava Karmika Samakhya, All India Revolutionary Students Federation, and Revolutionary Writers Association but on all the toiling and justice loving people of the country. It demands immediate and unconditional revocation of the ban orders on the CPI (Maoist) and all other mass revolutionary organisations. It also demands the unconditional and immediate release of Varvara Rao, the well known poet. It calls on the people to assert their democratic right to protest and the right of the conscience to support the revolution and revolutionary organisations of the people.

Khagen Das, President (RDF) Rajkishor, General Secretary (RDF)

Issued by: Dr. Darshan Pal, Vice President (RDF), Street No.8, Punia Colony, Sangrur, Punjab

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