NIA Raids

On December 20, 2024, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted raids on democratic rights activists across Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. Gestapo-like outfit NIA raided the house of labour rights activists Rampal Singh, his sisters Rajveer Kaur (Member of Forum Against Corporatisation and Militarisation-FACAM), Harveer Kaur from Punjab Students Union and Mother Swaranjeet Singh from Pendu Khet Majdoor Union, Punjab, in Gandher Village of Shri Muktsar Distict of Punjab. Raids were also conducted at Gannaur, Sonipat at the family residence of Bindu Ram from Manesar General Majdoor Sangh, Haryana. In Okhla, the NIA raided the office of DGMF (Delhi General Mazdoor Front), where Priyanshu Kashyap and Ajay Kumar were working. The House of Jagdish, Ex General Secretary of Delhi General Mazdoor Front was also raided. Simultaneously, the house of Damanpreet Singh, the ex-president of Students for Society (SFS) in Patiala and Shri, an anti-displacement activist who was residing in Delhi, was also raided. These activists have been active in the organised struggle against exploitative and oppressive state policies and practices.

Intellectuals, professors, lawyers, journalists, and students who speak for the democratic rights of people are being targeted by the Central Government under the notorious ‘Surajkund Scheme’ which aims to eradicate “Naxalism of the pen”, as a pretext to eliminate any voice that demands alternative development model for people and ideologies that challenge the exploitative ruling classes. These NIA raids are supposedly conducted in connection to FIR No. RC-01/2023 NIA Lucknow, which was also used to falsely implicate advocate and Anti-displacement activist.

Ajay Kumar in August of this year. Ajay Kumar had worked with the likes of Father Stan Swamy and Dr G N Saibaba to oppose operation Green Hunt. With this Lucknow Conspiracy Case, the NIA is trying to create another BhimaKoregaon conspiracy case to crash all resistance against the anti-people policies of the State, this time under the fictitious “attempt to revive the Northern Regional Bureau of CPI (Maoist)”.

In truth, the NIA has been conducting raids all over the country. The persons in power have intensified the corporate loot of India’s natural resources in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh and corporatisation of the agricultural sector across the country, particularly in North India. While the ruling classes benefit from exploitation, the masses lack access to even basic needs. This severe exploitation and oppression have bred fierce resistance from the Indian masses and have shaken the ruling classes to the core, who have resorted to the most fascistic repression of the people’s movements in India.

The NIA, formed in 2008 as a supposed counter-terrorism agency, has been red-tagging, targeting, and suppressing activists since its inception. The BJP-led central government utilising the NIA is resorting to all sorts of repression. Under the circumstances of the growing dissent and opposition in th country, it trembles even at the very noise of rustling leaves.  

 [Contributed]

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Vol 57, No. 34, Feb 16 - 22, 2025