Stop Extra-Judicial Killings of Tribals

Buta Singh

Prominent Gandhian activist Himanshu Kumar addressed various public gatherings in Punjab from March 22 to April 8 at the request of the Democratic Front against Operation Green Hunt, Punjab. The campaign was organised to make the people of Punjab aware of the genocide of adivasis, large-scale displacement, and massacres of Maoist activists being carried out by the central government in the name of ‘development’ to facilitate the control of natural resources, forests, land, and minerals of tribal areas by corporate robber barons. His visit began on March 22 from Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral home of Shaheed-Azam Bhagat Singh, where he addressed the Martyr’s memorial meeting organised by the Martyrdom Memorial Committee, Banga, in memory of ShahidBhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev. The next day, the caravan reached Talwandi Salem, the village of revolutionary poet Avtar Singh Paash. Addressing the public meeting there, Himanshu Kumar called for raising a strong voice against the massacre of Adivasi people and revolutionary activists as part of the corporate ‘development’ model. On March 25, he addressed a public convention organized by the Front in the historical city of Amritsar, which commemorates the glorious history of the struggle against imperialism and communalism at Jallianwala Bagh. On March 28, he addressed a gathering at Hussainiwala (Ferozepur), bordering Pakistan, the symbolic historical site of the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev. He also addressed the sit-in of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha. On March 30, he addressed the gatherings organised by the local unit of Tarksheel Society Punjab in Haryana (Hoshiarpur), and on March 31, by the Democratic Discussion Forum at Prabhat Parwana Hall Patiala, and participated in the book fair and held discussions with students, academics, and activists. From the 4th to the 7th of April, he spoke at different gatherings in Chandigarh, Barnala, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana, culminating in Bathinda on April 8—the historic day when Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt protested British rule by dropping harmless bombs in Delhi’s Central Assembly in 1929. In the concluding event of the campaign, a large public meeting and a protest march were organised with the active participation and support of mass democratic and cultural organisations.

The BJP’s policy of “eradicating Naxalism by 2026” is a fascist plan to clear land for corporate projects, not to address people’s issues.

In Chhattisgarh, since January 2024, nearly 400 extrajudicial killings (including 140 women and children) have occurred under “Operation Kagar.”

This state violence will not stop in tribal areas (Bastar, Jharkhand, Odisha) and Kashmir, Manipur, etc., but will soon engulf developed agricultural areas of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh unless mass resistance mobilises to stop it.

The Indian state’s oppressive policies, not Maoism, are the root cause of unrest. Instead of dialogue, the government deploys militarisation, displacing villages for security camps, highways, and corporate projects.

Courts are failing to deliver justice, dismissing petitions and even fining those demanding accountability.

The BJP government is criminali-sing just struggle and putting into jail all those who raise their voices against this thuggery and suppression of democratic dissent.

Resolutions Passed:
—    Stop “encounters,” drone attacks, and massacres in tribal areas.
—    End paramilitary operations against Indian citizens under the guise of “internal security.”
—    Begin unconditional talks with Maoists to address basic issues and socio-economic problems.
—    Remove security camps from tribal regions and halt new ones.
—    Repeal draconian laws like UAPA, AFSPA, PSA etc.
—    Scrap the corporate-driven economic model displacing tribals and grabbing the resources and labor of laboring masses.
—    Recognise tribal rights over water, forests, and land under the Fifth Schedule of the Indian constitution.
—    End repression of activists, intellectuals, and dissenters through false cases and disband the NIA, which is a tool of political suppression.

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Frontier
Vol 57, No. 45, May 4 - 10, 2025