THE Jharkhand bandh called on October 24 by the Left and secular opposition parties to protest against the unprovoked firing by police on tribal people at Saiko village of Khunti district, killing one person and injuring seven others, was a grand success.

The CPI(M) State Secretariat congratulated the people of Jharkhand for the success of bandh against police firing, anti-tribal and anti-peasant ordinance to amend two major tenancy acts -- Chhotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act and Santhal Paragana Tenancy (SPT) Act, and the eviction of poor habitants on ‘gair majurva’ land (government land). The success of the bandh has registered the solidarity of common people against anti-people activities of the BJP-AJSU government and at the same time has clearly indicated that trading of resources of Jharkhand by using the oppressive state machinery will not be allowed. The CPI(M) has appealed to the people of Jharkhand to consciously create a stiff resistance against the BJP-AJSU government’s anti-farmer steps.

According to the information received by the CPI(M) state centre, more than 2,000 activists of the Left and secular opposition parties have been arrested by Jharkhand Police on the day of the strike. CPI(M) state secretary Gopi Kant Bakshi, state secretariat member Prakash Viplav and party leaders Surjit Sinha, Sufal Mahto, Praful Linda and Sukhnath Lohra were among those arrested and released later on.

A delegation of the Left and secular opposition parties also called on the Governor on October 24, seeking her intervention in the matter of the unprovoked firing by the police on a group of tribal people at Saiko village on October 22 when they were proceeding towards Ranchi to attend a rally called by 42 tribal organisations, including Adivasi Adhikar Manch, demanding withdrawal of the proposed ordinances for amendment of the CNT and SPT Acts, proper residential policy and strict implementation of the land acquisition act of 2013. Abraham Munda was killed in the police firing and seven others were injured.

The delegation protested against the highhandedness of police and the attempt of the state government to curb fundamental rights to assemble and freedom of speech and sought the Governor’s intervention to protect democratic rights of the people. The delegation has also demanded that a judicial commission be constituted headed by a sitting high court judge to probe into the matter and demanded exemplary punishment for those responsible.

The delegation consisted of family members of the victim, former Chief Minister and JMM leader Hemant Soren, Subodh Kant Sahay of Congress, Gautam Sagar Rana of RJD, Bandhu Tirkey of JVM(P), Gopi Kant Bakshi of CPI(M), KD Singh of CPI and Sidheshwar Singh of SUCI (C).

A day after the police firing incident, a team of Left parties consisting of G K Baksi, Rajendra Singh Munda, Sudhir Das, Birendra Kumar, Janardan Prasad and Siddheshwar Singh visited Saiko village. The delegation met the villagers and family members of Abraham Munda. The villagers claimed that the police fired on them without any warning. The story propagated by the police administration regarding a scuffle with the tribal people at the spot of firing was totally concocted and fabricated.

The CPI(M) has slammed the Raghubar Das government for its highhandedness and attempts to suppress the tribal population. In the past two months, police resorted to indiscriminate firing at Gola, Barkagaon (Hazaribagh) and Khunti, killing two, four and one villager, respectively, who had been protesting against government policies of forcible land acquisition and attempt to amend CNT and SPT Acts.

The Left parties have appealed to the people of Jharkhand to raise their voice against the authoritarian role of  the state government to curb all democratic movements by resorting to firing and other oppressive measures.

Meanwhile, on October 22, a delegation of the CPI(M) state secretariat led by G K Bakshi met Director General of Police D K Pandey. The delegation included the father and sister of Scheduled Caste minor boy Rupesh Swansi, who died under custody at Bundu police station in Ranchi district. The delegation submitted a memorandum with detailed references to a series of custodial deaths in the state, highhandedness of police officials, and police firings at Gola and Barkagaon.