THE Delhi Union of Journalists, at an extended executive meeting on June 25, expressed deep shock, anger and anguish at the assassination of Shujaat Bukhari, outstanding journalist and editor/owner of The Rising Kashmir.The DUJ called for an immediate investigation into the murder of Bukhari and the forces and motives behind it, so that other journalists are not exposed to similar attacks. DUJ has demanded due compensation from the state government for Bukhari’s family.
A DELEGATION of the Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch comprising of Subhashini Ali (vice-president) and Nathu Prasad (joint secretary) met the president of India on June 27 and handed over a memorandum giving details of the reign of terror unleashed against dalits in many parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan in the aftermath of April 2. The governments are acting in a vindictive manner. While more than 10 dalits were killed during the bandh, no one responsible for their deaths including members of the Sangh Parivar who were photographed openly using firearms on the 2nd hav
CPI(M) and CPI have jointly given a call for state-wide political action in the run up to the protest march on September 15. Both the parties have held a joint meeting of the activists in Vijayawada and decided that in the whole month of August they will hold a bus yatra touring all of Andhra Pradesh. Both the parties also gave a call for a three-month long campaign on the issues of tenant farmers, diversion of NREGA funds, rise in petrol and fertilizer prices.
THE All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), in a statement issued on June 4, has condemned in the strongest terms, the gang rape of the five NGO women workers in the Kochang village in Khunti district of Jharkhand. The brazen manner in which the women were abducted at gun-point and raped and then silenced into not reporting the crime reflects the total lawlessness and the atmosphere of terror prevalent in the BJP-ruled state.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met in New Delhi from June 22-24, 2018. It has issued the following statement on June 24.CC Lauds Kerala LDF Govt The Central Committee congratulated the LDF government in Kerala for the manner in which they could contain the dreaded Nipah virus from spreading.
THE social life of Assam is in for a boil over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, a proposition to grant citizenship based on religion, in Assam. Public anxiety became visible when the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) visited the state.Assam has always been a sensitive place when it came to questions of ethnicity and nationality. However, the intensity with which people reacted to the bill was never seen in the recent history of Assam.People and organisations representing all communities in Assam have anxiously participated in the public hearing at Guwahati and Silchar.
UTTAR Pradesh will be crime free – was the much-touted slogan of Yogi Adityanath after he became the chief minister. The illegal method of eliminating crime, aka ‘encounters’, started in 2017. “Thok do” (shoot them) was the dictum given to police officials to gun down criminals. It is a different matter that the chief miniter himself is facing 15 criminal cases and 143 MLAs of the state have criminal cases registered against them, of whom 83 are from the ruling BJP.The policemen are offered promotions in the wake of encounters.
YET another CPI(M) leader, Tapas Sutradhar of Panisagar Sub-Division under North Tripura district, was killed on June 18 by the BJP assassins. Sutradhar was the Party’s Panisagar sub-divisional committee member, state committee member of the All India Kisan Sabha, and former pradhan of Uttar Padmabill gram panchayat. His body was identified by the villagers the next morning. He was killed at Padmabill near his house, while he was returning from a marriage ceremony at night. His throat was found slit. It is a pre-planned political murder carried out by BJP assassins.
WITH an aim of raising awareness on Tuticorin massacre and to highlight the grievances of the people of Tamil Nadu, the state committee of CPI(M) has conducted rallies for a week, from June 8-14, across the state. These rallies originated from six corners of the state, namely Thiruvallur, Vellore, Nilgiris, Cuddalore, Ettayapuram and Kanyakumari and exposed the crony capitalist actions of the state and the centre.After campaigning in the districts along the way, the above rallies have converged at Trichy on June 14.
THE National Alliance of Journalists(NAJ) and its Delhi affiliate – Delhi Union of Journalists(DUJ) along with various other bodies all over the country have come out with solidarity statements at the assassination of Shujaat Bukhari. Massive protests have taken place in the Kashmir valley and a joint solidarity meeting has been held at the Press Club of India in Delhi, on June 18, called by the PCI, IWPC, Press Association and various other organisations. A black day protest in Delhi by the Delhi Union of Journalists was held on June 23, 2018.