AISA Organizes Massive Convention Against State Repression in Delhi University

The speakers pointed out that the sentence against Dr. Sen, who has spent his entire life amongst the poor, raising issues of rampant poverty and state-sponsored exploitation, and who protested against state repression and brutal genocidal campaigns like Salwa Judum, is a farce in the name of justice. All the speakers also pointed out that the issue at hand was not merely the injustice done to Dr. Binayak Sen. The verdict against Binayak Sen was a symbol of the manner in which various governments are trying to counter the growing opposition to their policies through the use of draconian laws like the Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA) and the Unlawful Atrocities Prevention Act (UAPA).

Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that the verdict against Dr. Sen is not tenable even from a purely legal point of view. Prof. Nandini Sundar (who is member of the one of the fact finding teams that investigated the Salwa Judum campaign in Chhattisgarh) said that everyone in Chhatisgarh who opposed the state-sponsored Salwa Judum campaign is now behind bars – held under draconian laws, or charges with false cases. She mentioned the case of Kopa Kunjam and Kartam Joga who, like Dr. Sen are now in jail. All the speakers similarly voiced their outrage at the manner in which dissenting voices are being punished in this manner in India.

The convention also included performances by various cultural groups in Delhi in solidarity with Dr. Sen’s battle against state repression. Eminent Hindi poet Viren Dangwal read out revolutionary poetry, and many student cultural groups made the audience sing with them to the the tunes written by Faiz and Habib Jalib. The convention ended with a march by around 500 students through the DU Arts Faculty and other colleges of North Campus, DU.