Students and Theatre Activists Arrested! Lathicharged while protesting in Kolkata against Modi

Brutal Police Lathicharge on Students Protesting against Modi’s Visit in Kolkata Today!

More than 25 People including Students and Theatre Activists Arrested!

Condemn Mamata Government’s Incessant Attempts to Muzzle Democratic Voices!

Mamata Banerjee’s police brutally cracked down on anti-Modi protestors in Kolkata today. The police unleashed a brutal lathicharge on hundreds of students and activists who had gathered for a peaceful protest against Modi in front of The Grand Hotel, where Modi was addressing a meeting convened by the corporate honchos of Bengal. Comrade Suvajit Maity of AISA, and Joyraj Bhattacharyya, actor and theatre activist, were severely injured in this lathicharge, and later more than 20 students and activist of AISA, USDF, IC and some other organizations were assaulted and later arrested.

Ever since the TMC has come to power inWest Bengal, it has used the state machinery routinely to crush all democratic voices. Be it the forced eviction of poor citizens in Nonadanga, the killing of farmers in Dubrajpur, Mamata Banerjee’s government has always resorted to police crackdown of popular protests. We all have seen that how few days back Mamata Banerjee’s  police ruthlessly killed one SFI activist for raising his voice for students’ democratic rights.

In his bid to fulfil his Prime Ministerial ambitions, Narendra Modi has been systematically touring  various parts of the country tom-tomming his model of corporate plunder, corruption and mass murder as ‘Development’. But everywhere he has had to face fierce protests from left and democratic sections of society. Back inDelhi, we saw how students and teachers protesting Modi’s attempt to use academic spaces to legitimize his fascist agenda were met with severe lathicharge, rounds of water-cannons, fake cases against the activists, and beating and abuse by ABVP goons, with the help of Delhi Police.

It is to be noted that while the progressive forces are rejecting Modi in one voice braving worst forms of state repression, various state governments, whether it is the Congress govt in Delhi or the TMC Govt in Kolkata, despite their self-styled claims of ‘secularism,’ have been facilitating the Prime Ministerial ambitions of the mastermind of the Gujarat genocide.