A wave of state terror has been unleashed against the Muslim community in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and some other states, since early September.
According to media reports, on 4 September, an Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi procession took place in Kanpur. In the procession, a banner proclaiming ‘I love Prophet Mohammad’ was displayed. The police and other authorities organised the removal of the banner claiming that it was causing “communal polarisation”.
Neither the local authorities in Kanpur, nor the UP government have advanced any credible argument as to how such a banner could incite communal divisions. The removal of the banner by the authorities was an attack on the right to freedom of expression and the right to conscience.
The UP government has unleashed a reign of terror on people protesting against this blatant attack on their right to conscience. Homes of people have been raided, youth and elderly men have been pulled out, taken away to unknown destinations and remain untraced for the past several weeks. Women and children have been harassed and terrorised. Homes and properties of people have been demolished.
The police have carried out arrests in several districts, including Bareilly, Bahraich, Kanpur, Mau, and Dadri. The chief minister of UP has issued open threats of ‘teaching Muslims a lesson’.
The Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has reported on 23 September, that the police crackdown has now been extended to many other states. At least 21 FIRs have been lodged, with over 1,324 people charged in various cases and 38 arrested across various other states, including Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
The events unfolding in UP clearly show once again how the Indian state deliberately exacerbates communal divisions to smash the unity of the people.
The workers, peasants, women and youth of our country are coming onto the streets against the increasing insecurity of life and livelihood that they are facing in the existing system. They are demanding that the state ensure prosperity and security for all. The ruling capitalist class is resorting to diabolical methods to smash the unity of the people and defend its rule. Unleashing state terrorism targeted against this or that community is an integral part of its method of rule. In fact, the target of the onslaught of the capitalist class and its governments is the entire working class and working people.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the present campaign of state terror in UP and elsewhere in the country. The authorities must immediately withdraw all the false cases lodged against people, release those arrested, and compensate those whose homes and properties have been destroyed.
Workers, peasants, and all working people must preserve and strengthen our unity against the exploiters. Let us fight with the aim of replacing the existing state, which is an instrument in the hands of the bourgeoisie for the exploitation of the vast masses of people, with a state which will defend the right to conscience of every human being, and guarantee prosperity and security for all.