STOP WAR ON PEOPLE !!!    STOP DISPLACEMENT OF VANVASIS !!!

END STATE VIOLENCE !!!   RELEASE DETAINED CIVILIANS !!!

Rally at 6 pm, 26th December, IIT Flyover, Delhi.  

A candle-lit procession of around 70 animated marchers carrying placards and candles took to the IIT flyover at 6 pm today on December 26 to demonstrate their solidarity with the people of Dantewada and especially Himanshu Kumar of the Gandhian organization Vanvasi Chetna Ashram who commenced an indefinite fast today. The crowd consisted of people from all over the country, including representatives of organizations from Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Orissa, and West Bengal, rallying together for a march and vigil. The crowd raised slogans that the state should address the wishes of Himanshu Kumar, which are:

1. Stop displacement of tribals from the region; create a terror free atmosphere to rehabilitate people who have fled to other places.
2. Immediate implementation of the Superme Court order dated 17/10/2008
3. Immediate release of VCA activists Kopa and Sukhnath

The crowd also raised slogans against Operation Green Hunt and Salwa Judum and asked the state to stop the war against adivasis. Many also protested the displacement of tribals by the collusion of state forces and corporate interests. The gathering was organized by Delhi Solidarity Group and Association for India’s Development – NCR.

The vanvasi residents of Dantewada, Chhatisgarh, have faced increasing state repression for the last several years, with the state and police colluding with schemes to displace them for mining or forest exploitation projects, and intimidating the vanvasis into submission through beatings, rapes, detentions, custodial torture, and murders. This violence has intensified with the state creation of Salwa Judum paramilitary groups to combat the Maoists in the area. The Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a Gandhian group in the area has been implementing various initiatives in the area including a health programme, watershed development, water and sanitation program in villages and Salwa judum camps. Its members have also filed around 600 cases in court against police for gross misconduct and violence against people. In retaliation, the police demolished the ashram, intensified violence, prevented a recent attempt at padyatra and satyagraha by VCA, and are have been detaining VCA member Kopa Kunjam since December 10. His lawyer, Alban Toppo from Human Rights Law Network, was also detained for a day and testifies that he and Kopa were badly beaten in custody.