In Solidarity with Indian People

LONDON | 17 – 02 – 2010 | Many of you receiving this appeal have heard of Operation Green Hunt: the Indian State’s declaration of war against the Indian people. Though, the government of India tries to hide this massive military offensive by devising special tags and brand names for it in different regions and by denying that the Indian Army is deployed in this operation, the democratic sections in India have proved their point by bringing out the hard facts to the fore concretely and loudly.

The Indian State has amassed an array of military, air force, and paramilitary forces, apart from using elite police forces of different states,  exceeding a hundred thousand troops to clear the mineral rich areas of central and eastern parts of India of its populations, and to hand over the forcibly acquired land to corporations, foreign and Indian. Therefore acquisition of lands, hills, forests and natural resources of the tribal people, the poorest of poor of India, being the real objective behind this large-scale military offensive, the government wants the world believe that this war is against Naxalites or Maoists. But it is also clear that the exigency of this war against the impoverished Indian citizens by the government is to break the resistance of the people against acquisition of land and resources by the corporate sector.

The initiative follows the MOUs (Memorandum of understanding – industrial agreements) that the Indian government has signed with the corporations. Following the commitments it has made to the corporations, the Government of India has enacted a series of laws including the Special Economic Zones Act 2005, a bill to amend the Land Acquisition Act, and hundreds of thousands of hectares are acquired or notified for acquisition. These measures of the Government of India are in flagrant violation of the Constitutional provisions protecting lands of indigenous peoples, as well as right to life.

Naturally, people of India, in particular the Adivasis (tribal people), peasants in rural areas have resisted the displacement, evictions and the military occupations. Their resistance has grown over time. The landmarks in their mass struggles include Singur, Kalinganagar, Jagatsinghpura, Nandigram and most recently Lalgarh. Within India, Operation Green Hunt or military offensive has aroused widespread opposition from democratic minded citizens and progressive sections of the people committed to justice for the oppressed sections of the Indian people.

At this crucial juncture, it is vital that all progressive and democratic minded people outside India rally behind the people of India in their opposition to the war and the destructive economic policies pursued by the government. Given the seriousness and magnitude of the Indian State’s offensive, the issues have not received the attention they should in the international media. Consequently many outside India are unaware of the scale and scope of the military offensive against the Indian people. This appeal is to all those progressive and democratic forces to come forward against the Indian State’s offensive and express their solidarity with the Indian people.

The Operation Green Hunt, is the continuation of a reactionary and plunderous anti-people policy of the Indian state that has caused large scale displacement of people and is spurred on and supported by international monopolies and cartels driven by greed for super profits. It is the continuation of these policies in military terms and is aided by logistics and intelligence by the very powers that have brought war and destruction in other countries including Iraq and Afghanistan.

The numbers people affected by this full scale war are several times larger than the whole population of Iraq and Afghanistan together. While resistance of the tribal people and the whole spectrum of progressive and democratic forces in India is mobilizing to stop this genocidal war we call on all people across the world to join together and raise their voice of indignation and opposition and support the just struggle of the most dispossessed and poorest people on earth that have dared to challenge the might of the international monopolies and corporations.

Two issues are imperative at this juncture:

1.            Immediate cessation of all armed operations against the people.

2.            Immediate suspension of land acquisitions and displacement

In order to meet, discuss and plan the best ways of expressing our protest against Indian government’s war on people, we invite you to a preliminary meeting to discuss the steps that can be taken here in London.

We propose a meeting on Sunday 21 February 2010, 14:00-17:00 at the Gorki House, 70 Stoke Newington High Street  London N16 7PA.

We welcome your expression of interest in participating in the campaign in general, this consultative meeting, and look forward to your proposals, offers of support and ideas, as well as your suggestions as to those that you may recommend that may wish to join us with their details.