CPI(ML), CPI, CPI(M) and other Left parties organised a protest in Dibrugarh on August 7 demanding the immediate and unconditional release of indigenous land rights activist Pranab Doley, who has been arrested and detained under the draconian National Security Act (NSA).
The protesting Left parties strongly condemned the Assam BJP government’s use of the NSA to silence democratic dissent and criminalise voices defending the land and livelihood rights of indigenous communities. They demanded that the NSA detention of Doley be revoked immediately and that he be released unconditionally.
Doley has been targeted for standing with villagers opposing a proposed luxury resort project on the edge of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve in Golaghat district. The villagers have been resisting the project in defence of their land, livelihood and customary rights. Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns of the affected communities, the BJP government has chosen the path of repression against those raising their voices in support of them.
In a particularly glaring instance of the misuse of state power, Doley was rearrested under the NSA even after a court had granted him bail in a case related to protest. The resort project and the subsequent repression have raised serious questions about whose interests the state is protecting—those of indigenous communities defending their land, or powerful commercial interests seeking to appropriate ecologically and socially sensitive land.
The protest in Dibrugarh called for an end to the criminalisation of democratic movements and demanded that the Assam government immediately release Pranab Doley and withdraw the NSA case against him. The Left parties reiterated that defending indigenous land rights, opposing destructive commercial projects and standing with people's movements cannot be treated as a crime. The struggle for land, livelihood, dignity and democratic rights will continue despite attempts at repression.
