[Reader-list] Andhra killing..

[prakash ray]

We are herewith releasing a letter addressed to AICC General
Secretary, Shri Digvijay Singh, by Shri Srinivasa Rao, Member of the
Central Secretariat of the CPI(M), in response to Shri Digvijay's
statement on the police firing in Mudigonda in Khammam district of
Andhra Pradesh which killed six people.

July 30, 2007



Dear Shri Digvijay Singhji,

What you have stated about the brutal police firing in Mudigonda in
Khammam district in the media amounts to nothing but misinformation.
Maybe you have been misled by your party's state leadership. We hope
that you will ascertain the real facts about the incident and verify
them.
Here are a few facts and issues we wish to bring to your notice:
The agitators were peacefully conducting rasta roko in Mudigonda on
July 28. There was no attack on the police station. No police vehicle
was torched as being alleged. If any such thing has happened why don't
you ask the authorities to exhibit the vehicle.
It is being alleged that Maoists have sneaked into the land movement
and are responsible for the violence. Bandi Ramesh is not a Maoist as
your state leaders are alleging him to be. He had earlier worked in
the CPI(ML) New Democracy party openly. He had differences with his
party and joined the CPI(M). His wife Bandi Padma has been the elected
sarpanch of Cherumari village for the last 10 years. Even today she is
the sarpanch of that village. So, they are neither extremists nor were
they underground at any point of time. Verify this aspect.
The police lathicharged the peaceful protestors who were holding a
rasta roko. They targeted Bandi Ramesh specifically, dragging him out
of the camp and brutally beating him up. The people, aghast at such
behaviour by the police, tried to extricate their leader from the
police. Meanwhile the Additional SP, in an unusual move, reached the
area with the anti-naxalite squad who were armed with AK-47s and LMGs.
Even as the lathicharge was going on, the police began firing on the
protestors without any warning, killing 6 people.
While these are the facts of the incident, your state leadership has
embarked on a disinformation campaign. When the CPI(M) had conducted a
siege of Khammam collectorate office last January, it passed off
absolutely peacefully. The police were also quite restrained then.
Later the Chief Minister pulled up the police saying they were not
firm enough. This was reported in the media. Since then the police
violence on agitators increased. Bhadrachalam, in the same district,
witnessed police firing on tribals. The police badly misbehaved with
the local MP, Dr M. Babu Rao, and MLA S. Rajaiah. It is now clear that
the latest firing in Mudigonda is also a result of the Chief
Minister's instigation of the police.
I am writing this letter to you with the hope that you will examine
these facts and take necessary action.

Yours sincerely

Sd/-

(V. Srinivasa Rao)

Member, Central Secretariat, CPI(M)