[Reader-list] Kabir Kala Manch Defence Committee statement

[asit das]

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Kabir Kala Manch Defence Committee statement

May11, 2012

According to official government figures, on an average 2 dalits are killed
and 3 raped every day across India. All the more shocking is the fact that
even in Maharashtra which gave birth to major social reformists and
progressive thinkers like Jotiba
Phule<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyotirao_Phule>and Dr.
Babasaheb Ambedkar <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B._R._Ambedkar>, the
incidence of atrocities remains unacceptably high.

In this landscape it cannot be surprising that dalit and adivasi youth have
begun to voice their protest more openly than before. After the police
killings at Ramabai colony and later, the Khairlanji
massacre<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kherlanji_massacre>many protests
took place. Instead of bringing the guilty to book, the State
responded by branding the protesters as
Naxalites<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite>(Maoists).
Dalit <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit> cultural activists like Sudhir
Dhawle were jailed for “sedition” and remain behind bars for years, pending
trial.

It is in this context that the story of Kabir Kala Manch must be
understood. KKM is a Pune based cultural troupe mainly consisting of Dalit
youth from the region. First coming together against the communal carnage
in Gujarat, they took part in innumerable public interest causes like
slum-dwellers rights, workers rights and sustainable development, but their
special affinity has been fighting for the annihilation of caste to which
end they even held events promoting inter-caste marriage. As a cultural
troupe they performed for and with movements led by Medha
Patkar<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medha_Patkar>and Bhai Vaidya as
well as with groups from the working class movement.

Around last year the state began to brand them as Naxalites. Today while
Deepak Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle of KKM are in prison, many other
members including lead singer-poets Sheetal Sathe, Sagar Gorkhe and Sachin
Mali have gone underground after threats from the police.  All are charged
with being Naxalites and the ATS is using an uncritical media to plant
regular allegations against the KKM. Even these allegations do not accuse
the KKM of any violence, but are dependent mainly on guilt by association.

It is not so long ago that Dr. Binayak
Sen<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binayak_Sen>was similarly charged and
jailed for close to 3 years before the Supreme
Court intervened to grant him bail. Binayak Sen had by then become an
international cause célèbre. It was hoped that his release on bail would
put a brake on the targeting of innocent civilians for the mere “crime” of
taking up the cause of the poor. The targeting of KKM shows that this is
not the case.

The *Kabir Kala Manch Defense Committee *urges the government of
Maharashtra to withdraw all false charges against members of the KKM, free
the cultural activists who are currently in prison and allow the KKM to
perform in public again.

Medha Patkar, Bhai Vaidya, Sudhakar Suradkar, Anandrao Ambedkar,  Anand
Teltumbde , J.V.Pawar, Sumedh Jadhav, Comrade Prakash Reddy, P.A.
Sebastian, Ratna Pathak Shah <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratna_Pathak>,
 Ramu Ramanathan, Suneeta Rao,  Simantini Dhuru, Kamayani Bali  Mahabal,
Asit Das, Satyen Bordoloi, Rizvi Amir, Vivek Sundara, S. Anand,  Teesta
Setalvad <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teesta_Setalvad>, Anand
Patwardhan<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anand_Patwardhan>

People are requested to add their name to the KKM defence committee.