Bhubaneswar: The Odisha State Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has condemned the action of the Delhi Police against protesters in New Delhi and demanded immediate release of party general secretary MA Baby, Odisha state secretary Suresh Chandra Panigrahy and several senior national leaders arrested during the demonstration.
The party has also called for immediate statewide protests in Odisha against what it described as an attack on democratic rights and the suppression of peaceful dissent.
In a statement issued Saturday, the Left party said people from different parts of the country had assembled in New Delhi to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, scrapping of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and comprehensive electoral reforms.
The party alleged that the SIR exercise threatened democracy by leading to the exclusion of eligible citizens from electoral rolls and undermining their fundamental right to vote. Accusing the Delhi Police of using excessive force and making illegal arrests to suppress the demonstration, the CPI(M) claimed that restrictions on access to metro stations, disruption of public transport and the deployment of large numbers of police personnel had created an atmosphere resembling an undeclared Emergency.
Among those arrested were veteran CPI(M) leader and former Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar, Brinda Karat, B. V. Raghavulu, Tapan Sen, Ashok Dhawale, Biju Krishnan, Mariam Dhawale and Ramachandra Dome, besides Panigrahy and several other party leaders and activists.