Bhabanipatana: About six months after a violent clash occurred at Kantamal in Rayagada district, the police have arrested a tribal rights activist Laxman Nayak and noted physician, Randel Sequeira, who have been associated with anti-mining movements in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.
They were arrested from a rented house in Hill Town in Bhabanipatana of Kalahandi district on the night of October 16.
They were allegedly involved in the clash under the jurisdiction of Kashipur police station in Rayagada district.
Both have been booked under serious charges, including attempted murder, rioting and violations of the Arms Act.
They were subsequently sent to Rayagada sub-jail.
Sequeira, a medicine specialist from Bangalore, has been working to provide healthcare services to tribal communities in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts.
Social organisations and the Concerned Citizens’ Forum, Odisha have strongly condemned the arrest of Nayak, a youth leader of the Mali community from Kashipur block, and Sequeira, accusing the government and police of suppressing peaceful tribal protests against bauxite mining.
Nayak, a prominent singer of revolutionary songs, had been campaigning against the entry of Vedanta and Adani-owned companies into the Sijimali and Kutrumali hills along the Rayagada-Kalahandi district border.
Acting on a tip-off, police arrested the duo on the night of October 16 when Nayak visited Sequeira at his rented house in Bhabanipatana, sources said.
The organisations alleged that the arrests were aimed at crushing peaceful tribal movements to protect water, forests and land and to facilitate bauxite mining.
They accused the government and police of adopting repressive measures against those opposing mining projects.
Social activist Prafulla Samantara alleged that the names of the duo did not figure in the original FIR and claimed they had been falsely implicated in the case.
Cong slams BJP for arrests
The Congress Wednesday attacked the BJP over the arrest of two tribal rights activists in Odisha, alleging that the “double engine model” works to deny Adivasi communities their rights.
Congress general secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said, “On October 16, Odisha Police picked up physician and activist Dr Sequeira and Dalit activist Naik.
They have been supporting protests by Dalit and Adivasi communities against Bauxite mining projects.
This is part of a larger campaign of repression in Odisha which has seen 43 police cases and over a 100 people jailed in three years.”
Congress MP from Koraput Saptagiri Ulaka and the Odisha Congress are providing support to the arrested activists, he said.
Bauxite mining projects in Sijimali, Kutrumali and Niyamgiri are being pushed through with brazen violations of PESA Act, 1996 and the Forest Rights Act, 2006, though these are Fifth Schedule areas, Ramesh said.