The CPI-ML has condemned the repeated questioning of its foreign delegates by the Madhya Pradesh government, calling the police action as ‘disruptive’ and aimed at creating an atmosphere of terror through state sponsored harassment.
There has been a very visible public paranoia gripping the district as media reports of the conference mentioning the CPI-ML demonstrators shouting slogans of “Naxalbari laal salaam” and “Naxalvaad zindabaad” have led the people to question the State government over the “naxal presence” right in the State capital.
The CPI-ML is holding its All-India conference in Bhopal from November 7-12. According to the party, the district authorities were informed about the conference and the presence of international delegates two months in advance and all necessary permissions had been acquired.
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However, officers from the FRRO visited the delegates on Sunday asking for copies of their passports and a letter of intent. These were submitted by the party on Monday.
Later in the afternoon the same day, the police paid another visit demanding that the international delegates visit the police station in person along with their original documents. They also demanded that a police official in plain clothes be allowed to attend all, including the closed sessions of the conference.
The party has interpreted these actions by the ruling BJP government to interrupt the conference and harass the party workers and sympathizers.
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“We note that foreign guests attending conferences of other parties like the BJP are not subjected to any such harassing procedure,” the party Central Secretary K. N. Ramachandran wrote in a letter addressed to the district collector.
“When the capitalist-landlord class hosts international guests, the police and administration bend over backwards to help them, but when the working class and their representatives hod international conferences, they are subjected to state sponsored harassment,” he wrote.