NIA raids activists linked to naxal forces in Bathinda: A crackdown on labor rights advocacy

BATHINDA: the sleuths of the National Investigations Agency on the wee hours of Friday swooped at the residences of a couple of activists, accused of having links with naxal forces.
The NIA teams reached the residence of labour rights activist Rampal Singh at village Gandhar in district Muktsar and at the residence of the former president of students of society (SFS) in a village near Rajpura in district Patiala.
Rampal and his sisters Nodeep Kaur and Rajveer Kaur, activists of kalam kala sangram had earlier participated in the farmer struggle at the borders of Delhi in 2020-21.
Earlier on August 30 raids were conducted at the residences of farmer leader Sukhwinder Kaur at Rampura Phool town of Bathinda, residence of an advocate at Mohali as the searches were conducted in connection with a Naxal recruitment case involving leaders of the banned outfit, which were part of case RC-01/2023/NIA-Lucknow. It is learnt that in NIA investigations it was revealed that several frontal organisations and student wings have been tasked with motivating and recruiting cadres, as well as propagating naxal ideology.
At the time of searches at Gandhar village at about 5.30am Rampal, labour rights activist (Manesar General Mazdoor Sangh, Haryana) and his mother Sawarnjit Kaur, who is associated with labourer organisation Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union, were present at home. Rampal stated that the NIA team took his mobile and documents.
A number of activists assembled outside Rampal residence and opposed the action. Members of a number of social justice seeking organisations too opposed the NIA action and stated this is attempt of intimidation of activists who dare to question the government about anti-people policies, which will not to be tolerated. They demanded to quash the FIR RC-01/2023/NIA-Lucknow registered at Lucknow office of NIA on June 19, 2023. They also held protests at Lakhewali police station in Muktsar where NIA team had reached for assistance from local police.
Campaign against state repression (CASR) while condemning the raids have asked to stop intimidation of activists. CASR stated that apart from Rampal and Daman, searches were conducted at the places of Ajay Kumar-Priyanshu and Jagdish Singh (former General Secretary Delhi General Mazdoor Front (DGMF); anti displacement activist Shri Ram from Delhi; Bindu Ram, member of Manesar General Mazdoor Front from Bhuri Village, Sonipat, Haryana. This is an attempt to silence the resistance and fighting voices of the exploited and oppressed masses.