CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on January 17.

THE vicious targeting by the Modi government and BJP state governments of intellectuals and activists, who support the cause of dalit and oppressed communities, is intensifying. This is confirmed by the treatment being meted out to noted intellectual Anand Teltumbde in the Bhima Koregaon case. Teltumbde has been falsely charged in this case when he was not even present at the event. Teltumbde is a senior professor and author of many critically acclaimed books.

Such attacks on those critical of its policies/activities and dissenting voices has happened earlier under the calumnious category of “Urban Naxals”. Respected octogenarian intellectual of Assam, Hiren Gohain along with others have been booked on charges of sedition for opposing the Citizenship Amendment Bill.

The CPI(M) condemns such harassment of public intellectuals and activists, the latest being Anand Teltumbde and demands that the false case against him be withdrawn.