Monitoring Indian Communists - 3

[dhu]

Manmohan made the appeal for Binayak Sen's release..

<b>Dr Sen’s case has put Indian democracy on trial. Will it prove itself or fail? </b>
by Praful Bidwai

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ultimately, it’s a terrible comment on Chhattisgarh’s political leadership, in particular, Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Minister Raman Singh, that they should allow a police officer’s illiterate and irrational prejudices to wreak havoc on civil liberties.

Dr Raman Singh, however, plays a double game. On the one hand, he says he’d like to see Dr Sen released on bail, but claims he’s helpless in the face of the courts which deny him bail. On the other, his government doggedly opposes Dr Sen’s bail application in every single forum. <b>He has also refused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeals in favour of bail. </b>The Chief Minister’s double standards must be understood as part of a larger game-plan: to perpetuate the status quo based on the rapacious exploitation of Adivasis and Chhattisgarh’s staggering natural wealth which is used to subserve Big Business, forest contractors and traders. Horrifying inequalities of income and wealth.......<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->