KKE condemns arrest of CPI(M) General Secretary and Party leaders: "Hands Off Indian Communists"

The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) has demanded the immediate release of the General Secretary and other leaders and members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), condemning the repression unleashed by the Indian authorities against communist militants and protesters.

In a statement issued by the International Relations Section of the KKE Central Committee, the party denounced the arrests and police violence targeting cadres of the CPI(M), stressing that such measures are aimed at intimidating the workers’ and popular movement in India and suppressing political struggle against anti-people policies.

The KKE expressed its full solidarity with the communists and the people of India, underlining that anti-communist repression and state authoritarianism cannot stop the struggle of workers and peoples against exploitation, poverty and imperialist policies. The Greek communists called for the immediate release of all those detained and for an end to the persecution of communist militants.

The arrests took place during protests against actions by India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED), which opposition and Left forces accuse of being used as a political weapon by the BJP government. During mobilizations in New Delhi, police detained CPI(M) General Secretary M. A. Baby along with Polit Bureau members, senior party cadres and numerous activists who were participating in the demonstration against repression and the increasing use of central state agencies against political opponents.

The developments come amid a broader climate of escalating repression and attacks on democratic and trade union rights in India, where communist parties and workers’ organizations have repeatedly denounced police crackdowns, arrests and the use of central state agencies against political dissent, labor struggles and popular mobilizations.

 IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©