Left, RJD, SP stage anti-Posco dharna; demand withdrawal of security forces

BHUBANESWAR: Five political parties – CPI, CPM, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party – on Thursday launched an indefinite dharna here demanding withdrawal of security forces from Dhinkia, the proposed 12-million ton Posco steel project site. It is billed as the biggest FDI project in the country. The dharna will continue until “the last policeman deployed in the area is called back to the barrack,” the participating leaders said here.

The protest rallies in the Posco project area near Paradip as well as in the state Capital by the Left parties and its allies have forced the Naveen Patnaik government to restrain from using forces against the local villagers to acquire their land. Justifying the joint-dharna programme, CPI state general secretary Dibakar Nayak said deployment of 30 platoons of armed police in the area tantamount to violation of human rights and displayed the colonial mindset of the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

“The people of Dhinkia have been waging a legitimate democratic battle to save their agricultural and homestead lands for six years. However, the ruling BJD has hatched a conspiracy to crush this spontaneous agitation by using force against them. People of Orissa will not forgive the state government for this misadventure ,” said Nayak.

Senior Left leaders like Dwitikrishna Panda, Somanath Patra, N Narayan Reddy, Kshirod Prasad Singhdeo, Samajwadi Party state president Rabi Beheral , Forward Block general secretary Santosh Mitra and RJD leader Hemanta Rath– who were also present at the dharna – said the state government should immediate scrap the Posco deal in the greater interest of the people. In Paradip, no land acquisition could be held on Thursday as United Action Committee (UAC), a pro-Posco forum, opposed the entry of government officials into the project area complaining breach of trust and betrayal.