Alleging that the state intelligence wing had given false information, members of the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) on Thursday said that the ban imposed by the state government on the organisation was arbitrary, authoritarian and undemocratic.
They made their defence before the advisory board constituted by the government to look into the ban imposed on Wednesday.
According to the statement, RDF president Varavara Rao and vice-president Ganti Prasadam appeared before the board and argued against the ban. Copies of the documents and papers provided to the board were not given to them which was against all democratic procedures and norms, they said
“The supposed letters from the leaders of CPI (Maoist) and the president of Janatha Sarcar intercepted by the intelligence department could never have been seen by GN Saibaba, our joint secretary. The fact that the intelligence chief represented the government at the meeting shows that the government is heavily drawing on fabricated information of intelligence department,’’ they said.
The High Court of Odisha did not uphold the ban imposed on RDF and its constituent organisations. The Bhubaneswar High Court gave two suggestions to Daman Pratirodh Manch that it should approach the Odisha government to review the ban and register the organisation under People’s Representative Act, 1951, fighting elections to propagate the politics of the organisation. “Not satisfied by these suggestions, Daman Pratirodh Manch approached the Supreme Court, which has now has issued a notice to the government of Odisha for its response,’’ they said.