Responding to a call by the CPIML Central Committee as well as the All India Construction Workers’ Federation and AICCTU, protests were held all over the country to demand justice for Comrade Zafar, and to demand an end to mob lynching on various pretexts and tactics of public shaming and sexual harassment in the name of Swacch Bharat campaign.
A protest demonstration was held at Delhi by AICCTU, AICWF, AISA and CPI(ML), and was addressed by the CPI(ML) State Secretary Ravi Rai as well as various activists of AICCTU, AICWF and AISA. Swami Agnivesh also addressed the protest.
At Patna the effigy of the Prime Minister was burnt in protest against serial lynchings and bullying of the poor in the name of Swacch Bharat, and demanding justice for Zafar. The protest was addressed by leaders of AICCTU, AIPWA and CPI(ML). Protests were also held at Nalanda, Paliganj, Bihar (rural Patna), Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur, Narkatiaganj (West Champaran), Ara, Nawada, Arwal, Jahanabad and other places in Bihar. The protesters also demanded to ban the airing of many objectionable television ads under Swachh Bharat campaign like one in which Amitabh Bachchan instigates in a way to throw stones and for shaming publicly.
Protests were held at Ranchi, Bokaro, Dhanbad, Saria (Giridih), Ramgarh, Garhwa and many other places in Jharkhand, where effigies were burnt and memoranda sent to the government demanding to stop draconian public shaming and arrest of the culprits.
At Assam, a gate meeting demanding justice for Zafar was organised by the Assam Carbon Ltd Union in Guwahati, and a protest was also held at Behali. A protest was held in Udaipur in Tripura.
The All Bengal Constuction Workers Union erected a make-shift martyr’s column in different districts in memory of Comrade Zafar in the morning of 19th June. In Bardhaman, construction workers observed the memorial meeting at Asansol and Agradweep, and at the latter place, an indoor memorial meeting was held in the evening attended by a large number of workers. In Konnagar-Bhadreswar and Bandel of Hoogly district, in Behala-Jadavpur-Bansdroni of Kolkata, in Bakrahat-Budge Budge of 24 Parganas (S), and in Shibdaspur of North 24 Parganas, similar programmes were organised. The AICCTU Kolkata District Committee organised a protest meeting at the BBD Bag area on 19th in support of the fighting Pricol workers and demanding justice for Zafar Khan. On 20th June, AIPWA organised a protest meeting at Moulali, Kolkata against the killing of Zafar Khan.
Protests were held at various places in Uttar Pradesh. On 19th June, a dharna was held by workers at the IFFCO factory gate at Phulpur, Allahabad and a memorandum was sent to the President demanding justice for Zafar and an end to the draconian and humiliating tactics in the name of Swacch Bharat. Protest demonstrations were also held at Jalaun, Zamania and Mau.
On 20th June a dharna was held at the GPO at Lucknow, which was attended and addressed by activists of AICCTU, AICWF, AIPWA and CPI(ML).
A protest demonstration was held in Lalkuan in Uttarakhand which was culminated in a mass meeting in front of tehsil headquarter where an effigy of Rajasthan government was burnt on 20th June.
AICCTU and CPI(ML) held a protest demonstration in Bengaluru, demanding justice for Zafar and also demanding that the Swacch Bharat campaign get rid of its draconian bullying tactics and instead uphold sanitation workers’ rights and dignity.
In Tamilnadu, an indefinite hunger fast began in Chennai and Coimbatore on 19 June demanding withdrawal of illegal wage-cut against Pricol workers who took part in a state-wide strike called by many organizations in solidarity with Tamilnadu farmers. Leader of the Koodankulam anti-nuclear movement SP Udaykumar also participated in the protest. A resolution demanding justice for Zafar was adopted by the protesters. On 22 June, a state-wide protest will be held in Tamilnadu in solidarity with Pricol workers and demanding justice for Zafar.
A poster campaign demanding justice for Zafar was conducted by AICWF and CPI(ML) in Puducherry on 19-20 June and street corner meetings on the same issue will be held on 22 June.
On 18th June the Odisha State Committee of AICCTU saluted Comrade Zafar’s memory in its meeting and sent a resolution to the President of India demanding justice for Zafar.
CPI(ML) and AICCTU activists held a dharna at Karnal on 20th June, from where they sent a memorandum to the Prime Minister protesting against the public shaming, bullying, sexual harassment and violence being encouraged, incited and organised in the name of Swacch Bharat.
