New Delhi (Sputnik) — In an incident that has caught public attention a week after it actually took place, police in Giridih district of India's eastern state of Jharkhand reportedly arrested over 800 persons on November 7 at a congregation organized to mark the 100th year anniversary of the Great Bolshevik Revolution.
Though the gathering did not seemingly pose any real threat, what could have prompted the local authorities to take police action was the fact that it overlapped with organized protests by laborers of the Madhuban, Chandrapura and Bokaro thermal power plants against the respective managements, according to a press release issued by a local labor union.
The massive protests had brought the management of all three power plants to their knees.
The president of the local network of labor unions issued a press release in which he alleged that the arrests were part of a conspiracy to punish the workers and their leaders for protesting against unjust policies of the management and the local authorities.
"It was all part of a conspiracy to silence the laborers by intimidating them. The management and the local authorities want to punish the laborers by arresting them and implicating them in false cases. The arrests are also aimed at dissuading labor unions from organizing similar celebrations in other parts of the state," said Bacchu Singh, the president of the Labour Union Committee.
All of those arrested have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code ranging from stirring unrest and disturbing public order. Various programs were organized across India to mark the 100th year anniversary of the October Revolution, but police action was reported only in Jharkhand, one among India's many states that have been grappling with insurgencies launched by banned communist organizations under the umbrella of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
