"I'm Artist, Not Naxal, Conspiracy To Implicate Me": Chhattisgarh Activist After NIA Raids His House

Four days after NIA raided the house of artist Kaladas Dahariya, the latter alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to implicate him in false cases. He said that efforts are always on to corner individuals who fight for the common people.

Bhilai (Chhattisgarh):Local artist and activist Kaladas Dahariya, who runs an organisation named 'Dahariya Rela', on Monday denied having any links with Naxalites in the wake of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) raiding his residence in Bhilai in Chhattisgarh's Durg district on July 25. He alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to implicate him in a false case.

According to Dahariya, he is an artist who goes to different states to showcase his art and has no knowledge about those who come to meet him. "If any Naxalite comes to meet me, how can I know about it? NIA can take whatever action it wants against me," he said.

Dahariya said in 2008-09, under his leadership, Nacha Gammat team had taken out a public awareness rally in Chhattisgarh against drug abuse and the then Chief Minister Raman Singh had come to his house and awarded him. "Now a conspiracy is being hatched to trap me in a fake case. You all know that martyr Shankar Guha Niyogi had started a nationwide movement on issues that were not liked by industrialists. He was murdered in his sleep on September 28, 1991," he said

"There is a conspiracy to silence people who raise their voice for the public so that the working class of the country does not get any relief. The common people will have to do what the leaders and industrialists tell them. These people will be reduced to just voting machines," Deharia said.

High Court lawyer Shalini said that it is due to the sacrifice of thousands of martyrs in the freedom movement that the country has got its democracy and constitution, arming citizens with fundamental rights. Shalini, who also belongs to the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha Mazdoor Karyakarta Samiti has appealed people to raise voice against injustice.

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