Activists of Lok Raj Sangathan in Delhi and the NCR organised a meeting on August 21, to review the work in the area over the last month and to plan ahead. The meeting was attended by active members of the Lok Raj Samitis of various residential colonies – Sanjay Colony in Okhla, Madanpur Khadar, Jasola, Sangam Vihar, Shashi Garden in East Delhi, and others. The majority of the participants were youth, young women and men.
The decisions taken at the last meeting of the activists were recalled. These included organisation of the dharna for household water connection on July 27, continuation of the campaign for our rights and against communal violence and state terrorism. The work on all these fronts was reported and discussed.
The successful dharna organised by Lok Raj Sangathan on July 27, at Jantar Mantar, demanding that the Delhi government supply piped water by providing water connections to each and every household, was summed up positively at the meeting. Activists enthusiastically recounted their experience in organising for the dharna and the discussions they held with the residents in their respective colonies following the dharna. The August 29 announcement of the Delhi government, to provide piped water connection to every household in slum clusters, unauthorised colonies and villages, was considered by the activists as a direct outcome of the militant action organised by LRS.
It was reported that in response to the memorandum submitted by Lok Raj Sangathan on the occasion, the Delhi Jal Board had sought a meeting with the activists of LRS to discuss the solution to the problem. A team of volunteers came forward to follow up on this.
A discussion on the state repression currently going on in Kashmir and the problems of the Kashmiri people was held on July 30. Activists of LRS participated in the meeting and boldly spoke up in denfence of the right of the people of Kashmir to self-determination, up to and including secession. They denounced the fierce repression by the army and security forces of the state, the killing of innocent youth, children and old people, the wounding and killing of people by pellets, the terrorisation and harassment of the people on a daily basis, for the past nearly two months. They clarified that the Indian state portrays the problem of the Kashmiri people as a “law and order” problem to be dealt with by fascist state terror, whereas the problem in Kashmir is a political problem that demands a political solution.
A public meeting demanding piped water for each household was to be held in Madanpur Khadar on August 28, it was announced. Similar actions in Sanjay Colony and other areas were also planned.
The all India strike by trade unions on September 2 was announced and its significance for LRS was discussed. A detailed program of street corner meetings and other public actions to mobilise workers and people for the strike was announced. Activists enthusiastically came forward, to participate in these actions as well as to plan more actions in their places of work and residence, over the next few months.
