Consensual Politics

Language of State Repression THE recent murder of Prabhakar Reddy (convenor of the Warangal district unit of APCLC), is no whodunnit mystery. The silence of the AP police, whose senior officials' eloquence whenever they get half a chance cannot be missed, is itself evidence of their guilt. The press was quick to point out that Prabhakar Reddy was not the first civil liberties activist of Warangal to be killed by the police (Japa Laxman Reddy and Dr Ramanadham were the earlier victims), Prabhakar Reddy's murder is understood to be in 'retaliation' of Hayagri- vachari's elimination by the CPI(ML) (People's War Group), The question one needs to ask is whether the police or the government is so innocent as to merely retaliate and the significance of choosing an APCLC member tor this purpose.