NEW DELHI: The Reds in India, many of whom remained silent when tens of hundreds of Sikhs were mowed down everyday by trigger-happy Punjab Police in fake encounters, during the years of militancy are now talking of one more war of Independence.

Frontal organisations of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) discussed the need and imperatives for a "Third Freedom Struggle Movement" at a national seminar in the capital.

Representatives from the Naxal-affected states took part in the deliberations for launching the "Third Freedom Struggle" in the country "to free the people from the clutches of capitalism and imperialism".

The outfits that participated in the one-day seminar include People's Democratic Front of India (PDFI), Anti-Displacement Front, Hindustan Communist Gadar Party, Yuva Bharat and Bharatiya Kisan Union of Madhya Pradesh. Other outfits included Azadi Bachao Andolan and Lokraj Sangathan and representatives of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), who took part in the deliberations.

PDFI is spearheading the Maoist cause of mobilisation of the masses with the specific objective of uniting the dis parate forces against development policies of the Centre, according to the Union home ministry. Speakers at the seminar included representatives of the frontal organisations from Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana. The Naxal outfits have established overground activities in Uttarakhand and Punjab, according to the latest list of the states affected by the ultraLeft ideology. The speakers exhorted the need to counter imperialism and capitalism through their so-called "Third Freedom Movement", as the First War Of Independence in 1857 and the 1947 Independence movements have not resulted in social freedom.

As per reports in the Indian media, the speakers claimed that a nexus existed between the capitalists and the government to the peril of the common people. The outfits expressed lament that credible non-governmental organisations did not exist in the country to take up the cause of the displaced farmers. The foreign-funded NGOs were espousing the cause of the capitalists, the speakers said during the deliberations. The outfits also expressed their resentment against the Foreign University Bill and claimed that the same, when enacted by the Parliament, will cripple the education system in the country.

Convenor of the "Third Freedom Struggle Movement", Gopal Rai said, "A training camp will be organised towards July-end to take the "Third Freedom Movement" forward and a National Sovereignty Day will be observed across the country on September 21, 2007."

The preparations for the seminar was made during the last six months. About 300 representatives from 22 organisations of Socialist, Communist and democratic ideological streams gathered at the city function, Mr Rai said. A revolution at the national-level will also be launched on a campaign basis "to free the society from the clutches of caste and religious divide through ideological churning," he added.