Hundreds of representatives of Left, democratic and secular political parties and organisations on Monday adopted a joint declaration and a pledge, condemning the growing targeted attacks based on caste and communal lines in Odisha.

A memorandum was signed and sent to the Governor of Odisha demanding justice for the victims based on constitutional provisions and Bring a halt of the rising atrocities against Dalits and vulnerable population, it said.

In a State level convention held here the leaders agreed to take up common programmes and hold district level meetings to fight the casteist and fundamentalist agenda of forces who want to dilute the very spirit of the Indian Constitution which is based on social justice, secularism, and democratic values.

Left leaders such as Santos Das, Pramila Behera, Radhakanta Sethy, farmer leader Lingaraj Pradhan and Mula Nibasi Samata Parisad leader Abhiram Malik conducted the meeting, where Dalit leader Manas Jena presented the base paper.

The leaders and social organisations condemned the attack on some Dalit youths in Bargarh during celebration of Ambedkar Jayanti; in Kendrapada in the name of collection of donation for temple, a Dalit family was harassed and attacked.

Among others who spoke in the meeting were Prof Golak Bihari Nath, Prof Bijay Bohidar, Prof Dhaneswar Sahoo, Jayanta Das (CPI), Rama Chandra Nayak(CPI-M), Mahendra Parida (CPIML-Liberation), Jyoti Ranjan Mohapatra (All India Forward Block), Swayamprava Nayak leader (SUCI-C), Srikant Mohanty(CPI-ML), Abdul Wali(RPI), Sudarsan Pradhan (Samajwadi Party), Bikram Swain (NCP), Jatish Mohanty (Samrudha Odisha)