The letter also said that all politicians must “re-educate themselves about the Constitution” (Archive)
New Delhi:
The controversial ordinance against the conversion of the Uttar Pradesh government has transformed the state into “the epicenter of the politics of hatred, division and intolerance,” a letter signed by 104 former IAS officers, including former National Security adviser Shivshankar Menon. , former Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and former adviser to Prime Minister TKA Nair, and released on Tuesday, said.
In demanding that the “illegal ordinance be immediately withdrawn,” the signatories also said that all politicians, including the Chief Minister, must “re-educate them about the Constitution that you … have sworn to uphold.”
“… UP, once known as the cradle of the Ganges-Jamuna civilization, has become the epicenter of the politics of hatred, division and intolerance, and the institutions of government are now steeped in communal poison,” said the letter.
“… a series of heinous atrocities committed by his administration against young Indians in Uttar Pradesh … Indians who simply seek to live their lives as free citizens of a free country.”
The letter pointed to multiple minority cases that were targeted, including a horrific case from UP’s Moradabad earlier this month, in which two men were allegedly approached by Bajrang Dal, dragged away to police and arrested on allegations that one of them he had forced a Hindu girl to marry him.
“What is inexcusable is that the police remained silent while the guards harassed and interrogated the innocent couple. (The woman) suffered a miscarriage, possibly as a result of the harassment,” the letter said, citing an Indian Express report that said the husband told the attackers. his wife was pregnant.
Last week, two teenagers in UP’s Bijnor were ambushed, harassed and taken to a police station where a case of “love jihad” was presented. A teenager has been in jail for more than a week for allegedly trying to forcibly convert a 16-year-old Hindu girl, a charge denied by both the girl and her mother.
“Around 11:30 pm they caught us, the villagers beat us. They accused us of robbery. They caught a child, I don’t know who it was, and they caught me. I didn’t know who the child was. It is not true that I was trying to convert me, “the girl said in a short interview to NDTV.
“These atrocities, regardless of the outrage of Indians dedicated to the rule of law, continue unabated. The anti-conversion ordinance … is being used as a stick to particularly victimize Indian men who are Muslim and women who are they dare to exercise their freedom of choice, “they added.
The Allahabad High Court made the same point last week when it brought together an interfaith couple, stressing that the woman is an adult and has “the right to live life on her own terms.”
The court approved another order last month saying that “interference in a personal relationship would constitute a serious violation of the right to freedom of choice of the two people.”
“… several higher courts, including the Allahabad High Court, have unequivocally ruled that the choice of the partner is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, the state of UP is gleefully undermining that very Constitution,” the signatories said.
The ordinance targets so-called “love jihad” crimes, which is the name given to the right-wing conspiracy theory that Muslim men seduce Hindu women into converting them to their religion.
The term is not one recognized by the center, but that hasn’t stopped several states from passing “jihad against love” laws that critics say can (and are) being used to terrorize minorities.
The ordinance has also been criticized by four former judges, including former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan B Lokur, who told NDTV it was “unconstitutional.”
Read the full text of the letter below:
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