New Delhi: Opposition leaders on Wednesday expressed solidarity with human rights activists and lawyers who have been arrested in the Elgar Parishad case and charged under the Illicit Activities (Prevention) Act, and demanded that the law be repealed. strict law.
They also urged the public to break their silence on the government’s efforts to “undermine the rights of the people.”
The latest National Investigative Agency arrest in the case was that of tribal rights activist Stan Swamy, 83, on October 8. Activists and political leaders have been condemning Swamy’s arrest, saying that even though he is a Parkinson’s disease patient and suffers from health problems, he is now in jail during a pandemic.
At a press conference organized by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren claimed that the government was trying to silence the voices of marginalized communities. In a video message, he alleged that under the current government, unity, integrity and democratic structures were under attack.
“The NDA government sitting in the Center today – it is silencing the voices of those who speak on behalf of the Adivasis, Dalits and other marginalized groups, states not governed by the BJP are being harassed, the various constitutional mechanisms of our country they are being weakened today by different groups and organizations for their own political gain under a hidden agenda ”, he stated.
“It is forcing us to reflect on where the country is going. He crossed all the lines today when someone like Stan Swamy was arrested. He is someone who has been working in Jharkhand for years, in the remote and faraway villages, roaming the jungles, just so he can reach the Adivasis, Dalits and minority populations here. This is very disappointing. Stan Swamy also suffers from many illnesses, ”Soren said.
Opposition of all kinds should have no trouble coming together, in these times, to counter the Center’s clearly directed and anti-popular stance. “From the way Stan Swamy has been arrested today, it could happen to any of us tomorrow, or it could even escalate further to the death of people,” Soren said.
The General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Sitaram Yechury, as well as Kanimozhi of the DMK, urged civil society groups and the public to break their silence on “the government’s attacks on the rights of the people.”
“Today we have to make a decision as political parties, as the whole of society, whether to accept what is happening in silence or say that it is enough and fight together. If we accept this, in a few years we will not see a democratic India that we know. Every law that this government has passed has destroyed the rights of the people. It is time to break the silence, ”Kanimozhi said in the video conference.
Yechury added that the entire UAPA law should be repealed as it is prone to “serious misuse.” He said the UAPA, the sedition law and the National Security Law should be seen together as part of the “larger plan of the BJP and RSS” to pave the way for a “fascist, intolerant and authoritarian Hindutva nation.” The Center, it alleged, is using central agencies to undermine the Constitution, while protecting the true perpetrators of the violence.
A total of 16 people have been arrested under the UAPA in the case, which include three cultural activists from Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) – Ramesh Gaichor, Sagar Ghogre and Jyoti Jagtap – as well as rights activists, writers, lawyers and academics. Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Shoma Sen, Hany Baby, lawyers, Sudha Bharadwaj, Surendra Gadling, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudhir Dhawale, Mahesh Raut, Rona Wilson and Arun Ferreira.
“The UAPA has been very badly used, like POTA, this law has to be eliminated from our statute book. However, it is not a single law. All these draconian laws are being used to silence all dissidents against the government. These arrests are not isolated cases; these are part of an agenda to establish a rabidly theocratic Hindutva Rashtriya that was his plan from the beginning. This cannot be accepted. We must break this silence. For evil to succeed, good only requires being silent. The people need to restore secular democracy, ”Yechury argued.
Congressional top leader Shashi Tharoor said Swamy deserves “respect and support”, not a jail sentence. Tharoor said he was convinced that “no Jesuit will indulge in violence or draw anyone into violence.” “This must end. I call on the government to be fair and at least give you bail. We stand in solidarity with Stan Swamy, ”he said.
D. Raja of the CPI reminded people of the violence of Bhima Koregaon on January 1, 2018 and how thousands of Dalits were not only attacked, but also registered in bogus cases. “The central government is a ruthless government and does not believe in the Constitution and democracy, and is opposed to the vision and values of BR Ambedkar,” he said.
An activist from Kabir Kala Manch, a cultural organization, also spoke at the event. Three members of the KKM are currently in jail for the case, and the NIA has claimed that the group is affiliated with banned Maoist organizations. The KKM, Rupali Jadhav said, has always raised its voice against anti-popular policies. He said his colleagues who had been arrested were being coerced by the NIA into giving false evidence under threat of arrest. They were asked to implicate other people who had already been arrested. They refused to do so and chose to be arrested, Jadhav said.
The PUCL has made three demands on the central government:
- Immediate release of the octogenarians Stan Swamy and Varavara Rao imprisoned in the Bhima Koregaon case and 95% of the disabled professor Saibaba held in Anda’s cell in Nagpur Central Prison, on humanitarian grounds so that they can receive adequate treatment and care at a facility of your choice.
- Drop the charges against the 16 defendants in the BK case, release them, and close the Bhima Koregaon conspiracy case.
- Repeal of the 1967 Law on the Prevention of Illegal Activities.
(With PTI inputs)
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