On Friday, around 900 students and activists from all over the country staged a protest at Parliament Street in New Delhi, against the state’s repression of rights activists. They demanded repealing of draconian laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the National Security Act (NSA) and the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Acts (AFSPA), which are being used by the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government “to intimidate and silence democratic voices.”
“The current government is arresting people who fight for the rights of farmers, who support the demands of Adivasis or Dalits, under UAPA or NSA. Punjab University students who recently protested against the fee hike were deemed traitors and arrested under NSA… Bhima-Koregaon incident is the biggest example of repression (of Dalits) happening today…we are here to fight such unjustified actions of the government.” Jasminder, a student of Maharshi Dayanand University, Haryana, told NewsCentral24x7.
Jasminder added, “Through this protest, we want the BJP government to know that we will not get scared by their actions…we will strengthen our voices every time they try to repress us.”
Human rights activists also demanded the release of political prisoners.
Several Dalit students from Jharkhand, Punjab, Haryana and Telangana called for the release of Bhim Army founder Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, who has been in jail since June 2017, after Yogi Adityanath government slapped charges against him under NSA.
On May 9 last year, the Bhim Army called a mahapanchayat in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur to protest atrocities against Dalits. The police denied them permission but hundreds of protestors turned up on the day of the event. This led to clashes between the protesters and the police, following which the police arrested Chandrashekhar Azad under the NSA.
Bhim Army’s Vinay Ratan Singh, on Friday, stated that the Modi government is suppressing Dalit voices and is only working towards building a Hindu state.
“The BJP government is looting the country while their promises of bringing a strong Lokpal, targeting black money and corruption, are all forgotten. Vijay Mallya, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi are allowed to flee the country under Modi’s watch. The attack on the people of this country as visible in Assam with the NRC which is another effort by the current government to establish a Hindu state favourable to its ends,” Singh said in his address.
Ravi Bhalla, an advocate and activist from Telangana, who was jailed for six months under the Chhattisgarh Public Security Act, told NewsCentral24x7, “We went for a fact finding report on Adivasi killings in Chhattisgarh. There, the police falsely implicated us under Chhattisgarh Security Public Act… The police did not have any evidence against us. We were kept in jail without bail for six months.”
Bhalla further accused the Modi government and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), of promoting the agenda of a Hindu nation. He said, “Since this Modi government has come to power, such arrests have increased. The RSS is behind this scenario..we need to build a big movement to defeat RSS’ agenda… we have to protect our democratic rights.”
Renowned author and activist Arundhati Roy urged the Opposition for a united front to oust the ruling BJP. She said, “The arrests of Prof. GN Saibaba, Rona Wilson and Advocate Surendra Gadling reveals that anyone amongst us could be arrested next by this exceedingly vindictive state; a state that is ready to let the country burn in order to retain control in the 2019 elections. We need to unite in this face of this hatred.”
Referring to BJP as ‘Bharat Jalao Party’, Roy said, “This Bharat Jalao Party is ready with matchsticks, before the 2019 polls. They are afraid. What will they not do to return to power? These people have to be removed from Parliament this time.”
Retired High Court judge B.G. Kolse-Patil also addressed the rally. Attacking the Narendra Modi government, Patil said, “The people who neither believe in democracy nor the Constitution are sitting in Parliament today and what we face today is an unprecedented case of an undeclared Emergency.”