[Reader-list] Press release | VHP attack on filmmaker Gopal Menon and his team

[Harsh Kapoor]

Press release
Date: 12 July 2003
Contact:  "K.P. Sasi" <sasi36 at rediffmail.com

CONDEMN the spread of Fascism in India

Condemn the VHP attack on filmmaker Gopal Menon and his team.

In yet another bid to suppress basic citizens’ rights as well as
freedom of expression, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Kerala
state police have manhandled well-known documentary filmmaker Gopal
Menon and his team in a public function at Kozhikode on Tuesday, July
8.

Gopal Menon, who has made several films on human rights violations in
India including 'Hey Ram-Genocide in the Land of Gandhi' (that
documented the post-Godhra communal carnage in the State of Gujarat)
was trying to record the vituperative public speech of VHP chief,
Praveen Togadia, when the VHP activists and the police manhandled him.
Gopal Menon was accompanied by Viju Verma and Mustafa Deshamangalam,
who were also subjected to manhandling.

As soon as the team reached the spot at the Muthalakkulam Maidan in
Kozhikode where Praveen Togadia was addressing the crowd, Gopal Menon
was identified by the VHP activists. With the help of the state
police, VHP activists manhandled all three and then threw them out of
the venue. The VHP activists threatened the filmmakers and asked the
police not to allow them again inside the maidan. The police
threatened to arrest them if they failed to leave immediately.
The filmmakers argued that since the event was a public meeting,
they had every right to attend and also film the function. But
neither the organisers of the meeting nor the police paid any heed to
basic ethics of media freedom or citizen rights.

The police force was evidently acting hand in glove with the VHP,
giving protection to Togadia all through his Kerala tour aimed at
fomenting communal hatred and violence. This was a clear instance of
the official machinery of the State that is supposedly committed to
secular principles being hijacked by a communal outfit like the VHP
for its nefarious ends.
The attack on Gopal Menon is a sequel to concerted attempts by the
VHP, RSS and BJP activists last year to disrupt screenings of several
documentary films across the state and the State police to foist
cases against the organisers of such film screenings.

The latest open tirade against the minority communities by none other
than the Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr. A.K. Antony, amply proves that
the State has already been hijacked by the VHP-BJP-RSS combine which
is making a concerted bid to spread fascism in Kerala.
We feel that it's high time we stand up united to uphold basic
citizen rights against the plans by the State as well as the fascist
forces to divide the people on communal lines.
We feel that it's high time the socially-conscious citizens of the
country joined hands to uphold the rights of expression of truth and
reality against poisonous statements of communal politicians.
We condemn the efforts of the VHP and its ilk to spread violence and
hatred that would lead to further bloodshed. Let's see to it that the
fascist 'Gujarat experiment' is not repeated anywhere.

Signed/-
M.T. Vasudevan NairPaul Zachariah
Medha PatkarAsghar Ali Engineer
Mahesh DattaniProf. Babu MathewThomas KocheriRam PunyaniCivic
ChandranK.E.N KunhammedMukundan C MenonThis press release is
available on the web at:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/2002/PRattackonGopalMenon.html