[Reader-list] Fwd: Statement from Chennai: by Concerned Citizens on the Increasing Threat to the Rule of Law and Freedom of Expression

[Nagraj Adve]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Madhumita Dutta" <madhudutta.new at gmail.com>
Date: 03-Mar-2016 7:52 am
Subject: Statement from Chennai: by Concerned Citizens on the Increasing
Threat to the Rule of Law and Freedom of Expression
To: "campaign-for-justice-and-peace" <
campaign-for-justice-and-peace at googlegroups.com>
Cc: "turaga prathamesh" <prathamesh.t at gmail.com>, "Amarx Marx" <
professormarx at gmail.com>, "viswanathan bhaskar" <1917bhaskar at gmail.com>,
"Aparajay Surnameless" <aparajay at gmail.com>, "Madhusree Basu" <
pupai.madhusree at gmail.com>, "alok laddha" <oranjok at gmail.com>, "Vijay
Ravikumar" <vijay.ravikumar at gmail.com>, "Sushmita V" <sushmita84 at gmail.com>,
"susana barria" <sus.barria at gmail.com>, "Vivek Sundara." <
viveksundara at gmail.com>, "Sudha Bharadwaj" <advocatesudhabharadwaj at gmail.com>,
"Shalini Sharma" <sh.shalini at gmail.com>, "Shalini Gera" <
shalinigera at gmail.com>, "Himanshu Upadhyaya" <himanshugreen at gmail.com>, "
kumkum.dasgupta at hindustantimes.com" <kumkum.dasgupta at hindustantimes.com>,
"Nagraj Adve" <nagraj.adve at gmail.com>, "Nandini Manjrekar" <
nandini.manjrekar at gmail.com>, "Rohit Prajapati" <rohit.prajapati at gmail.com>,
"sadanand menon" <sadanandmenon at yahoo.com>, "Milind Brahme" <
brahme at iitm.ac.in>, "Millie Nihila" <millienihila at gmail.com>, "bhavani
raman" <bhavani.raman at gmail.com>, "Srividya Tadepalli" <t.srivi at gmail.com>,
"Krithika Srinivasan" <srinivasan.krithika at gmail.com>


*Statement by Concerned Citizens on the Increasing Threat to the Rule of
Law and Freedom of Expression*



It seems that an undeclared state of emergency is sought to be imposed upon
us: a series of seemingly unconnected events across the country, in
universities (most recently in Hyderabad and Delhi), factory premises and
court halls, our streets and over large parts of the countryside, bear this
out. We would like to draw wider attention, in particular, to recent
disturbing developments in Jagdalpur, Bastar, that have been somewhat
overshadowed by events in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.



In Delhi as in Bastar, the state is using its coercive power to stifle
dissent and lock up dissenters by labelling them anti-national or, in the
case of Bastar, Maoists. In Chattisgarh, it has long been standard practice
to label anybody with an opinion of development contrary to the mainstream
view (of development as corporate welfare and environmental destruction) as
a Maoist. This is usually a prelude to police action ranging from
harassment and intimidation to arrest, torture, and even death. The adivasi
inhabitants of Bastar have not enjoyed the rule of law since 2005, when the
Salwa Judum, a vigilante paramilitary group, was formed in the name of
combating Maoism. Nor does the law offer much protection to ordinary people
elsewhere seeking to exercise their constitutional rights as law
enforcement agencies and governments trample upon civil liberties in the
name of nationalism.



During the last few weeks the government of Chhattisgarh has made a
concerted effort to evict journalists and lawyers who write about (or speak
for) adivasis challenging corporate crimes, state collusion with such
crimes, and human rights abuses in the form of rape and murder by security
forces. Human rights defenders like Soni Sori have been attacked in broad
daylight with toxic chemicals. The Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group (JagLAG) – a
small band of committed, bright public interest lawyers – have been hounded
out of their home. Bela Bhatia, a well-respected researcher, and
journalists, including Malini Subramaniam of Scroll.in and Alok Putul of
the BBC, are being driven out of Chattisgarh by hooligans in and out of
uniform. Somaru Nag and Santosh Yadav, two Hindi language journalists, have
already been put in prison. All these individuals have exposed chilling
cases of rape, sexual assault and violence by security forces during
anti-insurgency operations. In Chhattisgarh, as in Delhi, police officials
are overseeing these events: the Inspector General of Police for Bastar,
S.R.P. Kalluri, has been personally accused of intimidation and harassment.
We hope that the NHRC team presently investigating human rights violations
committed by the armed security forces in Bastar will probe into the
complicity of the Chhattisgarh police in the eviction of human rights
defenders, lawyers, journalists and the attack on Sori and the constant
threats being given to her family.



The parallel with recent events in the Jawaharlal Nehru University is
evident, with the difference being that constitutional rights have been
effectively suspended over large parts of Baster since 2005. What is
difficult to do in Delhi without attracting widespread attention and
protest is easy to do in a remote region to poor groups that impinge much
less upon the public consciousness. But both are different sides of the
same coin and testify to this government's readiness to stifle dissent by
force and scare-mongering whereby all those who subscribe to a different
idea of India – one envisioned in our constitution, of an polity that is
secular, just and democratic – are labelled anti-national.



It is in times like this that it is necessary to say even more loudly and
clearly than before that we, and those being called anti-national by the
government, are in fact *defending* the constitution. The central
government (and the government of Chattisgarh) must realise that a national
government remains national only when it is vested in the greater common
good; and that sovereignty rests in the active exercise of the democratic
rights by ordinary people and not in the apparatus of the state. We welcome
the Delhi High court order of 2nd March 2016, granting interim bail to Shri
Kanhaiya Kumar, President of JNUSU.



Shashank Kela, Writer, Chennai

Karuna D W, Historian, Chennai

Nityanand Jayaraman, Writer, Chennai

V Geetha, Writer, Chennai

Karen Coelho, Academic, Chennai

Madhumita Dutta, Researcher, Chennai

Prema Revathi, Writer, Chennai

Kalpana Karunakaran, Academic, Chennai

Binitha V Thampi, Academic, Chennai

Venkat T., Researcher, Chennai

Vijayabaskar, Academic, Chennai

Satya Sivaraman, Writer, Chennai

Nalini Rajan, Academic,Chennai

Anandhi Shanmugasundaram, Academic, Chennai

Satyarupa Shekhar, Researcher, Chennai

Gita Jayaraj, Chennai

Radhika Rammohan, Chennai

Bamini Narayanan, ‘Citizen of India’

V Srinivasan, Organic farmer, Chennai

Om Prakash Singh, Chennai