Is it a crime to fight for human rights?
Two incidents occurred on Thursday have somewhat provided an indication about which way the country is headed. An eight year old boy has been lynched by a mob. This is another addition to the mass hate crime that is engulfing the nation. No one has been arrested yet in connection with this inhuman and gruesome act. Media and governments have turned a blind eye towards this as usual. Another incident is that of a sponsored raid on Amnesty India which is known for its fights on human rights. All the bank accounts of the international NGO have been sealed and confiscated rendering the organization paralysed. The government which has to take punitive action against the criminals has been nourishing them under the guise of them being protectors of culture, and the ones that are creating trouble are being arrested and put into jails. After having illegally detained a few human rights activists under the guise of ‘naxals’, this is the next state-sponsored attack on the human rights efforts in the country. Another NGO GreenPeace accounts were also frozen sometime early during the term of this government.
One aspect was very clear for the joint ‘Corporate-RSS’ government led by Modi after last Lok Sabha elections. There is no opposition party that exists which would oppose the implementation of agenda of Sangh Parivar and the corporates. The only opposing forces that can see through their design is human rights organisations. Mega industrialists fear the voice raised by human rights NGOs when large swathes of lands, encroached forests are being leased out to them to set up industries by the government. Many organisations were already exposing big companies and their agendas to the people. Green Peace is in the forefront of such efforts. Hence soon as the government assumed power, it attacked GreenPeace and put it under the surveillance radar starting from the origin of their funds and disrupting works. The bank accounts of this NGO were frozen last month.
At the same time, Modi government is not too comfortable with the human rights NGOs which speak against the RSS ideologies which are deemed irrational, unscientific, anti-human and against the spirit of the constitution. The opposition of such NGOs unsettles the government and hence such organisations have been rattled by the government time and again to push them into silence through various means of torture.
On one hand as the mob violence increased, efforts to silence the voices that spoke against this increase in new kind of mob hysteria had also gone up. Fake Gau Rakshaks have been ruling the roost on the streets of the country yet no legal system would act against them. Even the cops work in favour of such evil forces. The human rights activists who were out to expose the inability of the government to safeguard the interests of innocent people are seeming like anti-national elements to them. Which is why fake cases are being registered against them under the leadership of government. Further, the government is acting against those websites and news channels that publish/air reports that expose the claims of the government.
Amnesty International has been working for the protection of human rights and dignity within all strata in the country. They are the conscience keepers of the society who ensure the politicians and governments don’t cross a line in their priorities ignoring the people. Not only that; such organisations practice total transparency in their works. They have shared all their documents and records on their website with access open for all to see. Yet, with all this, what’s the reason for the government to launch an attack on Amnesty? Are they telling the people of India that one should never question the attempts to usurp human rights in this country? Is the government party to this entire silencing operation?
Government should actually conduct raids on Sanatan Sanstha, Abhinava Bharat and other organisations which have been named in various attacks, murders and bomb blast cases. Cases have been registered against Sanatan Sanstha activists. Yet, why are those organisations not being raided and their fund sources are not being questioned? RSS is collecting huge funds from NRIs. Why no investigation agencies have raided the Nagpur office? One need not even explain the agenda of this government. Hindutva in the garb of culture will have goondas ruling us in the future. Just as the government attempts to silence the voices, dissidence will explode from unexpected corners. When all democratic channels are closed, it may even result in counter violence. Anarchy may be the order of the day then. The government may even want this to happen and is pushing the situation towards that point. The citizens of this country are watching all this, rather helplessly.
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Post poll TN alliances divided in supporting TVK
Chennai (PTI): In a changed political atmosphere in Tamil Nadu with no single political party having a simple majority to form the government post the Assembly election, opinion is divided among the allies led by the Dravidian majors in extending external support to Vijay-led TVK in government formation.
Both the DMK and AIADMK are at unease as the Congress and also a section in the AIADMK express willingness to extend external support to Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagtam in forming the government.
Post poll, the TVK's political prospects appear to impact alliances led by both the Dravidian majors in a different manner, triggering a speculation of a split.
Leema Rose Martin, who won from Lalgudi on an AIADMK ticket, has stated that talks were underway on extending support to the TVK. Her son-in-law Aadhav Arjuna, who won from Villivakkam is TVK's general secretary.
On May 5, former AIADMK minister O S Manian, emerging from his meeting with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, stated that AIADMK would not support TVK in forming the government.
The AIADMK, which finished third in the elections with 47 seats has cancelled its meeting of MLAs designate on Wednesday amidst a difference in extending external support to the TVK, which won 108 seats, including two seats by its founder Vijay.
As Vijay is gearing up for his swearing-in on May 7, the police have tightened security at his residence here. The party has lodged its MLA-elect at a resort in Mamallapuram and has simultaneously engaged in talks with the Congress and AIADMK, a source said.
The DMK that won 59 seats on its own, has convened a meeting of its newly elected legislators on May 7 evening and the party is likely to elect the youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, who won from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni as its legislature party leader.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal admitted that TVK chief Vijay requested the Congress for support to form the government.
"The INC is clear that the mandate in Tamil Nadu is for a secular government, committed to protecting the Constitution in letter and spirit. The INC is determined not to allow the BJP and its proxies to run the government of Tamil Nadu in any manner. Thiru Vijay has also spoken about drawing inspiration from Perunthalaivar Kamaraj," he said.
Accordingly, the Congress leadership has directed the TNCC to take a final decision on Vijay’s request, keeping in view the sentiments of the state as reflected in the electoral verdict, Venugopal said in a statement.
DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai slammed the Congress decision and said the move to ally with TVK, pledging the support of its five MLAs to the party, was tantamount to "backstabbing the DMK and the people of Tamil Nadu."
"They have betrayed the mandate given by the people. Even before the ink on the returning officer’s signature on the victory certificate has dried, they have chosen to go ahead with this alliance," he told PTI.
The most important question was who took this "foolhardy decision, and how is it going to backfire on the Congress?" he asked.
"I don’t think they had any serious deliberation on this. The larger issue is their opposition to the BJP, which is their ideological enemy. We have supported the Congress throughout. It was our leader M K Stalin, who named Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate when the BJP and RSS were criticising him. And now, within a day, they say they are supporting TVK. This is not the mandate of the people of Tamil Nadu,” Saravanan said.
The Congress' exit from its long-standing alliance with the DMK will be a significant moment in the political scenario of the state, commentator and political analyst Sumanth Raman said.
The Congress may be betting on the TVK as a long-term partner option, but that comes with risks, as the TVK is as yet an unknown quantity, he said.
"For the DMK, if the TVK+Congress becomes the choice of the minorities as it well could, it is an existential threat. It was the minority vote that gave the DMK alliance a 12%-15% cushion in the polls. If that goes, their chances of winning drops dramatically," Raman said on 'X.'
The Congress won 5 seats. However, DMK's other allies, the IUML, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) and DMDK have categorically stated that they would not support TVK.
As of now, the TVK requires the support of 11 MLAs to attain a simple majority of 118 to form the government.
The PMK, which won 4 seats and AMMK one - both allies of AIADMK - have not announced their decision yet.
"AIADMK’s real post-result drama may not be outside the party, but inside it. Whispers from the west and north suggest that a Coimbatore hand and a Villupuram voice may soon ask the question everyone is avoiding: Is it time to save the party from the leadership, before the cadre are forced to do it themselves? In politics, coups don’t begin with slogans. They begin with silence, phone calls and “review meetings,” Aspire Swaminathan, who is credited with founding the AIADMK IT wing in 2014, said on 'X.'
He has resigned from the AIADMK in 2021 and now acts an as independent political analyst.
