From: [email protected]
To:
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
MASSIVE DHARNA IN AHMEDABAD
It was a sea of humanity which Ahmedabad
has rarely witnessed in recent times. They
came from all over – young and old, poor and rich from the slums and from the
villages, ordinary people and those who belong to the cream of society. There
were
Hindus and Muslims, Jains and Buddhists, Parsis and Christians; some of them
were also agnostics and atheists. They represented a whole cross section of
society.
Inspite of their differences, they were
together with one voice: ‘Enough is Enough!’ ‘Stop the Attacks on women,
minorities, adivasis, dalits, farmers, poor and other vulnerable sections!’
‘Protect & Promote Constitutional Rights!’
Speaker after speaker voiced their concern about what is happening in the
country today. A handout distributed at the Dharna highlighted in particular
the frequency of the attacks on women and minorities:
“What
is happening to the women in India is indeed shocking; a highly patriarchal
mindset with great gender insensitivity naturally provokes and even legitimises
inhuman acts. Almost daily, we read about assaults, molestations and rapes of
women. A normal society will never be able to accept the brutal rape of a six
year old girl child in Ahmedabad or the barbaric gang-rape of a seventy-two year
old nun in West Bengal. Yogi Adityanath’s men telling Hindus to rape dead Muslim
women is sick to the core! Women today from all walks of life feel more and
more insecure.
The
attacks on minorities take place today with frightening regularity. Ministers
of the Central Government and Members of Parliament make the most derogatory
remarks against Christians and Muslims; they do so with impunity and immunity.
Attacks
on Christian institutions, Church personnel and the desecration of what is
sacred to the Christians seem to happen all the time. Minorities are
systematically denigrated with a highly placed politician even going on record
to say that ‘Mosques and Churches are mere buildings’; besides, the divisive
‘ghar wapsi’ programmes; the insidious remarks to make ‘Gita’ as the country’s
national book; the attempts to take away the ‘secular’ dimension from the
Constitution are all areas of concern for large sections of India’s population.”
Among the several eminent speakers which
spoke were Archbishop Stanislaus Fernandes sj of Gandhinagar, Bishop Silvans
Christian of the CNI, Gujarat, Bishop Thomas Macwan of Ahmedabad, Fr. Francis
Parmar, the Provincial Superior of the Gujarat Jesuits, Mr. Girish Patel, Senior
Counsel, Gujarat High Court and doyen of the Human Rights Movement of Gujarat,
Mr Gautam Thakker of the PUCL, Sr Nirmala Pricipal of the Convent of Jesus and
Mary Baroda, women activists Ms. Sophia Khan , Meenakshi Joshi, Sara Baltiwala
and Ms.
Sheba George.
At the end of the programme, the general
feeling of the massive crowd was one of great satisfaction of the way they had
broad-canvassed the issues that face the common person today and they were
convinced that civil society all over needs to come out in larger numbers in
order
to safeguard the rights and freedom of every single citizen of the country.
The dharna was organised by the Gujarat United Christian Forum for Human
Rights (GUCFHR) and supported by several like-minded individuals and groups
which include Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Movement for Secular
Democracy (MSD), Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), ANHAD, SANCHETNA, SAHR
WARU, Darshan, INSAF, Ahmedabad Women Action Group (AWAG), SAFAR, Jan Sangharsh
Manch (JSM)
Fr. Cedric Prakash sjDirector
"PRASHANT" (A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace)
Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052,Gujarat, INDIA
Tel :+91 (0)79-27455913/66522333Cell : 9824034536Fax:+91 (0)79-27489018Blog:
www.humanrightsindia.in
