[《“Some students had been taken to custody in JNU on charge of sedition in
the past, a charge which had not been proved in any case. They were beaten
up in custody which was against any law. It is not fathomable how they were
charged under sedition,” the eminent economist said.
“We had all seen how an illegal act was committed and there was no fair
justice. Till now, there was no proof of sedition charge. This time it was
faced by students. but this can be faced by any citizen of this country,”
he said.》]

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/non-communal-forces-should-ally-for-2019-polls-amartya-sen-5325490/

Non-communal forces should ally for 2019 polls: Amartya Sen
Sharply criticising the BJP government at the Centre, Sen said a party
having got "31 per cent votes and ill motives in politics" came to power in
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

By: PTI | Kolkata |

Updated: August 26, 2018 5:10:00 pm

 Referring to the Supreme Court’s observation on “mobocracy”, Sen said that
“Dalits and minorities have become victims of organised killing” and the
government has to take responsibility.

Sharply criticising the BJP government at the Centre, Sen said a party
having got “31 per cent votes and ill motives in politics” came to power in
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. (File)
Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has said all non-communal forces should come
together for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the Left should not hesitate in
joining them as “democracy is in danger”.

“We must express our opposition to autocracy, we must fight against their
autocratic trends, we must criticise the issues where we need to oppose the
non-communal right wing forces, but we must not take back our hands when it
comes to fighting communalism which is the biggest threat,” he said.

Sharply criticising the BJP government at the Centre, Sen said a party
having got “31 per cent votes and ill motives in politics” came to power in
the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

“What happened in 2014 polls? A party having got 55 per cent seats but
actually having secured 31 per cent of the total votes, came to power… A
party with ill motives,” Sen said yesterday during a question-answer
session at Sisir Manch auditorium here.

The Nobel laureate said during his visit to Kolkata this time, he has heard
whispers in certain quarters that to stop the autocratic trends in the
state, BJP can be the viable medium and not the weak CPI(M).

“This is a strange logic. To stop autocracy, we will be sowing the seed of
communalism. This seed can be weeded after a lot of time, effort and battle
in future,” he said, adding every political question should not be
interpreted through leftist and rightist prisms.

Sen said democracy was under threat in the country but it can only be
rectified by the people.

“I think democracy is in danger but we can do rectification. If we say
democracy is under threat, we can be beaten up by some people. But still
we, the people, can do the rectification. It is not like a sinking boat
which we all should abandon,” he said.

Sen referred to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) to draw parallels with
the situation in the country, but did not specifically refer to any
particular incident.

“Some students had been taken to custody in JNU on charge of sedition in
the past, a charge which had not been proved in any case. They were beaten
up in custody which was against any law. It is not fathomable how they were
charged under sedition,” the eminent economist said.

“We had all seen how an illegal act was committed and there was no fair
justice. Till now, there was no proof of sedition charge. This time it was
faced by students. but this can be faced by any citizen of this country,”
he said.

On the National Register of Citizens (NRC) issue, he said the Trinamool
Congress had led the protests much before the Left parties.

“The TMC went there to protest before the left. Such a thing won’t make the
left proud. If you take pride for being Left make your voice heard on
issues.”

To a question on the efficacy of multi-party system in the country, Sen
said, “I found no example which said democracy won’t function without
multi-party system. In one-party system we had seen example of autocratic
rules over the years.”



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Peace Is Doable

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