Saturday, February 13, 2021

On the Right to Dissent: An Assessment of the Prevailing Situation

Keynote address delivered at the seminar 

organized by 

Centre for Amenities Rehabilitation and Education (CARE)

Centre for Social Action 

and

St. Josephs’ College of Commerce

on the

Right to Dissent: A look at the Present Scenario

14th February 2019

 

By 

 

Leo F. Saldanha

Coordinator 

Environment Support Group


 


As we grow up, we are taught to conform, to listen to elders, our parents, and in general conform to the ways of the community we grow up in. The idea is to ensure that there is orderliness in how everyone behaves, for the collective good perhaps. From our childhood when we question e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g out of curiosity; when we turn into our adolescence challenging everyone with questions and as a matter of right; and then into our teens when we do what we feel like, sometimes with problematic consequences, we are practicing the right to dissent.  

 

In families and societies which deal with such questions and allow for such challenges, with reasonable restrictions, the outcome is reasonably healthy: a young man and woman emerges with confidence, to walk into the world alone, and face its challenges. And when such opportunities are denied, or non-existent, the likelihood of the opposite result is very high. 

 

We don’t need to go far to check this out. It is happening in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our cities and in our villages.  In villages, elders' greater control over the emerging young person, armed as they are with the long tradition of conformism with elders's views,  plays a strong role in constricting spaces for dissent.  In urbanised settings, the liberation extended by anonymity and the lack of obvious social structures makes space for dissent from conservatism and conformism. 

 

The object of ensuring social order for collective good is indisputable; it is like following road discipline, of keeping time, of ensuring what we express and how we express is meaningful, and communicates even if it may be something not everyone agrees with.  What then remains is of the question of the content of our expression.  Should that be regulated at all?  

 

Should a child growing up in a family be reprimanded, or made to feel small, for asking, “What is sex?”, as I was?  And immediately asked to go clean the garden to hide the visible discomfort I had placed my parents and others elders in, while my sisters and brother giggled?  But then the school text book I had, I recall, had an image of the male and female sex organs.  The teacher was not very happy with that page and she quickly asked us to skip to the next one; in fact skip that chapter altogether  Clearly, the question remained unanswered, at home and in school.

 

The issue with my simple question, of course, is that my parents, teacher and elders were left nonplussed. They were required to address this question with maturity. But they did not. As though they never had wondered about it?   

 

The problematique is in the normalization of silence in addressing such “embarrassing”, or contentious matters.  Silences over what is to be spoken and what not.  Sex is taboo, we are taught by the silences. And in worse cases reprimanded, harshly, as was the case with a classmate who similarly asked that very question in school, and received a none too pleasant whack in return.

 

What do we do when uncomfortable questions come up that need answers, and none are willing to engage in the conversation? Or are afraid to?  

 

A long time ago a young man with a young family was so deeply troubled by his questions -  and he asked around. Everyone he spoke with returned uncomfortable glances or shied away from the questions. Perhaps even tried to advise him to focus on worldly matters.  This man had hardly walked into his manhood, but so troubling were his questions - with which none tried to engage - that he just left. Left all of it and walked away to seek enlightenment.  He did not receive any lawyers’ notices from his abandoned wife and child, and so ended up, thankfully, not devoured by animals in the forest where he sought refuse.  Instead he achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.  Less than a  millennium after Buddha, a carpenter’s son decided enough of is enough and mobilized a revolt against slavery, against oppression, against abuse of power, and was nailed to the cross . And we now know, a couple of thousand years later, that Christ's preachings and his life continue to affect us, and guide us.  

 

Arjuna dissented with everyone and did not want to engage in war with his own brethren, we are told.  Sometimes I wish Krishna had agreed with him, and the Bhagwad Gita was a text justifying Arjuna’s feelings, rather than a justification of conquest of good over evil, by war.  The idea of superiority would have ended, perhaps? And in the millennia that followed, there would not be the quest for a Ram Rajya, as some now insist will result with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term, never mind that the ‘ache din’ he promised never arrived through his first term. 


Why the chasing of a mirage of a utopian world, I ask? Why can’t it be enjoyed now, given that we have a super-abundance of needed intelligence to ensure everyone’s rights are secured and obligations to each other are honoured and respected?  

 

What would have resulted in this land mass we now call India if Krishna had agreed with Arjuna that peace is a greater objective than the expression of valour through war? What would have resulted, let’s wonder, if Krishna had stepped out of the chariot and walked across to Bhishmapitaaha, and sat in a Gandhian Sathyagraha in solidarity with Arjuna’s feelings for his brethren?  Would the Kauravas have had the ‘strength’ to trample Lord Krishna with all their military power then?  Of course, the narrative that most believe in is that they did go to war with each other, and yes, ever since then there never has been an end to the catastrophic consequences of such battles of egos. 


What you and I learn, through our history textbooks, and quite disturbingly observe through movies such as the most white-dominated narrative ever - in Steven Spielberg’s Dunkirk, is that the white soldiers, not Indians (who actually were in large numbers there at Dunkirk, but not one is visible in the entire movie), were the valiant lot.  War creates narratives from the victor’s end, we are told.  And it seems true even when there are no bullets fired, bombs dropped, grenades chucked, as is now the case on evening TV shows (not news) in India.

 

It is a war of words. It is a war of views.  It does not make sense. Not in the least. And if you are interested in sense, then you need to invest your efforts in an effort that is all too simple but extremely difficult to achieve often: turn the TV off.  But the allure of the ongoing war of words –  “Don’t go away, we will be back with more”-  is such that we are hooked on to a narrative that is controlled by the dominant party in power.  If you care to disagree, you are dubbed anti-national, urban naxal, seditious.  I sometimes wonder about the kinds of terminologies and conceptual underpinnings that would be employed in time … Aren’t they running out of ideas to chuck at those who disagree, who dissent, who speak differently, who have something very different to say than the dominant narrative?

 

As we have witnessed over the past few years in India, lumpenisation pays rich dividends. It helps capture political power, and control how we all live our lives.  It helps those who want to control our lives, to train our actions to conform wit ways which are determined as 'appropriate'. And all this adds up to ensure mass compliance, often employing fear and terror; so that there is no deviance to the expected norm.  

 

If you are walking cattle away from a village, or worse, loading them on a truck at a cattle-fair to take them home, because you are a a milk man, as Pehlu Khan was in 2017, chances are high that you will end up dead as Khan did.  Vigilantes decided he had to die because they claimed he was trading them into the beef market.  What if he indeed was planning to do just that, for it is a lawful act? The raising of this question in Rajasthan, or across the region called the ‘cow belt’, in itself will attract serious consequences.  As we know, in the land ruled by Yogi Adityanatha that unproductive bullocks that are being abandoned by the lakhs across Uttar Pradesh, due to the fear unleashed against trading them to cattle traders as farmers have done for millenia,  are now munching relentlessly into farmers’ strenuous efforts to grow food, are being allowed to destroy food and economic security of millions.  By the lynching of about two dozen cattle rearers and beef traders, most of them selected  because they were Muslim even when people of other religions also trade cattle for beef, the entire country’s cattle trade is frozen. As a consequence, an ecological catastrophe is in the offing.

 

This is the power of fear, of employing violence strategically. It silences millions into submission.  It makes them conform to a way of living that is destructive of their economic and political choices. It turns neighbour against neighbour to such an extent that it ghettoises everyone – the ghettoiser and the ghettoised.  

 

Muslims across India have been ghettoized for generations now, particularly after the horrendous division of south Asia by the British.  And if you look around the world, you will notice the British have done such things everywhere, leaving behind a mess in the Middle East, perpetuating conflicts within and between Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, whilst wilfully almost, dismembering the hopes and identities of the Kurdish peoples. In how the creation of Israel out of Palestine has ensured we all are on tenterhooks every time Netanyahu says something, when Palestinians cannot hope for a better life than what is now a mass prison. 


We have witnessed how the imperialist propaganda by America - which dreams now under Trump of being great again, has ensured the world is riddled with conflicts, killing millions. And of the great promise of socialism that has ended up in the most demoniacal control of billions of peoples through tyrannical communism producing oligarchs, as in China and Russia. And particularly now in China where a “social credit” system ensures that those who conform will benefit from the comfort of a ‘good life’. As for those who do not, and instead choose the right to express, to dissent, they will be subjugated to unspeakable horrors. It is like in the “Hunger Games”, but at a much grander scale.

 

We are living through times of unprecedented social engineering. Where the power of the corporate sector to control what we do, how we live, how we look, what we eat, who we socialise with, what we believe in, and what we know, is immense, and growing still. So immense that most of us would not even know what we don’t know. Because, as we are now aware, social media and internet searches are designed to lead us on pathways that we have not chosen, instead move along paths that have been chosen for us by mega corporations raking in mega profits.  Even as their leading men and women work relentlessly to have an overbearing influence on our decision makers, our senior politicians and our senior bureaucracy. It is not what we choose that we get – through active participation in a democratic gamble we call the elections, but by what is ordinated by them.  If we do not agree with them, we are then told again by trolls that we are anti-national, seditious, urban naxals, etc.  

 

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) exists so people who ask uncomfortable questions, hold the State and Corporate sectors accountable to the people, can be picked up and locked away for long periods of detention.  As examples to the rest of us, so we conform to the dominant narrative of ‘progress’ and ‘democracy’. Sudha Bharadwaj (Human rights lawyer), P Varavara Rao (revolutionary poet and writer), Vernon Gonsalves (college Prof), Arun Fereira (political activist), Gautam Navlakha (journalist), Stan Lourduswamy (Jesuit priest who has helped shape so many of us), K Sathyanarayana (Professor of Cultural Studies), K. V. Kurmanath (Journalist), Kranti Tekula (photojournalist), Anand Teltumbe (academic and writer) are all targeted and imprisoned. They have worked and spoken without fear.  And that is unacceptable to those who rule by employing fear at a mass scale. Which is also why Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Sheila Rashid and other students of Jawaharlal Nehru University are being targeted, so that all of you will better attend class, have a little fun, but not  engage in asking uncomfortable questions. Thus behave as the ruling dispensation demands you must. Or else be ready to face consequences.

 

Educate. Organise. Agitate, said a man we now revere everywhere with statues of his form. Were he to say that now, he would have ended up in prison under the current dispensation, notwithstanding the fact that he is also considered the Father of the Indian Constitution by many. Which scholars argue, and most sane people agree, was perhaps the finest document on good governance written till now.     

 

We revere Ambedkar as a Father, as a parent.  There is something that we do by putting such people up on a pedestal. They are up there. While down below, we end up making a mess of all that they struggled against: to secure for us our fundamental freedoms.  Was Ambedkar to be able to come now and see how we have followed up on his efforts, he would be appalled I am sure.  That we still have laws like the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which Ambedkar argued contains provisions that render “nullity” to the Constitution itself, would have shocked the man.

 

We have much to do in this young democracy.  We have the promise of equity and justice for all, as is contained in Article 39 of the Constitution. We have hoary language employed in a variety of rulings of the Supreme Court upholding the primacy of the Right to Life, as in Article 21. But the question to ask is if it is life enhancing at all, if we are restricted by fear and terror from expressing?

 

19. Protection of certain rights regarding freedom of speech etc

(1) All citizens shall have the right

(a) to freedom of speech and expression;

(b) to assemble peaceably and without arms;

(c) to form associations or unions;

(d) to move freely throughout the territory of India;

(e) to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India; and

(f) omitted

(g) to practise any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business

(2) Nothing in sub clause (a) of clause ( 1 ) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence

 

Have Sudha Bharadwaj et al done anything at all to threaten the sovereignty and integrity of India?  Should the Supreme Court not realise that the persistence of such unconstitutional laws as UAPA and AFSPA is in itself affording power to tyranny by those who now control the power of the State, especially to a party intent on amending the Constitution to promote their bigoted idea of Hindutwa as the method of statecraft?  Should not the Apex court ensure such cases are not allowed to fester, instead dealt with on an emergency basis, as Ambedkar would have wanted?  And if the Court does find that there has been gross abuse of power by the State, should it not take to task those who have abused such power embedded in such tyrannical laws, which would put even British tyranny to shame?  

 

And when the Supreme Court takes its time to decide on such matters; even defeats the right of the accused to bail, especially when none of the accused have ever been a part of Lynch mob; or of being anywhere near any effort that can even remotely be considered as a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister; when not one of the accused has any intent whatsoever of fleeing the country as have Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi, Atul Chokshi (all indisputably assisted to flee, for how else could they have?) and are valiant sons and daughters who have invested their lifetimes in fighting for the rights of the Adivasis, the poor, the working classes, what is the Court saying to the people of India when their calls for justice is delayed?

 

We now live through a grave period of crises, when serious erosion of human rights and planetary scale environmental degradation have conflated with economic distress of the billions, to produce a situation that needs us all to be more humane than ever before. We need to care about Rohingyas, as we should about Syrian refugees, and Africans who trudge across the Sahara in search of a better life.  This is a world fraught with multiple crises, and the Government of the day will not want you and I to know how grave the situation is. 


This is when students and teachers, bank officials and industrial workers, farmers and fishworkers, scientists and bureaucrats, just about everybody needs to question what one is being told, through the mass media, by Governments, even the United Nations.  


We live in a world where fake news, such as that generated by a man called Trump, is in itself presented as reliable news.  When Narendra Modi, our dear Prime Minister, speaks to children and says to little girl not to worry, as it is not climate that has changed if someone has a fever! 

 

The ability to reason and debate is under attack. We need to be alert. All of us. Not only for our sakes, but also for those more vulnerable. So they do not suffer worse.  That is the humaneness demanded of us now.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Prime Minister’s Speech People of India wish they could hear at 8 pm on 19th March 2020

(For representation purpose only)

My dear brothers and sisters,

The global pandemic of COVID-19, a viral flu, has cost thousands of lives and made thousands more sick. It has brought the world to a grinding halt. 

As humanity faces its gravest challenge in recent decades, it is a time for the world to reflect on what we must do right, from now on. While India joins the community of nations to tackle the pandemic, this requires us to take effective steps within our country to contain the disease, so we can save lives and ensure a secure future for all. 

I am aware of the massive impact this viral outbreak has on the lives and livelihoods of crores of people.  On behalf of the nation, I extend our gratitude to every street vendor and vegetable seller, and small traders, who provide us fresh food every day.  I profusely thank every doctor and nurse involved in securing our health. Every Safai Karmachari deserves our deepest gratitude for keeping our villages, towns and cities clean and healthy. 

I thank on behalf of all of us every bus, train and taxi driver, and those who keep our public transport systems functional, so we can travel in safety. I am deeply grateful to every soldier who, unmindful of the risks, are defending our security in these testing times. And in the same way think of every police person working long hours to maintain law and order, respectful of our human rights. Every person working in public and private sectors, every student and elder, is in my thoughts, as we brace up to overcome this pandemic.

I have spoken with each and every Chief Minister and Lt. Governor, and assured them that Government of India will back fully, and tirelessly, their efforts to tackle this epidemic.  As a nation that thrives on federated governance, we must value our deeply democratic traditions and work together to overcome this challenge.  States must lead the way and the Centre will back them to the hilt.  At the same time, Local Governments are the frontline warriors in this campaign against this epidemic, and we must take the opportunity to strengthen them and ensure they are functioning optimally to keep our villages and cities healthy and productive.

Tonight, I come before you to announce certain steps we need to take as a nation, so we can tackle this epidemic on a war footing and ensure we come out of this crisis stronger. I am directing these actions with due consultation with the Union Council of Ministers and the consent of all Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors.

1.     The Union Health Ministry will constantly develop guidelines to tackle the epidemic in collaboration with World Health Organisation and Indian Council for Medical Research.  These guidelines will be reached to each and every Panchayat and Ward across the country, so that ground level workers are empowered with the most up-to-date knowledge of how to tackle the epidemic and guide the public at large effectively.  
2.     All State Governments and Union Territories will ensure all public hospitals (primary, secondary and tertiary) are fully functional and treat everyone who comes seeking treatment and care.  Specialised public hospitals will also prepare plans to assist general care hospitals in meeting this challenge. No person will be turned back for want of access to a health facility.
3.     All Private hospitals with a bed strength of over 20 will be required to set aside 30% of their beds to attend to COVID infected persons with immediate effect, at prices regulated by the Union Health Ministry. If essential, State Health Departments through their district level functionaries can increase demand of the proportion of beds from private health providers on a need basis. On the basis of a fortnightly review, this demand may be revoked.
4.     There will be dynamic communication between the Union Health Ministry, State Departments of Health and the ground level health units (private and public) to report on new cases, how it is being dealt with, and to ensure there are no information gaps.  This quality of communication is critical to ensure infections are contained and those in need of help will be attended to with urgency.  To ensure there are no communication failures, internet access to all health units across the country are declared free henceforth.  Public and private internet operators who provide internet services will be compensated by the Dept. of Telecom.
5.     Every District/Metropolitan Planning Committee (constituted per Articles 243ZD/E of the Indian Constitution) shall within a period of a week develop a district level action plan to tackle COVID outbreak, keeping in mind the steps proposed would help develop strategies to secure public health in future.  These plans will be forwarded to the nodal Departments and the State Finance Commissions, so the cost of supporting a country-wide action to secure health of all can be assessed. If necessary, I am willing to request an Emergency meeting of the Parliament to approve a Special Health Budget Package to tackle the epidemic, and to ensure the investment will ensure Health for All becomes a reality.
6.     It has been widely acknowledged that movement of people is a major cause of the transmission of the disease. In order that we can minimize travel within districts and across states, for the next three weeks, all forms of public transport (road, rail and air) will be limited to essential travel as per guidelines issues by Union Ministry of Transport. Domestic and international air travel will be restricted for the next three weeks only to highly essential travel, with airline and shipping operators given the responsibility of establishing due necessity as per guidelines issued by Union Ministry of Civil Aviation.  
7.     As and when essential, District Commissioners may decide if a district, or a part of the district, should be placed under lockdown to block spread of infections, and with appropriate reasoning.
8.     All public institutions and public sector enterprises, voluntary sector and corporate organization with a staff strength of over 50, will be on notice to assist public health and welfare measures in tackling this epidemic effectively. 
9.     The Union Finance Ministry will work with Reserve Bank of India and all banks and financial institutions to recover Non Performing Assets within a period of three months, so the money recovered is available to States and Local Governments to build our public health systems.  I have requested the Union Finance Minister to list out the top 50 offenders and ensure they are immediately tackled to recover bad debts, so the maximum benefit of this financial recovery is made available for public welfare.
10.  I have requested Union Human Resources Development Ministry to work with State Education Department to develop appropriate communications to each and every student of this country, explaining to them the need to postpone exams, and how the country will safeguard their futures.  As a part of this measure, all student loan payments are suspended for the next three months, and without any additional interest. 
11.  All leave of the Central and State Government employees will be cancelled for the next two weeks, and this date may be extended if the situation so demands.  They will be required to assist governmental efforts on demand.  Each department will also develop a policy for their work so that they can work safely, if possible from home, on staggered hours, and as the situation warrants.
12.  All families below poverty line, and those who work with the small and medium enterprises, small businesses, small and marginal farmers, fisher communities and adivasis, will be assisted with a special economic package so that they do not suffer during this period of slowdown of our economy.  This will include extending special pay without work for a period of 30 days.
13.  I have also requested the Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and their central and state environmental regulatory instrumentalities, to suspend all environmental clearance according activities for a period of a month from today. During this period, all clearances accorded over the past five years for developmental projects will reviewed to ensure they are not adversely affecting our forests and ecologically sensitive areas, keeping in mind the fact that such epidemics could be a direct result of subordinating environment and health to economic imperatives. I have advised them, as I have advised all Union Ministers, to ensure that, henceforth, their activities will meet the standards set in Article 39 of the Constitution of India.
14.  I also would like to share with you that I will be meeting with the Daadis and others who are at Shaheen Bagh, to request them to defer their protests, and to also assure them that the Government of India is most willing to listen to their concerns. In this regard, I have requested the Union Home Minister to join me in this visit, so we can work out an harmonious solution. I would like to assure the people of India, that the Government of India is theirs, and if they decide our actions are not within the bounds of Constitutionality, we must listen and correct ourselves. 
15.  Accordingly, I have requested the Union Home Minister to keep on hold activities relating to NRC and NPR until we can come to terms with its implications, and have requested the matter be comprehensively enquired into by a Joint Parliamentary Committee and a report tabled in Parliament during the Monsoon session. I have also requested Chief Ministers to meet with any group or community who feel they are marginalized or believe they are losing their fundamental rights, so they can be assured the Government of India has only one intention – to take us all forward together.  When we join the community of nations to tackle a global pandemic, we must first all be together and look out for each other, celebrating our diversities. 

Brothers and sisters, I acknowledge that these measures should have been in place much earlier. We did not need this epidemic to remind ourselves of our responsibility to each other, and to future generations.  However, we have now woken up as a nation and we shall work together and step forward in unity, with amity and to safeguard our individual health and collective progress. 

Jai Hind.

Prime Minister of India

The text and video of the actual speech given by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.


 Here's the full text of PM Modi's address on fighting coronavirus:
My dear fellow citizens, the whole world is currently passing through a period of very serious crisis. Normally, when a natural crisis strikes, it is limited to a few countries or states. However, this time the calamity is such that it has it has put all of mankind in crisis. World Wars 1 and 2 did not impact as many countries, as have been affected by corona today.
Over the last two months, we are continuously observing and hearing of grave corona virus related news. In these two months, the 130 crore citizens of India have ably dealt with the global corona pandemic and have exercised due caution.
However, in the past few days, it is appearing as if we have averted the crisis, and everything is okay. Complacency in respect of a global pandemic like corona is not appropriate. Therefore, it is essential that each and every Indian remains alert and cautious.


Friends, whenever I asked you for something, you have never let me down. Our efforts succeed, only on the strength of your blessings.
Today, I am here to ask you, all my fellow citizens, for something. I want your coming few weeks from you, your time in the near future.
Friends, till now, science has not been able to find a definite solution to save us from the corona pandemic, neither has a vaccine been developed. In such a situation, it is very natural to get worried.
Study of the countries most affected by corona virus has revealed another aspect. In these countries, the spread of the disease has witnessed almost an explosion after the initial few days. The number of people infected by corona has grown at a rapid pace. Government of India is constantly keeping a close watch on this situation, and this track record of the spread of corona.
Although there are a few countries which have controlled the situation by taking swift decisions and isolating its people as much as possible.
This burgeoning crisis of corona, is not an ordinary occurrence for a nation like India with a population of 130 crore, striving for development.
Therefore, as we witness the wide-spread impact of the corona pandemic even in major, developed countries today, it is wrong to assume that India will not be impacted by it.
Hence, it is imperative to keep two key factors in mind in order to combat this global pandemic - Determination and Patience. Today, all 130 crore fellow citizens of Indians will have to further strengthen our resolve to overcome this global crisis, fulfilling all our duties as citizens, and abiding by the directions given by the Central and State governments. Today, we must all resolve to not get infected ourselves, and prevent others as well from getting infected.
Friends, during such a pandemic, only one mantra can take us through - 'Hum Swasth, toh Jag Swasth', that is the world will be healthy, if we stay healthy. In a situation like this, where there is no known cure for the disease, it is imperative that we stay healthy. Patience is an essential virtue to avoid this disease, and keep oneself healthy. And how does one practice patience? By staying away from crowds and gatherings, avoiding leaving your homes. This is called 'Social Distancing' nowadays, and is critical in these times of the global corona pandemic.
Our determination and patience will play a crucial role in containing the impact of this global pandemic. It is wrong if you believe that you are okay and nothing can happen to you, and you can continue roaming around in markets and streets as usual and remain unaffected. By doing this, you will not only be unjust to yourself but also to your family.
Keeping this is mind, I appeal to you all that for the next few weeks, step-out of your homes only when absolutely necessary. As far as possible, try and do your work, whether related to business or job, from home.
While it is essential that those who are in government services, healthcare services, people's representatives, media personnel remain active. Everybody else must however, isolate themselves from the rest of society.


I also appeal that the elderly, senior citizens and those above 65 years of age in our families, not leave homes for the next few weeks. Today's generation may not be very familiar with this, but in the olden times, blackout was observed at night during wartime. This would at times go on for prolonged periods. Several times, there would also be blackout drills.
Friends, today, I request my fellow citizens for support on one more issue, that of people's curfew. People's curfew means a curfew imposed for the people, by the people, on the people themselves.
This Sunday, that is on 22nd March, all citizen must abide by this people's curfew from 7 AM until 9 PM. During this curfew, we shall neither leave our homes, nor get onto the streets or roam about our localities. Only those associated with emergency and essential services will leave their homes.
Friends, 22nd March will be a symbol of our effort, of our self-restraint, and our resolve to fulfil our duty in service of the nation. The success of a people's curfew on 22nd March, and the experience gained from it, will also prepare us for our upcoming challenges.
I urge all state governments to take leadership in ensuring compliance of this people's curfew.
I also request the youth of our nation, organizations like NCC, NSS, civil society, as well as other organizations of all types to spread awareness about this people's curfew over the next 2 days.
I would appeal to every individual to if possible, call at least 10 people on the phone every day, explaining to them how to protect themselves from the virus as well as the idea of people's curfew.
This people's curfew will in a way be a litmus test for us, for our nation. This is also the time to see and test how prepared India is for fighting off a corona like global pandemic.
Friends, in the midst of all these efforts of the people's curfew on 22nd March, I would also like to seek your support on one more matter on that day. For the past 2 months, lakhs of our people have been working day and night in our Hospitals and Airports.
From doctors to nurses, hospital staff, sanitation workers, airlines employees, government staff, police personnel, media people, people associated with train-bus-auto rickshaw services, and home delivery agents; all have been selflessly serving others, without caring about themselves.
In the current circumstances, these services cannot be considered to be ordinary. Today, these people run the risk of getting infected themselves. Yet, they continue to fulfil their duties, serving others. As defenders of the nation, they stand firmly between us and the corona pandemic. The nation is grateful to them all.


I wish that on Sunday, 22nd March, we express our gratitude to all such people. On Sunday at exactly 5 pm, we all stand at the doors, balconies, windows of our homes, and give them all a 5-minute standing ovation. We clap our hands, beat our plates, ring our bells to boost their morale, salute their service.

To inform people about this, I request local authorities across the country to ring a siren at 5 pm on 22nd March.
We must with full sincerity, express our feelings towards all such fellow citizens who have lived by our value-system of 'Seva Parmo Dharma', that is Service being the highest Duty.
Friends, in such times of crisis, we also need to be aware that the burden on our essential services, our hospitals, is continuously increasing.
I thus, urge you to as much as possible, avoid going to the hospital for routine check-ups. When necessary, you could get the required guidance over phone from your known local doctor, family doctor, or some relative who is a doctor. In case you have a non-essential, elective surgery scheduled, I would urge you to postpone it by a month.
Friends, this global pandemic is also going to have a wide-ranging impact on the economy. Keeping in mind the economic challenges arising from the corona virus, the government has decided to set up a Covid-19 Economic Response Task Force under the leadership of the Finance Minister.
This Task Force will take decisions in the near future, based on regular interactions and feedback from all stakeholders, and analysis of all situations and dimensions. This Task Force will also ensure that all steps taken to reduce the economic difficulties are effectively implemented.
It is clear that this pandemic is deeply hurting the economic interests and well-being of our nation's middle class, lower-middle class, and poor segments.

In such a time of crisis, I request the business world and high income segments of society to as much as possible, look after the economic interests of all the people who provide them services. In the coming few days it is possible these people may not be able to come to office or your homes. In such a case, do treat them with empathy and humanity and not deduct their salaries. Always keep in mind that they too need to run their homes, protect their families from illness.
I would like to reassure all Indians that all steps necessary are being taken to ensure there is no shortage of essential items like milk, groceries and medicines. I thus urge all my fellow citizens to make purchases as normal, and not hoard essential items in Panic Buying.
Friends, over the past 2 months, 130 crore Indians, each and every citizen, has taken on this national crisis as one's own and done whatever possible for society and the nation. I have full faith that you will in a similar manner, continue to carry out your responsibilities and duties in the time to come.
Yes, I acknowledge that many difficulties arise in such times, and there is an environment of apprehensions and rumours. Many a times, our expectations as citizens is also not fulfilled. However, this crisis is so grave, that all fellow citizens must face these challenges with firm resolve and determination, amidst all these difficulties.
Friends, we need to put in all our capacity and capability in protecting ourselves from the corona virus. Whether it be the Central government, State governments, local authorities, panchayats, people's representatives or civil societies; everyone is contributing in their own way in the fight against this global pandemic. You too, must give your full contribution!
It is critical that in this environment of a global pandemic, humanity emerges victorious, India emerges victorious!
The festival of Navratri is coming up in a few days. This is a festival of worshipping 'Shakti'. That India moves ahead with full Shakti, full Strength and Energy, is my heartfelt wish to one and all.

Many, many thanks!
-->

Monday, January 6, 2020

An extraordinary appeal to the Chief Justice of India from an ordinary Citizen




Considering the grave danger there is to our democracy, the latest indicator of which is the brazen, brutal and cowardly attacks on Faculty & Students of India's premier academic institution - Jawaharlal Nehru University, I have written this Open Letter to the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India.

In this letter I have urged him to take up Suo Moto, today, Monday, 6th of January 2020, this grave attack on the Freedom of Expression of JNU community. I have also urged him to summon the Delhi Police Commissioner to Court to explain how there was such colossal intelligence failure, first, given how lethally armed the goons were, and how the police and security personnel of JNU allowed them to walk into campus in broad daylight, and in the hundreds.

On entering the campus, these armed thugs went on to grievously hurt scores of students and faculty who were participating in a Peace march.  Scores have been injured, and some of them are in critical care. Delhi Police was standing by and watching this mayhem, and not intervening on the specious claim they did not have permission to enter the campus.  That despite scores of calls being made from students and faculty to intervene and protect them from the goons.

It is well documented that the goons were then allowed to leave the campus, after several hours in fact, and without any arrest. Lights were turned off around JNU to offer them the cover of darkness!  Even as they left, these goons heckled several senior political leaders, faculty, students and also journalists, brazenly, while shouting slogans such as 'goli maro sa____ ko' (shoot dead - and then expletive).  All of this is on record and has been widely telecast.  The police did nothing at all to these goons.

This grave situation is normally to be brought to the attention of the Union Home Minister, demanding he intervene and stop the mayhem. However, Mr. Amit Shah has systemically been encouraging such violence, both in his speeches and also by his lack of action, as is evident in how he has allowed violence to escalate in Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University, and across swathes of Uttar Pradesh and in other parts of the country.

In this situation, as an ordinary citizen deeply troubled by the state of affairs, I have no recourse but to address this letter to the Chief Justice of India.  I sincerely hope Justice Mr. Bobde will be as troubled as I am by this horrendous state of affairs, and will employ the enormous power vested in him to ensure there is some semblance of Rule of Law in the Capital of India.




Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde
Chief Justice of India

                                                                                                            5th January 2020

Your Honour,

I write to you with trepidation, very deeply disturbed, over violent attacks that have taken place (and probably still are taking place, as I write this appeal) against Students and Faculty of  Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) from the evening of Sunday, 5th January 2020. These attacks reportedly have been caused by armed lumpen goons who entered the campus in large numbers, without being stopped by police and security personnel, and when faculty and students were taking out a peace march.  

In my most humble opinion, the attack on JNU was impending ever since you chose to say to students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMU) who came running to you for protection following brazen attacks on them by Delhi Police for protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 (CAA),  that: “First, we want to be assured that there would be peace, and if you want to take to street, then in that scenario, do not come to us”.[1]  

As has been argued in their Open Letter to you by three students of Gujarat National Law University[2], this statement by you in open court amounted to making justice ‘conditional’. Besides, it imposed on the wider public deterministic behavioural constraints, inimical to the Right of Expression. It further implied that students were violent, when, as has been proven by multiple reports from across India, the contrary has been the case.  

In any case, that statement by you tore to bits the faith we need to have in the Supreme Court: that we can fearlessly and without hesitation approach you when our Fundamental Rights are trampled upon, and that without being required to suppress any of our Rights.  You will agree, your Honour, that to peacefully protest is an intrinsic part of our Fundamental Right of Expression. Else, our very Right to Life is as good as dead.

As events that have unfolded subsequently reveal, the JMU students who were lending their voice to fears of millions across India, and with clear, cogent and categorical reasoning, were made victim of brutal attacks by Delhi Police, directly under the control of the Union Home Minister, quite possibly to send a message to all the rest of us all over the country to behave in a particular way, a way that is suitable to the dispensation in power. Failing which we would face the consequences suffered by JMU students.  The people of India, instead, have stepped out in unprecedentedly large numbers to exercise their democratic rights to express, pariticulaly against the CAA, and also condemning police brutalities. Each of us who dissent, every one of us who shout slogans of freedom and justice, are taking important steps to protect the liberal democracy of India.  
At this time it would most certainly help if you would assist the people of India to exercise their Fundamental Rights without fear or favour.  The Judiciary’s words have serious bearing on our Fundamental Rights. The Constitutional responsibility of the Judiciary to uphold Constitutional values, to set right any errors that it may have been party to, and with due dispatch, is extremely necessary now, as it will help restore much needed public trust in this institution critical to our democracy.

I write candidly and openly about these developments because we all have been witness to the most brutal abuse of police power unleashed on peaceful dissenters and protestors.  There has been organised and target intimidation and violence against particular communities, especially Muslims, including by going into their homes causing unspeakable horrors to women and children, to wreck their property, and to spread fear amongst them.  

A Chief Minister, several Indian Police Service officers, and even the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister, are on record endorsing such violence with their silences; sometimes they actively encouraged it through specific and public messages, all of which are widely and well documented. The Prime Minister has actively aided the climate of fear that has been unleashed when he said they can be “identified by their clothes”.  

While certain sections of the media have systematically reported this violence, those sections which have been supportive of the ruling dispensation who initially chose not to report, have now been reporting this violence, as it has become impossible for them to ignore it any more.  So egregious has been the violence unleashed, which as has been widely reported, has been organised with the police causing mayhem, and collaborating with lumpen elements, all with the intent of clamping down on dissent.  

The Supreme Court of India has stepped up to defend the Fundamental Rights of the Peoples of India multiple times over the decades. But it has chosen to be silent over the current violent attacks, which are unprecedented. It frightens us that the Supreme Court which has not hesitated to address suo moto multiple public causes, including more recently issues relating to Delhi’s terribly bad air, has now decidedly not spared time to attend to this extensive and terrifying abuse of police power and violence.  I believe lumpen elements wreaking havoc on faculty and students of JNU, are empowered by your silences. I seek your pardon in advance for sharing this deep fear, as I believe the evidence we now have before us is indicative of the impunity with which rogues and goons are destroying our sacred and secular spaces of learning.  I share with you below links to videos tweeted by terrified students from JNU, and from some journalists who were present at the campus.  

We implicitly rely on you to safeguard our Constitutionally mandated Fundamental Rights.  We believe it is a core demand of the basic structure of the Constitution that our voices, howsoever displeasing it may sound to those in power, will not be suppressed by the Executive, and if resorted to, Judiciary will be there to restore balance necessary.  That is the quality of democracy Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. B R Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, Dr. S. Radhakrishna, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu, and just about every great leader who secured us our Freedoms, intended should be the praxis of governance in this great land.

Considering this grave situation in JNU, I urge you and pray to you to take up Suo Moto on Monday, 6th January 2020, the matter of violent attacks on JNU students,.  

I urge you and pray to you to summon the Delhi Police Commissioner to explain how there was such colossal intelligence failure about the premeditated violence, and how the force allowed lumpen elements, equipped with deadly weapons, to enter JNU and attack faculty and students. 

I urge you and pray to you to summon the Vice Chancellor of JNU to explain how he allowed this situation to prevail at all, and why neither he nor the Registrar did anything within their vast powers to stop the mayhem.

I urge you and pray to you to demand an explanation from the Delhi Police why they chose not to enter JNU to protect faculty and students from the dangerously armed goons.

I urge you and pray to you to set up a Commission of Enquiry to deliver a report with due dispatch, so those guilty are punished.  

These are extremely difficult times for us ordinary citizens who have no special protections except to rely on your benevolence and your appropriate action. 

Thus this letter petition.

Yours respectfully,


Leo F. Saldanha
   

Links to videos of attacks on JNU:














[1] “If you want to take to streets, then don't come to us: CJI Bobde to students”, The New Indian Express, 16th December 2019, accessible at: https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2019/dec/16/if-you-want-to-take-to-streets-then-dont-come-to-us-cji-bobde-to-students-2076926.html
[2] An Open Letter to the Chief Justice of India, The Leaflet, 2nd January 2020, accessible at: https://theleaflet.in/an-open-letter-to-the-chief-justice-of-india/