Empathetically look into accusation of sexual harassment against BJP leader

Statement on police brutality and detention of protesting wrestlers in Delhi

***

Behind the façade of the inauguration of the new parliament building, we all witnessed the most brutal form of crack-down on the peacefully protesting wrestlers in broad day-light at the heart of the national capital. Behind the curtain of the “dance of democracy” we all saw, the “Champions of India” are being dragged through the tarred road of Delhi and thrown into the police vans. We strongly condemn this act.
Since last few months the top-tier wrestlers of India have been staging a sit-in demonstration demanding justice in the case of alleged sexual abuse by the president of Wrestling Federation of India, Mr. Brij Bhushan Singh, also a leader of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. During their planned march to the new parliament building, they were intercepted by Delhi police and manhandled to detention.
In the last few years, we have seen these same faces of the wrestlers on the victory ramps singing the national anthem proudly. The persons like Ms. Shakshi Mallik, Ms. Vineesh Phogat, Mr. Bajrang Punia et al have raised the Indian flag multiple times in the international arena. But, now the government is paying them back with the brutality in order to hide a crime of someone who is in the alleyways of power.
When this police brutality was taking place, only a few kilometers away, the prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi was engaged in a façade of celebration on the occasion of the inauguration of the new parliament building with saffron clad religious leaders. The parliament is a symbol of pluralist democracy in India. By engaging in the showcase of majoritarian communal power when the protesters were being manhandled on the roads, the PM is actively engaging in saboteur acts against democracy itself.
If the government really wants to secure the well being of the citizens of India, they should empathetically look into the accusation of sexual harassment against Mr. Brij Bhushan Singh and book him under relevant charges to let the justice prevail. Instead of that, the government is steamrolling the voices of the survivors to protect the perpetrator, which is severely detrimental to the democratic environment of the country. We, MASUM, strongly condemn this heinous act of the government and urge them to take necessary actions against the perpetrator and put an immediate end to the political impunity he is enjoying.
-- Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)

Comments

'Direct support to genocide': IISc's India-Israel business meet to track defence, cybersecurity cooperation

By Our Representative An online petition endorsed by hundreds of scholars, activists and professionals across the world has asked Prof Govindan Rangarajan, director, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to stop the India Israel Business Summit proposed to be held on 23rd September, "and not allow the use of the IISc as a platform to legitimise genocide and colonialism."

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad* On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Born two decades ago, how the banned Maoist party failed to withstand evolving socio-political realities

By Harsh Thakor* On September 21, exactly two decades ago, the now banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) (CPI-Maoist) was established. It was born following the merger brought of two factions—the Maoist Communist Centre of India, primarily based in Bihar and West Bengal, and the CPI (ML) People’s War—after more than 30 years of intense armed struggle and internal conflicts. Since its formation on September 21, 2004, sources in the the CPI (Maoist) claim, as many as 5,249 comrades, including 22 members of its Central Committee, among whom a significant number are women, were killed mainly during encounter with Indian security forces. The journey of the CPI (Maoist) is rooted in the famous 1967 Naxalbari uprising led by Charu Mazumdar, which was praised by the Communist Party of China (CPC) as the "Spring Thunder over India." The uprising followed a revolt within the CPI (M) by those who adhered to the Maoist ideology, emphasizing an armed agrarian revolution and area

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah* The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual.

Sharp rise in militarization of Bastar as in Kashmir? 54,543 hectares set aside for Army maneuver: FACAM

By Our Representative In the wake of a recent press conference by Home Minister Amit Shah, the civil rights organization Forum Against Corporatization and Militarization (FACAM) has raised alarms over a significant increase in militarization efforts in Chhattisgarh. The state government has tasked the Narayanpur district administration with acquiring and reallocating 54,543 hectares of land within the Abhujmad forests for the establishment of a maneuver range meant for the Indian Army.

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad* The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

80% of Indian-American Muslims experience Islamophobic discrimination: Report

By Our Representative A new survey, The Detrimental Effects of Hindu Nationalism on Indian American Muslims , conducted by the Washington DC-based diaspora group Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) and Chicago-based ReThink Media, which offera in-depth media, messaging and opinion research, has claimed existence of alarming trends regarding the rise of Hindu nationalism within the Indian diaspora in the United States and its profound impact on Indian American Muslims.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam* Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Search This Blog