ex-Judge expects Binayak’s release given the public support
Demonstration and public meeting in Pune to demand Binayak’s release
On 3rd April 09, the ‘Committee for Release of Dr. Binayak Sen, Pune’ organized a public programme in support of the ongoing Satyagraha movement at Raipur. Since three persons from Pune are joining the Satyagraha at Raipur on the coming Monday (6 April), it was decided to express public solidarity with the Satyagrahis going from Pune and to strongly reiterate the demand for immediate release of Dr. Binayak Sen.
The programme started with a mass demonstration in which over a hundred activists from various organisations participated. The demonstration started from the central venue of Mandai and marched through the major commercial area of Laxmi road. Along with standard slogans like ‘Dr. Binayak Sen ko riha karo’ (Release Dr. Binayak Sen) and ‘Lokshahi hakkancha vijay aso’ (Long live democratic rights) there were some new slogans like ‘Chhattisgarh sarkar bimar hai, Binayak Sen doctor hai’ (the Chhattisgarh government is sick, Binayak Sen is the doctor). Numerous banners, placards, songs and the sound of drums added colour to the lively demonstration.
The demonstration culminated at the Nivara ashram where an evening public meeting was convened, attended by about two hundred citizens of Pune. A brief introduction was given by Abhay Shukla, describing the Satyagraha actions at Raipur on 16th, 23rd and 30th March, as well as the recent solidarity actions in the US and UK to demand Binayak Sen’s release. An appeal was made for everyone to send inland letters available printed with standard content to the Home Minister (over 200 such inlands are being sent by people from Pune), for donations to support the Satyagraha, and for more persons from Pune to join further Satyagraha batches. The need to politically target the BJP, the ruling party in Chhattisgarh, keeping in mind the current election scenario was also mentioned.
Following this the main speaker, Bhai Vaidya, senior Socialist leader and former Home Minister of Maharashtra, spoke about Dr. Binayak Sen’s continued imprisonment. He mentioned the paradox that BJP was opposing the arrest of Varun Gandhi, who was giving the most venomous and hatred filled speeches; on the other hand the same BJP in power in Chhattisgarh continued to keep Binayak in jail for 22 months despite lack of even a shred of evidence. He emphasized that firstly, Binayak was not a Naxalite, and secondly even if someone believed in Naxalite ideology, that alone could not be ground for imprisonment. He condemned the misuse of the label ‘Naxalite’ by the Police, by means of which they branded and persecuted genuine social activists fighting democratically for justice. Talking of violence, he questioned whether deaths of lakhs of children by malnutrition and thousands of farmers committing suicide was not systemic ‘violence’ of the worst kind, which we need to speak out against. He stated his opinion that if Binayak continues to be kept in prison by the Chhattisgarh government, then President’s rule should be imposed since that state government was failing to uphold the basic rights enshrined in the Constitution.
Following this, the chairperson of the meeting, Justice B.G. Kolse Patil, former judge, Mumbai High court, briefly expressed his views. He felt confident that given the scale of protests, Binayak would be released soon. He lamented that especially since the 1990s, governments had abandoned their responsibility to ensure a welfare state. He noted that current governments were functioning increasingly under the dictates of capitalists, linking this with Binayak’s imprisonment. Both Bhai Vaidya and Justice Kolse Patil assured the audience that they would be willing to actively participate in any further protests to demand Dr. Binayak Sen’s release.
Finally, Neeraj Jain expressed thanks to all those who had contributed to making the programme successful and reiterated that we may need to have an even more powerful protest around 14 May, marking two years of Binayak’s imprisonment, if he was not released by then. The ‘Satyagrahis’ from Pune – Milind Chavan, Suhas Kolhekar and Abhay Shukla – were felicitated along with Bhai Vaidya and Justice Kolse Patil. The programme concluded with the screening of two short films – Anand Patwardhan’s clip of the 16th March Satyagraha with brief shots of Binayak, and a documentary by the ‘International Association of People’s Lawyers’ outlining facts and myths about Salwa Judum.
As a form of expressing solidarity, dozens of people signed on the ‘protest banner’ demanding Binayak’s release which will be carried by Satyagrahis to Raipur, and people contributed donations amounting to a total of over Rs. 15,000 to support the Satyagraha. The ‘Committee for Release of Dr. Binayak Sen’ would be meeting again soon to discuss the further strategy for action around 14th May.
For more information contact abhayseema@vsnl.com
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