Boost to Arvind Kejriwal? Top civil rights group NAPM, led by Medha Parkar, announces support to AAP

By A Representative
In a major boost to the Aam Admi Party (AAP), the National Alliance for People's Movements (NAPM), which is the apex body of tens of civil rights organizations of India, has decided to extend support to AAP. In a statement issued in Mumbai, NAPM, which is led by top social activist Medha Patkar of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NAPM), said, “A number of attempts by small and large parties and fora to create an alternative to the mainstream politics, creating space for those at margins by the power holders, have played a role in the past. Once again and with a difference, the concern of the masses has led to the formation of AAP, reflecting a need for changing the political cultures and system.”
While still not merging into AAP, about which NAPM would take a final call on January 16-17, the powerful civil rights group said, “The mainstream parties in power have just not been insensitive to people's demand but have also been insulting the people's power, role and violating rights. Corruption – as misuse and misappropriation of monetary and natural resources – is hitting not only the micro level livelihoods and downtrodden but the macro economy of the nation. Politicians are engaged in loot and don't care for the large majority of common people. They resort to caste-religion and other bases to gain vote bank and distribute notes, freebies, liquor to regain and retain political power.”
Among the major issues NAPM found in common with AAP are:
· Decentralisation of power and governance to grant primacy to people and the lowest smallest unit of democracy – gram and bastis.
· Rooting out corruption from bottom to top though not only legal but social political processes.
· Due place and scope for alternative economic and technological solutions rooted in the land of India and Bharat.
· Rising above caste, religion, gender based divisions and discriminations while retaining positive discriminatory measures such as reservations.
· Resolutions of conflicts between the state and people, may those be farmers, dalits, adivasis or urban poor; through due democratic processes and on the basis of the constitutional values and principles.
· Solutions to inequality, injustice, corruption and water, energy crises.
· Working for an alternative political culture for the political class.
Praising “AAP leader Arvind Kejariwal and the team of youngsters, with Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan, Prof Anand Kumar, Prof Ajit Jha and other experienced intellectual activists” for taking lead and making dent into the electoral politics”, NAPM said, “Their achievements through innovative strategies, principles of transparency and accountability in realm of governance have raised hope for everyone today.” It added, “We consider the attempt of AAP as a movement and appreciate the endeavour to fill in the political vacuum.”
NAPM, interestingly, did not name Kumar Vishwas, who has declared himself as AAP candidate from Amethi against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. Observers also say, AAP, which is seeking to make a dent in Gujarat, may be wary of NAPM, whose leader Medha Patkar till very recently was considered -- unofficially of course -- as "anti-Gujarat" for her opposition to the Narmada dam. NAPM, it is said, would want AAP to clarify what is the latter's stand on the Narmada dam, which Gujarat leaders across political spectrum, have considered a panacea for the state's water woes.
NAPM pointed out that the decision to support AAP was taken through “dialogue to deliberations within movements in states taking note of diverse opinions with a common ground.” Among those who were part of the “dialogue” were Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan (Maharashtra), Jan Sangharsh Vahini (Delhi), lok Shakti Abhiyan (Orissa), Kosi Baadh Prabhavit Sangharsh Samiti and Jan Jaagran Shakti Sangathan (Bihar), and Unorganised Sector Workers Federation (South India).
At the same time, it stressed, “We are yet to discuss some aspects – ideological to strategical – with AAP leadership and ensure a mechanism to establish a relation of the party with the people's movements. Many of us are part of National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), a non-party political platform, which will continue to retain its independent identity and provide input to programmes and policies and also lead struggles on people's issues as done always.” Even then, it saw in AAP “a movement that will bring in complementarity and hence we confide in its leadership to evolve such process and spaces within for long term struggle to clean politics and bring in an alternative politics and political culture”.

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Warning bells for India: Tribal exploitation by powerful corporate interests may turn into international issue

By Ashok Shrimali* Warning bells are ringing for India. Even as news drops in from Odisha that Adivasi villages, one after another, are rejecting the top UK-based MNC Vedanta's plea for mining, a recent move by two senior scholars Felix Padel and Samarendra Das suggests the way tribals are being exploited in India by powerful international and national business interests may become an international issue. In fact, one has only to count days when things may be taken up at the United Nations level, with India being pushed to the corner. Padel, it may be recalled, is a major British authority on indigenous peoples across the world, with several scholarly books to his credit.

Gujarat Bitcoin scam worth Rs 5,000 crore "linked" with BJP leaders: Need for Supreme Court monitored probe

By Shaktisinh Gohil* BJP hit a jackpot in the form of demonetisation, which it used as an alibi to convert black money into white in Gujarat. Even as party scrambles for answers of how the Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB), whose director is BJP president Amit Shah, received old currency worth Rs 745.58 crore in just five days, and how Rs 3118.51 crore was deposited in 11 district cooperative banks linked with Gujarat BJP leaders, a new mega Bitcoin scam, worth more than Rs 5,000 crore has been unraveled.

Counterview

Search This Blog