Skip to main content

Attack on Gandhian institute in Jaipur: Rajasthan chief minister's role comes under scanner

Rajasthan CM
By Our Representative
In a statement, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), the powerful rights-based NGOs' network, has strongly condemned what it has called “highhanded and illegal action of the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA), operating directly under chief minister Vasundhara Raje, against the Rajasthan Samagra Seva Sangh, a well-known Gandhian institute. “The JDA has no authority to seal and vacate the premises of the institution and throw out its residents. It must restore the possession to the Sangh and wait for the pending decision in the High Court, rather than take this drastic and illegal step of sealing the premises”, the statement said.
According to the statement, it is “shocking” that there was “arbitrary exercise of power” on the June 7, 2014, when the JDA sealed the premises of the Sangh, which had been in existence on its own land since 1959. “They threw out all the residents and their belongings, canceled the allotment and took over their land. The insensitivity of the JDA team led by its officials Pawan Arora and Subhash Mahariya was such that in the scorching heat of 47 degrees, one resident who had recently delivered a baby, was asked to leave the room by evening, locking the kitchen and adjoining rooms that she could not even be fed”, the statement said.
“The 80 year old Secretary of the Sangh, Rameshwar Vidyarthi, living with his wife in one room of the premises were thrown out with their belongings and are now on the road. Similarly, the President of the Sangh, Sawai Singh, who had been living with his family, as part of the norms of the Sangh since the last thirty years, also found himself with his family and their belongings on their road”, it said, adding, “The letter of cancellation of allotment and seizure of property dated June 6, signed by Shikhar Agarwal, Secretary, JDA, was handed over by the officials when they came at 1pm on the June 7. It was an order of eviction and they had come to evict.”
“The intention of the JDA was clear, to grab the property of the Sangh, convert it into real estate and grant it to land sharks. The concerned piece of land is in the prime area, next door to the Airport and Jawahar Circle on JLN Marg, that it is priceless commercially. The Raje government in the earlier term was well known for its support to the real estate business interests but had spared civil society”, the NAPM alleged.
“This action clearly, sends a message to all, that this government is merciless and it will get rid of all impediments to its design Rajasthan has never seen such straight assault on Gandhian institutions and ideology”, the statement said, adding, “The argument used by the JDA is that the Sangh violated the conditions of the allotment of the land in 2001. They had to get a map passed by the JDA in a year's time of its allotment, they had to take approval of construction activity and the space could not be used for any commercial and residential purpose.”
Actually, the NAPM said, “The Sangh land was in the erstwhile Chainpura village, which was bought in 1959 from a farmer and the registry is in the name of the Sangh. In 1984 when all the land in that area was acquired for the International Airport, the Sangh land too was acquired. However, it was never taken possession of. According to the new and old law, when land is not taken possession of in five years of the acquisition, then the land goes back to the original holder”.
Meanwhile, several concerned citizens and members of civil society, have condemn the Rajasthan government act, and requested the JDA and the Chief Minister “to restore the land and the premises back to the Sangh”. “In the eventuality of this not happening, we will resist it tooth and nail and struggle against this high handedness of the Government and expose the Government for its assault on Gandhian institutions and values”, a plea signed by 50 prominent citizens said. Those who have signed include Prem Krishan Sharma of the People's Union for Civil Liberties, Rajasthan; right to information activist Aruna Roy, Radha Kant Saxena, Nikhil Dey, Kavita Srivastava, Shankar Singh, Renuka Pamecha, Mamta Jaitly, others.

Comments

TRENDING

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat*  The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia.  The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

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.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative   The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani*  A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid*  We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra*  Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das  Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Ban Ki-moon, others ask Bangladesh PM to 'protect' Yunus

Counterview Desk  A campaign has been launched to support Bangladesh-based economist, micro-finance guru and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, seeking signatures from citizens across the globe in order to “protect” his work, life and safety.

Electricity sharing opens up new window for India’s eastern neighbourhood engagement

By Sufian Asif* Today, challenges like climate change, pandemics, energy reliance, economic crisis, and many more are concerning us. No nation can overcome these obstacles without the assistance and collaboration of other nations. Most importantly, many of these problems have international repercussions. South Asia is facing much more difficulty when compared to other regions. In South Asia, we have some regional organizations, but they are ineffective.