Skip to main content

Delhi anti-war show equates Hindutva "war mongering" with Pak jehadi onslaught, questions military actions

By Our Representative
In an interesting development against the backdrop of increasing military and diplomatic tensions between India and Pakistan, over 40 civil rights organizations and individuals held what they called “a citizens’ joint action against was mongering” on November 9 afternoon.
Expressing “deep concern” about what they considered was “the toxic climate of war-mongering that has dawned on India and Pakistan after the Uri attack”, the programme sought broad people’s support to “pause and think about the consequences for India and South Asia, of such militarism, war and hate-mongering.”
Following the “joint action”, a joint statement adopted at the meeting, and issued by National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), which organized the programme, said “The first casualty has been freedom of expression within India with hate and war mongering posing a grave threat to the rule of law.”
“Forces of intolerance and bullying are trying to rebrand themselves as ‘patriots'. Unfortunately, many important media firms have voluntarily surrendered their duty and their right to ask questions about military actions or diplomatic decisions”, the statement complained.
It added, “It is a duty of Pakistan and India to pursue peace with all seriousness, to protect the lives of civilians and soldiers alike. People at the border know the cost of war and peace is a priority for them.”
Alleging that “in India, the war-mongering rhetoric is being harnessed quite openly for Hindutva politics as much as jihadi forces use the same in Pakistan”, the statement says, “The Indian Defence Minister had no shame in declaring that the surgical strikes were inspired by the RSS.”
“In such a climate, on both sides of the border, citizens of India and Pakistan are feeling the need to defend and assert the value of peace. Peace is patriotic. Peace is the only way forward for lasting political solutions to all issues”, the statement insists.
It adds, “War affects the women and poorest sections of society, the most. All over the world, it has taken courage and conviction for citizens to defend peace and oppose wars and jingoism”, even as condemning the “increasing defence budgets at the cost of social schemes and citizens' entitlements”.
Among the participants were artists, intellectuals, activists and professionals, who pledged to participate in a social media campaign on Facebook, WhatsaApp, Twitter, Instagram, the statement said, already, starting with November 2, video messages against war from various activists, new anti-war posters and memes using #WARछोड़_ना_यार and #NoToWar. Anti war songs were circulated.”
Following this, from November 2 to 9 an anti-war week was celebrated, during which anti-war films were screened at various organizations, urban working class communities, schools and institutions.
Prominent persons who spoke included Achin Vanaik, Admiral Ramdas, Anuradha Bhasin, Aparna, Apoorvanand, Gurmeher Kaur, Jagmati Sangwan, John Dayal, Kavita Krishnan, Lalita Ramdas, Medha Patkar, Prabir Purkayastha , Roma, Seema Mustafa, Shamsul Islam and Shehla Rashid Shora.
The participating organizations included Centre for Trade Unions, Delhi Solidarity Group, Delhi Young Artist Forum, Democratic Youth Federation of India, Federation of Catholic Associations of the Archdiocese of Delhi, Hazards Centre, Indian People’s Theatre Association, Jan Natya Manch, Khudai Khidmatgar, National Alliance of People’s Movements, People Union for Democratic Rights, Students Federation of India, and a son.

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.