Skip to main content

Arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj, others a fascist onslaught: Gujarat activists

By A Representative
Gujarat's social activists have condemned the arrest of Sudha Bharadwaj and other human rights activists, lawyers and writers, saying, BJP rulers across India should "stop conspiring against those fighting against suppression of tribals, Dalits and minorities." Those arrested include Chhattisgarh's senior human Rights activist, trade unionist and High Court advocate Sudha Bharadwaj, Gautam Navlakha, Father Stan Swamy, Arun Perreira, Varanan Gonzalves, Dalit rights activist Varvara Rao, and others.
"Bharadwaj has been fighting for the rights of the workers after she joined the organization founded by martyr Shankar Guha Niyogi in Chhattisgarh 30 years ago. She appears as advocate in the Chhattisgarh High Court and other courts to fight for the rights of the deprived sections", the statement, issued by Mujahid Nafees of Insaf on behalf of tens of Gujarat activists and scholars, said.
"The National Human Rights Commission recently sought her assistance in an investigation into cases of fake encounter and illegal detention of adivasis in Chhattisgarh, and she came forward help the Central body with her professional integrity and courage. Is this is her fault?", the statement asks, underlining, the way the government has acted shows "threats and challenges created by the forces of totalitarianism, fascism and globalization."
Those who have signed the statement include Meena Jadhav, Dhanji Parmar, Jayanti Mankadia, Rafi Malik, Neeta Mahadev, Mudita Vidrohi, Shahenaz Ansari, Jameela Khan, Masoom Ali Shaikh, Snehal Shah, Abdul Wahab Ansari, Suleman Khanji, Jayanti Panchal, Waqar Kaji, Pragya Joshi, Preeti Ojha, Swati Joshi, Neha Shah, Nimi Chauhan, Pallavi Rajpal, Azeem Gharach, Shakeel Sheikh, Sushila Prajapati, Danish Qureshi, Arvind Khuman, and Dhawal Chopra.

Comments

TRENDING

Gujarat Sachivalaya blacklists, denies entry to woman social activist: Will NHRC probe?

By Kantilal Parmar*  I have approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeking an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into a serious incident that took place at the Gujarat Secretariat in Gandhinagar on August 18, 2026. The matter concerns social activist and women’s rights leader Chandrikaben Solanki, who, according to the information available to me, was denied an entry pass to the Secretariat when she went there to meet Gujarat’s Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Dr. Manishaben Vakil, to raise an issue concerning social justice.

Ample evidence of child labour in South Gujarat's cash rich sugarcane belt: Study

By Rajiv Shah A recent German government-funded study , undertaken jointly by the NGO Prayas Centre for Labour Research and Action and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, which mainly deals examines the working conditions of migrant workers in the cash-rich sugarcane zone of South Gujarat, has gone a long way to suggest large scale prevalence of child labour during the harvesting season.

Right to walk, right to livelihood: Clearing footpaths 'can't mean' clearing out the urban poor

By Aseem Mishra*    India’s cities are locked in a quiet but intensifying struggle over one of their most contested public spaces: the footpath. For pedestrians, a footpath is basic infrastructure—a strip of ground that should allow people to move safely, independently and with dignity. For millions of informal workers, the same stretch of pavement is a workplace, a source of daily income and often the difference between survival and destitution.