Skip to main content

Ultraleft takeover? Modi ministers Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad were in PUCL, recalls top rights body

By Our Representative
Taking strong exception to a recent statement by Union minister Arun Jaitley, where he accuses the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and People's Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) of working for the "ultra-left" agenda, in a strongly-worded statement, PUCL has said, "It is incredible that a lawyer of his stature would not consult records and verify facts before launching an attack on a reputed organisation with which he had been associated from its second birth in 1980."
Jaitley, in a recent Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/notes/arun-jaitley/who-is-threatening-human-rights/805931829595367/ titled ‘Who is threatening Human Rights,’ said, among other things, that PUCL, "formed by constitutional liberals led by Jai Prakash Narayan", was "seized" by the ultraleft, which infiltrated "organisations like the PUCL and PUDR" in 1980s, adding, as a result, "The liberals got disillusioned with the Maoist takeover of the civil liberties movement", something that a few gullible could not "understand".
Accusing Jaitley of justifying the use of "unrestrained force even against a suspected terrorist who is not fighting but is just hiding", PUCL says, "Anticipating opposition from the rights organisations against human rights violations" by the Modi government, Jaitley has preferred to attack "human rights organisations to erode their credibility and mislead the people", adding, he "knowingly" distorts facts about PUCL "with which he had been associated for several years before he chose to pursue his political career."
Originally the People's Union for Civil Liberties and Democratic Rights (PUCL&DR), says PUCL, the PUCL&DR "was deliberately kept free from political ideologies so that people belonging to various political parties may come together on one platform for the defence of civil liberties and human rights."
Recalling that how it fought against the Emergency (1975-77), PUCL says, its 1980 conference "was attended by eminent persons from all walks of life and by the members of most political parties including the Congress." But, as "a section of the PUCL&DR was not willing to include members of RSS and did not join the conference", out of PUCL&DR were born "two organisations: the PUCL and the PUDR. PUCL adopted its Constitution and elected VM Tarkunde as President and Arun Shourie as General Secretary."
Pointing out that Jaitley was "very closely associated with the formation of the PUCL", the statement says, "The PUCL constitution adopted at the 1980 conference mandated that the PUCL should bring together all who were committed to the defence and promotion of civil liberties in India, regardless of their political ideology."
"Thus", it says, "The so-called ultra-left were not barred from joining PUCL in their personal capacity if they signed the pledge that they 'subscribed to the aims and objects of the organisation and agreed to abide by its constitution’."
"There were two conditions for a person joining PUCL", says PUCL. These were: "They must subscribe to its aims and objects and must abide by its constitution." It adds, "The aims and objects of the PUCL confine themselves to the issues of civil liberties and democratic rights and strictly exclude political issues or political ideologies. Thus, the question of the PUCL promoting the interest of the left or ultra-left or any other political party does not arise."
PUCL underlines, "All the liberals and the members of the political parties including Arun Jaitley, who joined the PUCL were fully aware of the constitution they had framed and adopted and were fully conscious that no person was an untouchable or an outcast for PUCL, if the person subscribed to its aims and objects and pledged to abide by its Constitution."
The statement continues, "PUCL members, including the Naxals, also did not discriminate against members on the basis of their ideology. For example, Ravi Shankar Prasad, an ABVP member, was elected as a Secretary, Bihar PUCL, in 1981 and held that post till 1988. He was elected as General Secretary in 1988. He resigned from the post only after he joined BJP, as members of political parties are not eligible to hold an office in PUCL."
It adds, Prasad "eventually left the organisation later because he felt that the PUCL had not acted impartially when it did not send a Fact-Finding Team to Ayodhya following the police firing on Kar Sevaks in 1990 in which a large number were killed. While he remained in the PUCL, he enjoyed the members' support on the basis of his performance."
PUCL says, "Jaitley has not referred to a single meeting of PUCL where the question of the takeover by the Maoists was raised by the 'liberals' who allegedly left. In fact, there could be no question of a takeover by the Maoists in the early 80s as Jaitley alleges, because the CPI (Maoist) was formed only in 2004 with the merger of the People's War Group, the Maoist Communist Centre and a few others."
Signed by Prof Prabhakar Sinha, former president, PUCL, and released by its national president Ravi Kiran Jain and national general secretary Dr V Suresh, the statement says, "PUCL continues to disapprove of violence as a means of resolving political problems and issues, but holds that even those who resort to violence must be dealt with according to the law of the land."
It regrets, "Rulers mislead the people into believing that the human rights organisations which stand for the protection of human rights of the alleged Maoists or terrorists are supporters of their ideologies or causes."
The statement tells Jaitley, before saying that "gullible liberals" alone remained with PUCL, he must remember who all were part of the organization "till the end" -- VM Tarkunde, Rajindar Sachar, Rajani Kothari, Prof Amrik Singh, HM Seervai, Asghar Ali Engineer, Nayantara Sehgal, Hemlata Prabhu, Aloo Dastoor, MA Rane, Baba Adhav , RB Mehrotra (Justice), Devbrat N Pathak, Yashpal Chhibbar, among other.

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.