Skip to main content

Gujarat govt plan to 'banish' Gandhian activist anti-democratic, unconstitutional

Lakhan Musafir addressing tribals
By Rohit Prajapati*
The current Central and Gujarat governments, and their bureaucracy, have been and are still unable to answer and address the concerns raised, with facts, figures, and constitutional provisions, regarding the terror of tourism in the name of the Statue of Unity and tourism projects surrounding it.
Their inability to address such long-pending, on-going piling up of the issues regarding right to life, livelihood and survival of the tribal population of the area, are reflected in the form of Section 144, house arrests, detentions, intimidations, undeclared curfews, and beyond.
To top all this, the unconstitutional Statue of Unity Area Development and Tourism Governance Act, 2019, is being implemented with full force.
In spite of all the stated actions by the local people and concerned members of civil society, the Central and state governments of the day, and their bureaucracy, are unable to address the long-pending livelihood, constitutional issues and have now decided to banish activist Lakhan Musafir for two years from Narmada, Bharuch, Vadodara, Chhota Udepur and Tapi districts.
On March 2, 2020, KD Bhagat, sub-divisional magistrate, Rajpipla, Gujarat, issued a notice under section 56(A), Gujarat Police Act 1951, through the police sub-inspector, Kevadia, on March 8, 2020, when Lakhan Musafir was standing near the road at Kevadia, waiting for public transport.
The notice mentioned some documents as annexures, but he was not served with copies of those documents along with the notice. Alarmingly, the notice has false accusations and untruthful statements.
A land rights activist, Lakhan Musafir works for empowerment of tribals, even as promoting organic farming and bio-gas plants
Banishment is an action of the state, which clearly indicates the defenceless and repressive state of the governments of the day that do not have any answers to the fundamental Constitutional questions raised by the tribal population of the area.
It is a clear indication that the governments of the day are not able to defend their unconstitutional actions before the people of India and its world tourists in any legitimate way. It exposes the complete inability to defend its on-going illegal and boldly unconstitutional actions. The chosen action by the governments reflects their frustration and desperation to prevent people from raising their issues in legitimate ways permitted under the law of the land.
Lakhan Musafir (extreme left) with his supporters
It is an open secret that the governments have either deliberately chosen to not accept people’s legitimate concerns or have failed to do so. Instead of lamenting the fact that no local people are willing to file a complaint against Lakhan Musafir or blaming him for his actions, the governments should introspect and realise that local people don’t consider him as anti-social or a menace to society, as government machinery so conveniently believes and asserts.
Lakhan Musafir is an activist who has dedicated his life for the empowerment of the downtrodden people by helping them with organic farming, bio-gas plants, education, and particularly for the rights of the tribal families affected by Garudeshwar Weir and tourism projects in the name of the Statue of Unity.
Practicing Gandhian philosophy in day-to-day life and living a very simple life with tribals for the last many years, instead of accepting the unbelievable accusations against Lakhan Musafir, people and media need to engage with collective questioning, sustained resistance, and demand for the application of Constitutional rights and rule of the law in letter and spirit.
It is time to for people to wake up and take concerted and legitimate actions to stop this flimsily built case against a self-less person that Lakhan Musafir is. He a resident of Gujarat and citizen of India.
---
*Activist, researcher and writer. Also see Law 'governing' world's tallest Statue of Unity refers to local tribals as occupiers

Comments

TRENDING

'Draconian' Kerala health law follows WHO diktat: Govt readies to take harsh measures

By Dr Maya Valecha*  The Governor of Kerala has signed the Kerala Public Health Bill, which essentially reverses the people’s campaign in healthcare services in Kerala for decentralisation. The campaign had led to relinquishing of state powers in 1996, resulting in improvement of health parameters in Kerala. Instead, now, enforcement of law through the exercise of power, fines, etc., and the implementation of protocol during the pandemic, are considered of prime importance.

Reject WHO's 'draconian' amendments on pandemic: Citizens to Union Health Minister

By Our Representative  Several concerned Indian citizens have written to the Union Health Minister to reject amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) of the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted during the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA75) in May 2022, apprehending this will make the signatories surrender their autonomy to the “unelected, unaccountable and the whimsical WHO in case of any future ‘pandemics’.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Bihar rural women entrepreneurs witness 50% surge in awareness about renewal energy

By Mignonne Dsouza*  An endline survey conducted under the Bolega Bihar initiative revealed a significant increase in awareness of renewable energy among women, rising from 25% to 76% in Nalanda and Gaya. Renu Kumari, a 34-year-old entrepreneur from Nalanda, Bihar, operates a village eatery that serves as the primary source of income for her family, including her husband and five children. However, a significant portion of her profits was being directed toward covering monthly electricity expenses that usually reach Rs 2,000. 

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.

Work with Rajasthan's camel herders: German scientist wins World Cookbook Award 2023

By Rosamma Thomas*  Gourmand World Cookbook Awards are the only awards for international food culture. This year, German scientist  Ilse Kohler Rollefson , founder of Camel Charisma, the first of India’s camel dairies, in Pali district of Rajasthan, won the award for her work with camel herders in Rajasthan, and for preparing for the UN International Year of Camelids, 2024. 

Why is electricity tariff going up in India? Who is the beneficiary? A random reflection

By Thomas Franco*  Union Ministry of Power has used its power under Section 11 of the Electricity Act, 2003 to force States to import coal which has led to an increase in the cost of electricity production and every consumer is paying a higher tariff. In India, almost everybody from farmers to MSMEs are consumers of electricity.

'Pro-corporate agenda': Odisha crackdown on tribal slum dwellers fighting for land rights

By Our Representative  The civil rights network Campaign Against State Repression (CASR), even as condemning what it calls “brutal repression” on the Adivasi slum dwellers of Salia Sahi in Bhubaneshwar by the Odisha police, has said that the crackdown was against the tribals struggling for land rights in order to “stop the attempts at land-grab by the government.”

Deplorable, influential sections 'still believe' burning coal is essential indefinitely

By Shankar Sharma*  Some of the recent developments in the power sector, as some  recent news items show, should be of massive relevance/ interest to our policy makers in India. Assuming that our authorities are officially mandated/ committed to maintain a holistic approach to the overall welfare of all sections of our society, including the flora, fauna and general environment, these developments/ experiences from different parts of the globe should be clear pointers to the sustainable energy pathways for our people.

Hazrat Aisha’s age was 16, not 6: 'Weak' Hadith responsible for controversy

Sacred chamber where Prophet and Aisha used to live By Dr Mike Ghouse* Muslims must take the responsibility to end the age-old controversy about Hazrat Aisha’s age at the time of her marriage to the Prophet (pbuh) – it was 16, not 6 (minimum was 16, Max 23 per different calculations). The Hadiths published were in good faith, but no one ever checked their authenticity, and they kept passing on from scholar to scholar and book to book.  Thanks to 9/11, Muslims have started questioning and correcting the Hadiths, Seerah, and mistranslations of the Quran. Now, the Ulema have to issue an opinion, also known as Fatwa, to end it and remove those Hadith entries. Mustafa Akyol, a scholar of Islam, implores Muslims to stop deifying “the received traditions” and critically study their religious past, shedding rigid legalism and close-mindedness. Someone else used the phrase “copycat Muslims” to identify scholars who copied what was given to them and passed it on without researching or questioni