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Behind the façade of the inauguration of the new parliament building, we all witnessed the most brutal form of crack-down on the peacefully protesting wrestlers in broad day-light at the heart of the national capital. Behind the curtain of the “dance of democracy” we all saw, the “Champions of India” are being dragged through the tarred road of Delhi and thrown into the police vans. We strongly condemn this act.Since last few months the top-tier wrestlers of India have been staging a sit-in demonstration demanding justice in the case of alleged sexual abuse by the president of Wrestling Federation of India, Mr. Brij Bhushan Singh, also a leader of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. During their planned march to the new parliament building, they were intercepted by Delhi police and manhandled to detention.
In the last few years, we have seen these same faces of the wrestlers on the victory ramps singing the national anthem proudly. The persons like Ms. Shakshi Mallik, Ms. Vineesh Phogat, Mr. Bajrang Punia et al have raised the Indian flag multiple times in the international arena. But, now the government is paying them back with the brutality in order to hide a crime of someone who is in the alleyways of power.
When this police brutality was taking place, only a few kilometers away, the prime minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi was engaged in a façade of celebration on the occasion of the inauguration of the new parliament building with saffron clad religious leaders. The parliament is a symbol of pluralist democracy in India. By engaging in the showcase of majoritarian communal power when the protesters were being manhandled on the roads, the PM is actively engaging in saboteur acts against democracy itself.
If the government really wants to secure the well being of the citizens of India, they should empathetically look into the accusation of sexual harassment against Mr. Brij Bhushan Singh and book him under relevant charges to let the justice prevail. Instead of that, the government is steamrolling the voices of the survivors to protect the perpetrator, which is severely detrimental to the democratic environment of the country. We, MASUM, strongly condemn this heinous act of the government and urge them to take necessary actions against the perpetrator and put an immediate end to the political impunity he is enjoying.
-- Kirity Roy, Secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM)
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