CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran has said that governments are trying to suppress the rights of people under the pretext of fighting extremism.
Inaugurating a convention here on Saturday, against the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to highlight the demand for protection of freedom for propagating ideas, Mr. Rajendran said that though he was not in favour of the political stand of the Maoists, he was of the view that the political and social issues being raised by them should have been solved politically and socially.
What was required now was people’s mobilisation by mainstream political parties to bring to the fore such issues. “I don’t think Maoism is the answer to all issues, nor do I think that the gun can solve those issues,” he said.
He, however, said that Maoists were raising social and political issues.
Observing that rulers had always tried to suppress voices of protest against them, Mr. Rajendran said that the freedoms of the people to protest had been restricted over the years since Independence to serve the interests of the forces of capital.
Restricted freedom
Citizens who were raising their voices against imperialist and corporate interests were finding their freedoms restricted, he noted. He further said that many of the black laws in the country carried the legacy of the colonial rule. Social issues were criminalised in different parts of the country.
“Having faith in an ideology is no crime,” he said referring to the recent observation of a High Court judge.
