As part of the If We Do Not Rise campaign, several women’s groups, human rights organisations and LGBTQIA communities on Tuesday released a charter of demands, seeking accountability and transparency from the government.
The campaign was launched on September 5 to mark the third death anniversary of journalist Gauri Lankesh. Stating that the campaign received an “overwhelming response”, activists said that in the current environment, voices of dissent were being suppressed by the government and being labelled “anti-national”.
Speaking of widespread destitution, starvation and suffering of the working class due to the current economy of the country amid the ongoing pandemic, activist Anjali Bharadwaj said: “The government has left no stone unturned to use this situation of lockdown or near-lockdown to curb all forms of dissent.”
“The government has no intention to be answerable or accountable to the people of this country. We have a situation where there is absolutely no scope for people to question. We are seeing an attack on all those who raise questions and on all instruments that empower people in the country to question,” Ms. Bharadwaj said.
The charter includes demands for institutional autonomy and integrity, right to life and safety, right to education, food security and right to political participation, among others.
Hunger deaths
Annie Raja, of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), raised demand for food security. “Reports have started coming in on hunger deaths. Be it women domestic workers or daily wage labourers or agricultural workers, they have all lost their jobs during this period. While both the Central and State governments announced many measures, they all had several criteria that meant that lakhs of families landed in difficult situations,” said Ms. Raja.
Demanding universalisation of the public distribution system, Ms. Raja also urged the government to set up a mechanism to collect gender-based data to mitigate related issues.
Activist Kavita Krishnan said, “A democracy is marked by presence of constraints on power and protection of the weak. We are seeing that this has been overturned these days. The police in India, instead of relying on investigation, rely on torture. We are seeking accountability from the ones in power.”
“Jails are also full of women and transgenders who deserve to be released during this pandemic. We have demanded that as well. Attacks on democracy must be overturned,” Ms. Krishnan said.
