Efforts are on to hand over the multi-crore slaughter trade to private companies and upper caste industrialists, according to civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad here on Saturday.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the Progressive Organisation of Women here, she said the interference of the BJP government in the eating habits of people was uncalled for and it was widening the divide between communities. “There cannot be directives as what to eat and what not to eat. This mono culture is bad. Both beef exports and leather industry were facing testing times owing to the Centre’s ban and subsequent punishment on slaughtering of cows.”
Going hammer and tongs at the Modi government, she said that 70 per cent of the mechanised slaughter trade was owned by upper caste businessmen who incidentally did not eat beef.
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She said Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was afraid of Dalit upsurge. “They (RSS leaders) know the power of Dalits. South India is yet to get into the stranglehold of RSS and it is for the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, especially the women, to resist its establishment.”
Fascist trend
Ms. Setalvad said fascism was not just a rule by a brute majority but also transfer of public resources to private capitalists. “That is the reason the Modi government recently replaced all the independent judges of the National Green Tribal (NGT) with bureaucrats as NGT was taking on private parties on several environmental issues. Now anyone can pollute rivers and get away [with it].”
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She said there was also a systematic plan to hand over the country’s forest resources to the rich capitalists. “There is a fight going on in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Gujarat and Maharashtra in the name of protecting land and forests.”
She said that it was unfortunate the contributions of leaders such as Birsa Munda were not occupying space in the social studies books. Birsa’s contribution to development and welfare of adivasis was praiseworthy.
She said that two-thirds of the 542 parliamentarians were crorepatis and 86 per cent of them were owners of mining units, television channels and telecom companies. “The stranglehold on democracy is complete. And that is why we have electronic media channels which are not national but commercial. They don’t talk about the concerns of people but create false battles in the mind of people creating Pakistan everyday in the drawing rooms.”
Several women leaders of the POW along with more than 2,000 volunteers took part in the public meeting.
Earlier, women volunteers, unmindful of the scorching sun, took out a rally from the Tummalapalli Kalakshetram to the Gymkhana Grounds waving flags and carrying placards amid rhythmic beating of the drums.