The Union government has declared war on different sections of its own people with the Parliament being used to dismantle the Constitution brick-by-brick, activist Teesta Setalvad has said.
She was speaking after inaugurating the second State conference of the Network of Artistic Theatre Activists Kerala (NATAK), an organisation for theatre activists, here on Friday.
“I see this as a matter of shame that the laws are being manipulated and passed without debate. We need to listen to at least one voice of dissent, because the day we do not, we allow only the majority to rule. We are getting there, but hopefully we will not topple over completely. The labour laws, which were hard-earned through years of workers’ struggles, are being whittled away. The government does not want to talk to unions, because it does not want to reinstate these Constitutional rights. There is a war on Adivasis and forest-dwellers through the whittling down of the Forest Rights Act, 2006,” she said.
Ms. Setalvad said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) are being implemented by executive diktats of the Home Affairs Ministry even as a matter related to the Constitutional validity of these laws is pending in the Supreme Court. “Everyone must be alive to the dangers of these laws as it will affect every village and city in India, with bureaucracy being given the power to decide whether you are a citizen or not based on religion or where you come from,” she said.
Reminiscing about her time in jail, she said that after the first six days of shock, her human rights organisation, Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), revived itself to carry on through the pain and anger.
“I told them this is the only reply we can give. We have to make spaces and develop our subtext of resistance. Inside, I felt isolation and depression. But, from July 27 onwards, thanks to the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) and other organisations and friends, I started getting letters from people who wrote to me from every corner of the country, including Kerala. When I came out, I had 2,700 such letters. I felt loved and wanted. Let us do this for every political prisoner in the country,” she said.
Ms. Setalvad said when there were attempts to incarcerate her, even some friendly organisations preferred not to invite her for events out of fear.
“One of their tactics is to use fear, intimidation and violence to fragment us. Because, when you attack one section, that section gets isolated. Then you attack another and they too get isolated and ostracised. All these apparently discrete attacks stem from the ideology that does not want India to remain a Constitutional republic. But, there is something different and special here in Kerala, which is possibly due to its demographic diversity or passionate commitment to political dialogue, although I am told there is some level of patriarchy and rigidity. I still feel if there is a place to start this resistance, it is Kerala,” she said.
