Rahul meets members of civil society; assures that Cong will stand up for people's rights

Gandhi assured the members of civil society that the Congress Party would be in the vanguard of defending and enhancing all the Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution. 

 

He said that he shared the concerns raised by the delegation on democracy and dissent being curbed.

 

The meeting with Gandhi was the first in a series of meetings with all political parties not in alliance with the BJP- led NDA and seeks to explore commonalities of how civil society across India can encourage a broad anti-authoritarian, pro-poor, pro-environment platform.

 

The meeting addressed the urgent need to put the brakes on the rise of Hindutva authoritarianism as exemplified by the BJP-RSS combine.  

 

“We are concerned with the exponential rise of intolerance in India by communal and sectarian forces of any kind. We are also witness to a well thought out program by the right-wing Hindutva forces and private corporate entities to create an intolerant state by chipping away the space for dissent and exercise of democratic freedoms by the citizen.Simultaneously, we see the definite erosion of the few social welfare measures in favour of the poor and marginalized in our society, and the measures to safeguard the environment on which we all depend. We see a diminution of space for dissent whether in the voluntary sector, the trade union movement, the minorities, Dalit, adivasi and other forest-dwelling communities,” said Ashish Kothari, from Kalpvriksh Environmental Collective, Pune.

 

In the past one year, the NDA government has targeted the country’s robust civil society organisations. With an authoritarian government in place and a shrinking space for dissent, the members of civil organisations have called upon all political parties that are not a part of the BJP-led NDA to support them reclaim the space they deserve in a democracy.   

 

From draconian changes in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and its authoritative misuse, to attack on Human rights defender and environmental activists, the Modi led NDA regime is involved in stifling democratic dissent and subversion of constitutional rights, the delegation expressed.