2010-06-04 15:29:31

Gujarat tries to muzzle rights lobby, priests say


(June 4, 2010) Church leaders in western India’s Gujarat state have condemned the arrest of two activists as a move to stifle opposition to human rights violations. The government “is trying to link human rights activists with Maoists” and terrorists “without any evidence,” says Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash, who directs a human rights centre in Ahmedabad, the state’s commercial hub. On Tuesday, a day after the activists’ arrest, the priest made his centre available as a platform for several NGOs to brief the media on government “excesses”. Earlier, police had arrested Srinivas Sattaya Kurapati and his wife Hansa, both working with two different NGOs. The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party headed by Chief Minister Narendra Modi now rules the state. Fr Prakash says that NGOs in Gujarat have countered Modi’s “fascist” approach to the sectarian riots in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. “He is now creating a ghost of Maoism to target human rights groups,” Father Prakash alleged. Another Jesuit, Fr Xavier Manjooran, manager of the social service society noted that the activists were arrested after they questioned state violence against tribal people. A third Jesuit, Fr Joseph Appavoo, also accused Modi of trying to silence dissent so that he could continue his agenda of violence against tribal people and religious minorities.







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