The Fascist State: Setting the agenda to counter’

(November 27, 2008) More than two hundred intellectuals, academics, human rights and social activists representing all sections of society, attended a seminar, jointly organized by some thirty leading NGOs and civil society groups, 23 November on “The Fascist State: Setting the agenda to counter”. Welcoming the gathering, Mr. Hiren Gandhi the Convener of the meeting, and a Member of ‘INSAF’, emphasized the need to counter the fascist forces that have systematically been destroying the secular fabric of our country. In his keynote address, by the doyen of the Human Rights Movement of Gujarat and Senior Counsel of the Gujarat High Court, Mr. Girish Patel highlighted the genesis of what he termed “Majoritarian Communalism” which is not merely about religious fundamentalism but which is a political concept which is bent on exercising its authority over the minorities and in fact alienating them. Dr. Saroop Dhruv (eminent Gujarati Poet and Feminist), Mr. Dwarikanath Rath (Movement for Secular Democracy) and Mr. Chitranjan Singh (Peoples Union for Civil Liberties, U.P.), presented facts and realities from Orissa and how the Government of Orissa, the police and other officials connived with fascist groups like the Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the RSS, in systematically targeting and brutalizing the Christian of the State, very specially in Kandhamal. Fr. Cedric Prakash presented the perspective from Karnataka and how the police beat up innocent Christians in Church premises and the blatant involvement of the Government with groups like the Bajrang Dal. Short video presentations on the Orissa and Karnataka realities were also shown to the gathering. The participants passed a resolution, expressing their deep anguish at the increasing fascist mobilization in society, rising State terror and a circumvention of the rule of law by the law enforcing agencies, and the large scale violation of civil and political liberties.