Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Sep 19: When the Constitution itself is in danger, pillars of democracy are bound to crumble and these pillars – from Judiciary, to Executive to Media – have in fact begun to crumble and therefore it is high time for the people of the country to stand up to safeguard the Constitution and Idea of India. This could be summed up as the gist of views of eminent citizens who spoke at an event at the Constitution Club of India here on Tuesday.
Om Thanvi
Veteran journalist Om Thanvi said: “We now see how Supreme Court judges are becoming governors soon after retirement…Now media, the fourth pillar, has crumbled. People hoped that at least media would do objective work. Today there is environment of terror as we once saw in Punjab. Now you have to even think twice before making a cartoon. If media fear, it would die.”
Gurbir Singh said: “Besides judiciary and executive, media is also crumbling. Journalism is on cross road today. Everyday, journalists are getting death threats and facing abusive language so much that they had to deactivate their social media accounts. Journalists will have to stand up and keep reporting.”
They were speaking at a program on “Safeguarding the Constitution: Are the Pillars of Democracy Crumbling?”
Other eminent speakers included Seema Mustafa, Prof Manoj Jha, Annie Raja, Gauhar Raza, Hartosh Singh Bal, Brinda Karat, Indira Jaising and Siddhartha Varadarajan.
Brinda Karat
Brinda Karat: “When democratic institutions are crumbling, we need to understand why we need to protect them. We are safeguarding the Constitution from those who never accepted it. BJP and RSS are openly making a mockery of the Constitution. Today, speaking truth has become anti-national and seditious.”
“So the hope now lies in secular mobilization of people and farmers who are challenging RSS and BJP. This is idea of India. Oppressed people are joining to make RSS and BJP mukt Bharat,” she said.
Seema Mustafa
Seema Mustafa: “We as media are very much responsible for this environment. Every journalist has to go back and realise the responsibility that Gauri Lankesh was a part of one pillar of democracy. How many journalists who came to the Press club after Gauri Lankesh murder started to change environment of hatred within their own media houses?”
Siddharth Varadarajan
Siddhartha Varadarajan: “Besides media, the voices of freedom of debate and discussion are being suppressed in universities. Recently, many academic programs were cancelled in academic institutions.”
“Media has now got converted into ‘Godi Media’ and the rest are being pressurized. Even in Parliament, questions cannot be asked or else you would be called seditious or anti-national,” he said.
“So if we don’t find out the solution of this disease, the situation is going to be worse as their ultimate target is to change the constitutional foundation of this country,” he averred.
Manoj Jha
Manoj Jha: “When opposition disappear people disappear. So if there is no political opposition, people will make their own alliance. Democracy has to run fundamentally and collectively.”
Gauhar Raza: “Fascism is always born within democracy. These are those people who are regularly trying to break the society. If we lose the fight, we will lose the freedom struggle too.”
Gauhar Raza
“Today democratic institutions are in danger. If they crumble, this fight will be tougher,” he said.
Prof. Achin Vinayak, Saba Dewan, Irfan Habib, Sayeeda Hameed and Shabnam Hashmi were also present.
The program was organized by Sabka Bharat campaign.
It said: “Today we are in danger of losing our freedom and sense of equality and the belongingness of being one nation. There is hatred, discord and divisiveness, being spread like poison. The constitution that secures and guarantees justice, liberty, equality of all and thereby the brotherhood of all regardless of caste, creed, gender or religion is being put aside with a promise of a new system. The rule of law has been overtaken by mob violence and the powerful have become indestructible. Divisions are being created which will haunt generation to come. The urgency to intervene in defence of the constitutional values has never been more pressing than in the prevailing conditions.”
“Sabka Bharat campaign is an appeal to all the people to stand against these forces that wreck our nation. It will work to bring all democratic forces to come together not for political survival but to safeguard the core fabric of this nation,” it said in a statement.
Sabka Bharat campaign was launched on 1st September at a grassroots level in the districts of UP. From coming October, the campaign will expand to other states beginning Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
