Monday, May 9, 2022

lynching of Adwasi by Bajrangdal in Madhia Pardesh on 2nd May

  Here is a ground report 


आदिवासियों की हत्या के बाद मध्य प्रदेश की गरमाई राजनीति


Friday, May 6, 2022

ਅਜੋਕੇ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਸਮਾਜ ਨੂੰ ਦਰਪੇਸ਼ ਵਿਆਪਕ ਖਤਰੇ ਸਨਮੁੱਖ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਧਾਰਿਆ ਮੋਨ ਉਸਦੇ ਬੋਲੇ–ਬਹਿਰੇ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਸਬੂਤ- ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਮਰਿਯਾਦਾ ਗਰੁੱਪ

ਅਜੋਕੇ ਭਾਰਤੀ ਸਮਾਜ ਨੂੰ ਦਰਪੇਸ਼ ਵਿਆਪਕ ਖਤਰੇ ਸਨਮੁੱਖ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਧਾਰਿਆ ਮੋਨ ਉਸਦੇ ਬੋਲੇ–ਬਹਿਰੇ ਹੋਣ ਦਾ ਸਬੂਤ (ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਮਰਿਯਾਦਾ ਗਰੁੱਪ ਦੇ 100 ਤੋਂ ਵੱਧ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਿਵਲ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀਆਂ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਅਪੀਲ) 

 ਪਿਆਰੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਜੀ, 

 ਅਸੀਂ ਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਨਾਲ ਭਰੀ ਤਬਾਹੀ ਦੇ ਇੱਕ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਜਨੂੰਨ ਨੂੰ ਦੇਖ ਰਹੇ ਹਾਂ ਜਿੱਥੇ ਬਲੀ ਦੀ ਵੇਦੀ ਉੱਤੇ ਚਾੜ੍ਹੇ ਜਾਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨ ਅਤੇ ਹੋਰਨਾਂ ਘੱਟ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਬੰਦੇ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹਨ, ਸਗੋਂ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨ ਵੀ ਹੈ। ਬਤੌਰ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਿਵਲ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀ, ਆਮ ਰੂਪ 'ਚ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਅੱਤ ਕੌੜੇ ਬੋਲਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਅਸੀਂ ਆਪਣੇ ਮਨ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਦੇ, ਪਰ ਸਾਡੇ ਸੰਸਥਾਪਕ ਪੁਰਖਿਆਂ ਦੁਆਰਾ ਸਿਰਜੇ ਗਏ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਥੜ੍ਹੇ ਨੂੰ ਜਿਸ ਰਫਤਾਰ ਨਾਲ ਨਿਰੰਤਰ ਰੂਪ 'ਚ ਤਬਾਹ ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਬੋਲਣ,ਆਪਣੇ ਗੁੱਸੇ ਅਤੇ ਦੁੱਖ ਨੂੰ ਪ੍ਰਗਟ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਮਜਬੂਰ ਕਰ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਦਿੱਲੀ (ਜਿੱਥੇ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੇ ਅਧੀਨ ਹੈ) ਅਤੇ ਭਾਜਪਾ ਦੀਆਂ ਸਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਹੇਠਲੇ ਆਸਾਮ, ਗੁਜਰਾਤ, ਹਰਿਆਣਾ, ਕਰਨਾਟਕ, ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼, ਉੱਤਰ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਅਤੇ ਉੱਤਰਾਖੰਡ ਆਦਿ ਰਾਜਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਪਿਛਲੇ ਕੁਝ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਮਹੀਨਿਆਂ ਦੌਰਾਨ ਘੱਟ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਿਆਂ, ਖਾਸ ਕਰਕੇ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨਾਂ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ "ਨਫ਼ਰਤੀ ਹਿੰਸਾ" ਵਿੱਚ ਵਧਾਰੇ ਨੇ "ਇੱਕ ਨਵਾਂ ਖੌਫ਼ਨਾਕ ਰੁਖ ਅਖਤਿਆਰ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੋਇਆ ਹੈ। ਹੁਣ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਇੱਕ ਕੱਟੜ ਹਿੰਦੂਤਵ ਪਛਾਣ ਦੀ ਹੀ ਰਾਜਨੀਤੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ, ਨਾ ਹੀ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਮਹੌਲ ਨੂੰ ਭੱਖਦਾ ਰੱਖਣ ਦੀਆਂ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ਾਂ ਮਾਤਰ ਹਨ, ਜਿਹੜਾ ਸਭ ਕੁਝ ਤਾਂ ਦਹਾਕਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਚੱਲਦਾ ਆ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ। ਪਿਛਲੇ ਕੁੱਝ ਸਾਲਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਨਵੇਂ ਆਮ ਹਾਲਤ ਦਾ ਪ੍ਰਤੀਕ ਬਣ ਗਏ ਸਨ। ਹੁਣ ਜਿਹੜੀ ਚਿੰਤਾ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਸਾਡੇ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨ ਦੇ ਬੁਨਿਆਦੀ ਸਿਧਾਂਤਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਦੇ ਰਾਜ ਦਾ ਬਹੁਗਿਣਤੀ ਦੇ ਹੁਕਮਨਾਮਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਅਧੀਨ ਹੋਣਾ ਹੈ, ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਰਾਜ ਦੀ ਮਿਲੀਭੁਗਤ ਪੂਰੀ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਪ੍ਰਤੱਖ ਹੈ, ਜਿੱਥੇ ਭਾਜਪਾ ਸੱਤਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਹੈ, ਉਹਨਾਂ ਰਾਜਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਮੁਸਲਮਾਨਾਂ ਦੇ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਸੇਧਤ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਅਤੇ ਈਰਖਾ ਰਾਜਕੀ ਢਾਂਚੇ, ਸੰਸਥਾਵਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਕੀ ਅਮਲ ਦੇ ਧੁਰ ਅੰਦਰ ਤੱਕ ਧਸ ਗਈ ਹੈ। ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਦੀ ਵਿਵਸਥਾ ਸਾਂਤੀ ਅਤੇ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਕ ਸਦਭਾਵਨਾ ਬਣਾਈ ਰੱਖਣ ਦਾ ਸੰਦ ਨਾ ਰਹਿਕੇ ਹੁਣ ਉਹ ਘੱਟਗਿਣਤੀਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਸਦੀਵੀ ਰੂਪ 'ਚ ਭੈਅਭੀਤ ਦੀ ਮਨੋਦਸ਼ਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਰੱਖੇ ਜਾਣ ਦਾ ਸੰਦ ਬਣ ਗਈ ਹੈ। ਆਪਣੀ ਆਸਥਾ ਦਾ ਪਾਲਣ ਕਰਨ, ਆਪਣੇ ਰਸਮੋਂ -ਰਿਵਾਜਾਂ, ਪਹਿਰਾਵੇ, ਆਪਣੇ ਫਿਰਕੇ ਦੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨਾਂ ਦੀ ਪਾਲਣਾ ਕਰਨ ਅਤੇ ਮਨਭਾਉਂਦੇ ਖਾਣ-ਪੀਣ ਨੂੰ ਮਾਨਣ ਦੇ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਹੱਕਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਖਤਰਾ ਹੁਣ ਕੇਵਲ ਖੁੱਲ੍ਹੀਆਂ ਛੱਡੀਆਂ ਗਈਆਂ ਹਿੰਸਕ ਨਿਗਰਾਨ ਭੀੜਾਂ ਜਿਹੜੀਆਂ ਕਨੂੰਨੀ ਸਜ਼ਾ ਤੋਂ ਭੈ-ਮੁਕਤ ਹੋ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਉਪਰ ਹਿੰਸਾ ਨੂੰ ਅੰਜਾਮ ਦਿੰਦੀਆਂ ਹਨ, ਤੋਂ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ, ਸਗੋਂ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ ਨੂੰ ਤੋੜ-ਮਰੋੜਕੇ, ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਮਨਮਾਨੇ ਢੰਗ ਨਾਲ ਘੜ੍ਹਕੇ ਪੱਖਪਾਤੀ, ਫਿਰਕੂ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਸ਼ਨ ਵਾਸਤੇ ਸਰਕਾਰੀ ਤਾਕਤਾਂ ਦੀ ਸੁਖਾਲੀ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਢੰਗ ਦੀ ਵਰਤੋਂ ਵੀ ਹੈ। ਇਓਂ ਰਾਜਕੀ ਸ਼ਕਤੀ ਦੀ ਵਰਤੋਂ ਨਾ ਸਿਰਫ ਕਿਸੇ ਭਾਈਚਾਰੇ ਦੇ ਵਿਰੁੱਧ ਸੇਧਤ ਨਿਗਰਾਨ ਹਿੰਸਕ ਭੀੜਾਂ ਦੀ ਸਹੂਲੀਅਤ ਲਈ ਕੀਤੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਹੈ, ਬਲਕਿ ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ ਤੌਰ 'ਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਨ ਨੂੰ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਸਾਧਨ (ਉਦਾਹਰਨ ਲਈ ਧਰਮ ਪਰਿਵਰਤਨ ਵਿਰੋਧੀ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ, ਬੀਫ ਦੀ ਖਪਤ ਨੂੰ ਰੋਕਣ ਵਾਲੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨ, ਨਾਜਾਇਜ਼ ਕਬਜ਼ੇ ਹਟਾਉਣ, ਵਿਦਿਅਕ ਅਦਾਰਿਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਇਕਸਾਰ ਕੋਡ ਦੀ ਤਜਵੀਜ਼) ਉਪਲਬਧ ਕਰਵਾਉਣ, ਭਾਈਚਾਰੇ ਨੂੰ ਭੈ–ਭੀਤ ਕਰਨਾ, ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਰੋਜ਼ੀ-ਰੋਟੀ ਦੇ ਵਸੀਲਿਆਂ ਤੋਂ ਵਿਹੂਣੇ ਕਰਨਾ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਇਹ ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ ਕਰਨਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਉਹ ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਦੌਮ ਦਰਜੇ ਦੇ ਨਾਗਰਿਕ ਕਬੂਲ ਕਰਨ ਵੱਲ ਧੱਕਣਾ ਜਿਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਬਹੁਗਿਣਤੀ ਦੀ ਸਿਆਸਤ, ਬਹੁ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਦੇ ਸਮਾਜਕ ਅਤੇ ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰਕ ਕੋਡਾਂ-ਕਾਇਦਿਆਂ ਦੇ ਮਾਤਹਿਤ ਹੋਣਾ ਹੋਵੇਗਾ। ਸਾਡੇ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦਾ ਇੱਕ ਅਜਿਹਾ ਦੇਸ਼ ਬਣਨ ਦੀ ਸੰਭਾਵਨਾ ਹੁਣ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਕਿਤੇ ਵੱਧ ਡਰਾਉਣੇ ਰੂਪ 'ਚ ਦਰਪੇਸ ਹੈ ਜਿਹੜਾ ਦੇਸ਼ ਯੋਜਨਾਬੱਧ ਢੰਗ ਨਾਲ ਆਪਣੇ ਹੀ ਨਾਗਰਿਕਾਂ(ਘੱਟ ਗਿਣਤੀਆਂ, ਦਲਿਤਾਂ, ਗਰੀਬਾਂ ਅਤੇ ਹਾਸ਼ੀਏ 'ਤੇ ਖੜ੍ਹੇ ਵਰਗਾਂ) ਦੇ ਹਿੱਸਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਦਾ ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨਾ ਬਣਾਉਂਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਜਾਣ ਬੁੱਝ ਕੇ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਦੇ ਬੁਨਿਆਦੀ ਅਧਿਕਾਰਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਵਾਂਝਾ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ, ਹਾਲਾਂਕਿ ਸਾਨੂੰ ਇਹ ਪਤਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕੀ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਜਨੂੰਨ ਦਾ ਮੌਜੂਦਾ ਦੌਰ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਲੀਡਰਸ਼ਿਪ ਨਾਲ ਤਾਲਮੇਲ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਸ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਨਿਰਦੇਸ਼ਿਤ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ, ਪਰ ਇਹ ਤਾਂ ਸਪੱਸ਼ਟ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਰਾਜ ਅਤੇ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਪੱਧਰਾਂ 'ਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਨ ਸ਼ਰਾਰਤੀ ਲੁਟੇਰੇ ਸਮੂਹਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਬਿਨਾਂ ਕਿਸੇ ਡਰ-ਭਓ ਦੇ ਆਪਣੇ ਜੁਰਮਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਅੰਜਾਮ ਦੇਣ ਲਈ ਇੱਕ ਸੁਖਾਵਾਂ ਮਾਹੌਲ ਮੁਹੱਈਆ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ। ਅਜਿਹੀ ਸਹੂਲਤ ਅਤੇ ਸਹਾਇਤਾ ਦੇਣੀ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਅਤੇ ਹੋਰ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਨਿਕ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀਆਂ ਤੱਕ ਸੀਮਤ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ। ਇਓਂ ਪ੍ਰਤੀਤ ਹੁੰਦਾ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਇਸ ਨੂੰ ਰਾਜ ਅਤੇ ਕੇਂਦਰ ਦੇ ਸਿਖਰਲੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਪੱਧਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਦਾਅਪੇਚਕ ਪ੍ਰਵਾਨਗੀ ਹਾਸਲ ਹੈ, ਜੋ ਸਥਾਨਕ ਪੱਧਰ ਦੇ ਜ਼ੁਲਮ ਲਈ ਸਮਰੱਥ ਨੀਤੀਗਤ ਅਤੇ ਸੰਸਥਾਗਤ ਮਾਹੌਲ ਪ੍ਰਦਾਨ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਨ। ਹਾਲਾਂਕਿ ਹੋ ਸਕਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਸਲ ਹਿੰਸਾ ਨੂੰ ਅੰਜਾਮ ਭਾੜੇ ਦੇ ਅਨਸਰ ਦਿੰਦੇ ਹੋਣ, ਪਰ ਇਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਕੋਈ ਸ਼ੱਕ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਾਰਵਾਈਆਂ ਲਈ ਜ਼ਰਖੇਜ਼ ਭੋਂਇੰ ਤਿਆਰ ਕੀਤੀ ਜਾ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ, ਕਿਵੇਂ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਵਿੱਚੋਂ ਹਰ ਇੱਕ ਮਾਸਟਰ ਯੋਜਨਾ ਦੇ ਖਾਕੇ ਦੀ ਪਾਲਣਾ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਇੱਕ ‘ਸਾਂਝੀ ਟੂਲ ਕਿੱਟ' (ਸਾਜਿਸ਼ੀ ਸਕੀਮ ਦੀ ਵਿਉਂਤ)ਨੂੰ ਸਾਂਝਾ ਕਰਦਾ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਉਹਨਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਕਾਰਵਾਈਆਂ ਦਾ ਪੱਖ ਪੂਰਨ ਲਈ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ-ਨਾਲ ਰਾਜ ਦੀ ਪ੍ਰਾਪੇਗੰਡੇ ਮਸ਼ੀਨਰੀ ਵੀ ਉਪਲਬਧ ਹੁੰਦੀ ਹੈ। ਜਿਹੜੀ ਗੱਲ ਹੁਣ ਵਾਪਰ ਰਹੀਆਂ ਘਟਨਾਵਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਦੇ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਭੜਕਾਹਟਾਂ ਨਾਲੋਂ ਵਖਰਿਆਉਂਦੀ ਹੈ, ਉਹ ਸਿਰਫ਼ ਇਹ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਕਿ ਹਿੰਦੂ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਲਈ ਆਧਾਰ ਤਿਆਰ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ ਇੱਕ ਮਾਸਟਰ ਖਾਕਾ ਸਾਹਮਣੇ ਲਿਆਂਦਾ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ, ਪਰ ਇਹ ਕਿ ਅਜਿਹੇ ਘਟਨਾ ਵਿਕਾਸ ਦੇ ਵਾਪਰਨ ਤੋਂ ਰੋਕਣ ਲਈ ਬਣਾਏ ਗਏ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕਅਤੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਢਾਂਚੇ ਨੂੰ ਹੀ ਤੋੜਿਆ –ਮਰੋੜਿਆ ਜਾ ਰਿਹਾ ਹੈ ਤਾਂ ਜੋ ਇਸ ਨੂੰ ਬਹੁਗਿਣਤੀਵਾਦੀ ਜਬਰ ਦਾ ਸੰਦ ਬਣਾਇਆ ਜਾ ਸਕੇ। ਕੋਈ ਹੈਰਾਨੀ ਦੀ ਗੱਲ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਿ ਹੁਣ ਸ਼ਾਬਦਿਕ ਅਤੇ ਲਖਣਾਇਕ ਤੌਰ 'ਤੇ ਸਿਆਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ਾਸਨਿਕ ਸ਼ਕਤੀ ਦੀ ਵਰਤੋਂ ਦਾ ਬੁਲਡੋਜ਼ਰ ਇੱਕ ਚਿੰਨ ਬਣ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ। ‘ਤਹਿ ਸ਼ੁਦਾ ਵਿਧੀ ਤੇ ਵਿਧਾਨ’ਦੇ ਵਿਚਾਰਾਂ ਦੇ ਆਲੇ-ਦੁਆਲੇ ਉਸਾਰੀ ਇਮਾਰਤ ਢਹਿ-ਢੇਰੀ ਹੋ ਗਈ ਹੈ। ਜਿਵੇਂ ਕਿ ਜਹਾਂਗੀਰਪੁਰੀ ਘਟਨਾ ਦਰਸਾਉਂਦੀ ਹੈ, ਐਥੋਂ ਤੱਕ ਕਿ ਦੇਸ਼ ਦੀ ਸਰਵਉੱਚ ਅਦਾਲਤ ਦੇ ਹੁਕਮਾਂ ਦੀ ਵੀ ਕਾਰਜਪਾਲਿਕਾ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਕਿਤੇ ਘੱਟ ਮਾਨਤਾ ਦਿੱਤੀ ਗਈ ਹੈ। ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਜੀ, ਅਸੀਂ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਮਰਿਯਾਦਾ ਗਰੁੱਪ ਦੇ ਮੈਂਬਰ ਉਹ ਸਾਰੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਿਵਲ ਅਧਿਕਾਰੀ ਜਿਹਨਾਂ ਨੇ ਦਹਾਕਿਆਂ ਬੱਧੀ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਕੰਮ ਕੀਤਾ ਹੈ, ਇਹ ਵਿਸ਼ਵਾਸ਼ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਕਿ ਇਹ ਚੁਣੌਤੀ ਜਿਸਦਾ ਅੱਜ ਅਸੀਂ ਸਾਹਮਣਾ ਕਰ ਰਹੇ ਹਾਂ ,ਦੀ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਕੋਈ ਮਿਸਾਲ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਦਾਅ ਉਪਰ ਕੇਵਲ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਮਰਿਯਾਦਾ ਅਤੇ ਅਮਲ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਲੱਗਿਆ ਹੈ – ਸਗੋਂ “ਸਾਡੀ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਮਹਾਨ ਸਭਿਆਚਾਰਕ ਵਿਰਾਸਤ ਅੰਦਰ ਵਿਲੱਖਣ ਸਾਂਝੀਵਾਲਤਾ ਦੀ ਪਰੰਪਰਾਵਾਂ ਦੀਆਂ ਸਮਾਜਕ ਤੰਦਾਂ ਟੁੱਟਣ ਦੇ ਖਤਰੇ ਦਰਪੇਸ਼ ਹਨ। ਜਿਹਨਾਂ ਨੂੰ ਸੰਭਾਲਣ ਲਈ ਸਾਡਾ ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨ ਐਨੀ ਬਰੀਕੀ ਨਾਲ ਰਚਨਾ ਕੀਤੀ ਗਈ ਹੈ। ਇਸ ਵਿਸ਼ਾਲ ਸਮਾਜਕ ਖਤਰੇ ਦੇ ਸਨਮੁੱਖ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਚੁੱਪੀ–ਖਾਮੋਸ਼ੀ ਬੋਲੇ-ਬਹਿਰੇ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲੀ ਹੈ, 'ਸਬਕਾ ਸਾਥ, ਸਬਕਾ ਵਿਕਾਸ, ਸਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ਵਾਸ' ਦੇ ਤੁਹਾਡੇ ਵਾਅਦੇ ਨੂੰ ਚਿਤਾਰਦੇ ਹੋਏ, ਅਸੀਂ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਜ਼ਮੀਰ ਨੂੰ ਅਪੀਲ ਕਰਦੇ ਹਾਂ। ਉਮੀਦ ਹੈ ਕਿ 'ਆਜ਼ਾਦੀ ਕਾ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤ ਮਹੋਤਸਵ' ਦੇ ਇਸ ਸਾਲ ਵਿੱਚ ਪੱਖਪਾਤੀ ਵਿਚਾਰਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਉੱਪਰ ਉੱਠ ਕੇ ਤੁਸੀਂ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਦੀ ਰਾਜਨੀਤੀ ਨੂੰ ਖਤਮ ਕਰਨ ਦਾ ਹੌਕਾ ਦੇਵੋਗੇ ਜਿਸਨੂੰ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਹੇਠਲੀਆਂ ਸਰਕਾਰਾਂ ਅੰਨੀ ਧੁੱਸ ਨਾਲ ਲਾਗੂ ਕਰਨ ’ਚ ਮਸ਼ਰੂਫ਼ ਹਨ। ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਨਫ਼ਰਤ ਨੂੰ ਜਨਮ ਦੇਵੇਗੀ, ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਵਿਚਾਰ ਜਿਸ ਦੀ ਸਾਡੇ ਸੰਸਥਾਪਕ ਵੱਡ ਵਡੇਰਿਆਂ ਨੇ ਕਲਪਨਾ ਕੀਤੀ ਸੀ ਅਤੇ ਪ੍ਰਫੁੱਲਤ ਹੋਣ ਲਈ ਭਾਈਚਾਰਕ ਸਾਂਝੀਵਾਲਤਾ ਅਤੇ ਫਿਰਕੂ ਸਦਭਾਵਨਾ ਦੇ ਮਾਹੌਲ ਦੀ ਲੋੜ ਲਈ ਸੰਘਰਸ਼ ਕੀਤਾ ਸੀ, ਦੇ ਜੀਵਤ ਰਹਿਣ ਜੋਗੇ ਵਾਤਾਵਰਣ ਨੂੰ ਬੇਹੱਦ ਪਲੀਤ ਕਰ ਦੇਵੇਗੀ ।
 ਸਤਯਮੇਵ ਜਯਤੇ। 

ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਦਿਲੋ,
 ਸੰਵਿਧਾਨਕ ਮਰਿਯਾਦਾ ਗਰੁੱਪ 

(108 ਦਸਤਖਤਕਾਰਾਂ ਦੀ ਸੂਚੀ) 1. ਅਨੀਤਾ ਅਗਨੀਹੋਤਰੀ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਸਮਾਜਿਕ ਇਨਸਾਫ਼ ਸਸ਼ਕਤੀਕਰਨ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 2. ਸਲਾਹੁਦੀਨ ਅਹਿਮਦ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਰਾਜਸਥਾਨ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 3. ਐਸ.ਪੀ. ਐਂਬਰੋਜ਼ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਜਹਾਜ਼ਰਾਨੀ ਅਤੇ ਆਵਾਜਾਈ ਮੰਤਰਾਲੇ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 4. ਆਨੰਦ ਅਰਨੀ ਆਰ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕੈਬਨਿਟ ਸਕੱਤਰੇਤ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 5. ਅਰੁਣਾ ਬਾਗਚੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਖਾਨ(Mines) ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 6. ਸੰਦੀਪ ਬਾਗਚੀ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 7. ਜੀ. ਬਾਲਾਚੰਦਰਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਪੱਛਮੀ ਬੰਗਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 8. ਵੱਪਲਾ ਬਾਲਚੰਦਰਨ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕੈਬਨਿਟ ਸਕੱਤਰੇਤ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 9. ਗੋਪਾਲਨ ਬਾਲਗੋਪਾਲ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਪੱਛਮੀ ਬੰਗਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 10. ਚੰਦਰਸ਼ੇਖਰ ਬਾਲਾਕ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਨਨ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਕੋਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 11. ਰਾਣਾ ਬੈਨਰਜੀ ਆਰ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕੈਬਨਿਟ ਸਕੱਤਰੇਤ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 12. ਟੀ.ਕੇ. ਬੈਨਰਜੀ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਯੂਨੀਅਨ ਪਬਲਿਕ ਸਰਵਿਸ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 13. ਸ਼ਰਦ ਬਿਹਾਰ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 14. ਮਧੂ ਭਾਦੁੜੀ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਪੁਰਤਗਾਲ। 15. ਮੀਰਨ ਸੀ ਬੋਰਵੰਕਰ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡੀਜੀਪੀ, ਪੁਲਿਸ ਰਿਸਰਚ ਐਂਡ ਡਿਵੈਲਪਮੈਂਟ ਬਿਊਰੋ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 16. ਰਵੀ ਬੁੱਧੀਰਾਜਾ IAS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਜਵਾਹਰ ਲਾਲ ਨਹਿਰੂ ਪੋਰਟ ਟਰੱਸਟ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 17. ਸੁੰਦਰ ਬੁਰਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 18. ਮਨੇਸ਼ਵਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਚਾਹਲ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਵਿਭਾਗ ਪੰਜਾਬ, ਸਰਕਾਰ। 19. ਆਰ. ਚੰਦਰਮੋਹਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਟਰਾਂਸਪੋਰਟ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ਹਿਰੀ ਵਿਕਾਸ, ਐਨ.ਸੀ.ਟੀ ਦਿੱਲੀ, ਸਰਕਾਰ। 20. ਕਲਿਆਣੀ ਚੌਧਰੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਪੱਛਮੀ ਬੰਗਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ।ਦੇ 21. ਗੁਰਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ ਚੀਮਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿੱਤੀ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ (ਮਾਲ), ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 22. ਐਫ.ਟੀ.ਆਰ. ਕੋਲਾਸੋ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਕਰਨਾਟਕ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਜੰਮੂ ਅਤੇ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 23. ਅੰਨਾ ਦਾਨੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 24. ਸੁਰਜੀਤ ਕੇ. ਦਾਸ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਉੱਤਰਾਖੰਡ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 25. ਵਿਭਾ ਪੁਰੀ ਦਾਸ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕਬਾਇਲੀ ਮਾਮਲੇ ਮੰਤਰਾਲੇ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 26. ਪੀ.ਆਰ. ਦਾਸਗੁਪਤਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਭਾਰਤੀ ਖੁਰਾਕ ਨਿਗਮ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 27. ਪ੍ਰਦੀਪ ਕੇ. ਦੇਬ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਖੇਡ ਵਿਭਾਗ , ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 28. ਐਮ.ਜੀ. ਦੇਵਸਹਾਯਮ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਹਰਿਆਣਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 29. ਸੁਸ਼ੀਲ ਦੂਬੇ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਸਵੀਡਨ। 30. ਏ.ਐੱਸ. ਦੁਲਟ ਆਈ.ਪੀ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਓ.ਐਸ.ਡੀ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ, ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦਫ਼ਤਰ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 31. ਕੇ.ਪੀ. ਫੈਬੀਅਨ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਇਟਲੀ। 32. ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਘਾਟੇ IAS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਸੈਰ ਸਪਾਟਾ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 33. ਸੁਰੇਸ਼ ਕੇ. ਗੋਇਲ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਭਾਰਤੀ ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰਕ ਰਿਸ਼ਤਿਆਂ ਸਬੰਧੀ ਕੌਂਸਲ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 34. ਐੱਸ.ਕੇ. ਗੁਹਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮਹਿਲਾ ਅਤੇ ਬਾਲ ਵਿਕਾਸ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 35. ਐਚ.ਐਸ. ਗੁਜਰਾਲ IFoS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਿੰਸੀਪਲ ਮੁਖੀ ਸਜੰਗਲਾਤ ਸਾਂਭ ਸੰਭਾਲ, ਪੰਜਾਬ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 36. ਮੀਨਾ ਗੁਪਤਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਵਾਤਾਵਰਣ ਅਤੇ ਜੰਗਲਾਤ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 37. ਰਵੀ ਵੀਰਾ ਗੁਪਤਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਿਪਟੀ ਗਵਰਨਰ, ਭਾਰਤੀ ਰਿਜ਼ਰਵ ਬੈਂਕ 38. ਦੀਪਾ ਹਰੀ IRS (ਅਸਤੀਫਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ) 39. ਸੱਜਾਦ ਹਸਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ (ਯੋਜਨਾ), ਮਨੀਪੁਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 40. ਸਿਰਾਜ ਹੁਸੈਨ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਖੇਤੀਬਾੜੀ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 41. ਕਮਲ ਜਸਵਾਲ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਸੂਚਨਾ ਤਕਨਾਲੋਜੀ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 42. ਨਜੀਬ ਜੰਗ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਉਪ ਰਾਜਪਾਲ,ਦਿੱਲੀ । 43. ਬ੍ਰਿਜੇਸ਼ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਸੂਚਨਾ ਤਕਨਾਲੋਜੀ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 44. ਈਸ਼ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡੀਜੀਪੀ (ਵਿਜੀਲੈਂਸ ਅਤੇ ਇਨਫੋਰਸਮੈਂਟ), ਸਰਕਾਰ। ਤੇਲੰਗਾਨਾ ਦੇ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਰਿਪੋਰਟਰ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਮਨੁੱਖੀ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 45. ਸੁਧੀਰ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਕੇਂਦਰੀ ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧਕੀ ਟ੍ਰਿਬਿਊਨਲ। 46. ਸੁਬੋਧ ਲਾਲ ਆਈਪੀਓਐਸ (ਅਸਤੀਫਾ ਦੇ ਦਿੱਤਾ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਿਪਟੀ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਸੰਚਾਰ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 47. ਬੀ.ਬੀ. ਮਹਾਜਨ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਖਾਧ ਖੁਰਾਕ ਵਿਭਾਗ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 48. ਹਰਸ਼ ਮੰਦਰ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਰਕਾਰ। ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਦੇ 49. ਅਮਿਤਾਭ ਮਾਥੁਰ IPS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕੈਬਨਿਟ ਸਕੱਤਰੇਤ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 50. ਲਲਿਤ ਮਾਥੁਰ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਨੈਸ਼ਨਲ ਇੰਸਟੀਚਿਊਟ ਆਫ਼ ਰੂਰਲ ਡਿਵੈਲਪਮੈਂਟ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 51. ਐਲ.ਐਲ. ਮੇਹਰੋਤਰਾ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਸ਼ੇਸ਼ ਦੂਤ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਮੰਤਰਾਲੇ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 52. ਅਦਿਤੀ ਮਹਿਤਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਰਾਜਸਥਾਨ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 53. ਸ਼ਿਵਸ਼ੰਕਰ ਮੇਨਨ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ। 54. ਸੋਨਾਲਿਨੀ ਮੀਰਚੰਦਾਨੀ IFS (ਨੌਕਰੀ ਤਿਆਗੀ) ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 55. ਸੁਨੀਲ ਮਿੱਤਰਾ IAS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਵਿੱਤ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 56. ਨੂਰ ਮੁਹੰਮਦ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਆਫ਼ਤ ਪ੍ਰਬੰਧਨ ਅਥਾਰਟੀ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 57. ਅਵਿਨਾਸ਼ ਮੋਹਨਾਨੀ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਸਿੱਕਮ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 58. ਸੱਤਿਆ ਨਰਾਇਣ ਮੋਹੰਤੀ IAS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਮਨੁੱਖੀ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 59. ਦੇਬ ਮੁਖਰਜੀ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਬੰਗਲਾਦੇਸ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਹਾਈ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਨੇਪਾਲ। 60. ਸ਼ਿਵ ਸ਼ੰਕਰ ਮੁਖਰਜੀ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਹਾਈ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ ਯੂ ਕੇ । 61. ਗੌਤਮ ਮੁਖੋਪਾਧਿਯਾ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਮਿਆਂਮਾਰ। 62. ਪ੍ਰਣਬ ਐਸ. ਮੁਖੋਪਾਧਿਯਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ, ਇੰਸਟੀਚਿਊਟ ਆਫ਼ ਪੋਰਟ ਮੈਨੇਜਮੈਂਟ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 63. ਟੀ.ਕੇ.ਏ. ਨਾਇਰ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਭਾਰਤ ਦੇ ਪ੍ਰਧਾਨ ਮੰਤਰੀ ਦੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ 64. ਪੀ.ਏ. ਨਾਜ਼ਰੇਥ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਮਿਸਰ ਅਤੇ ਮੈਕਸੀਕੋ । 65. ਪੀ. ਜੋਏ ਓਮਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਛੱਤੀਸਗੜ੍ਹ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 66. ਅਮਿਤਾਭ ਪਾਂਡੇ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਅੰਤਰ-ਰਾਜੀ ਕੌਂਸਲ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 67. ਮੈਕਸਵੈੱਲ ਪਰੇਰਾ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ, ਦਿੱਲੀ। 68. ਜੀ.ਕੇ. ਪਿੱਲੈ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਗ੍ਰਹਿ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 69. ਆਰ. ਪੂਰਨਲਿੰਗਮ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਟੈਕਸਟਾਈਲ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 70. ਰਾਜੇਸ਼ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਨੀਦਰਲੈਂਡ। 71. ਸ਼ਾਰਦਾ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ (ਰੁਜ਼ਗਾਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਿਖਲਾਈ), ਕਿਰਤ ਅਤੇ ਰੁਜ਼ਗਾਰ ਮੰਤਰਾਲੇ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 72. ਆਰ.ਐਮ. ਪ੍ਰੇਮ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 73. ਰਾਜਦੀਪ ਪੁਰੀ IRS (ਅਸਤੀਫਾ ਦਿੱਤਾ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ ਆਮਦਨ ਕਰ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 74. ਟੀ.ਆਰ. ਰਘੂਨੰਦਨ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸੰਯੁਕਤ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਪੰਚਾਇਤੀ ਰਾਜ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 75. ਐਨ.ਕੇ. ਰਘੁਪਤੀ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਸਟਾਫ ਸਿਲੈਕਸ਼ਨ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 76. ਵੀ.ਪੀ. ਰਾਜਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਬਿਜਲੀ ਰੈਗੂਲੇਟਰੀ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 77. ਸਤਵੰਤ ਰੈਡੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਰਸਾਇਣ ਅਤੇ ਪੈਟਰੋ ਕੈਮੀਕਲ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 78. ਵਿਜੇ ਲਥਾ ਰੈੱਡੀ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਉਪ ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ 79. ਜੂਲੀਓ ਰਿਬੇਰੋ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਰਾਜਪਾਲ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਰੋਮਾਨੀਆਂ। 80. ਅਰੁਣਾ ਰਾਏ IAS (ਅਸਤੀਫਾ) 81. ਏ.ਕੇ. ਸਾਮੰਤਾ ਆਈਪੀਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪੁਲਿਸ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ (ਖੁਫੀਆ), ਪੱਛਮੀ ਬੰਗਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 82. ਦੀਪਕ ਸਨਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਮੁੱਖ ਮੰਤਰੀ, ਸਾਬਕਾ ਪ੍ਰਮੁੱਖ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ (ਏ.ਆਰ.),ਹਿਮਾਚਲ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 83. ਸ਼ਿਆਮ ਸਰਨ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਸੁਰੱਖਿਆ ਸਲਾਹਕਾਰ ਬੋਰਡ। 84. ਐਸ. ਸਤਿਆਭਾਮਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਪਰਸਨ, ਨੈਸ਼ਨਲ ਸੀਡਜ਼ ਕਾਰਪੋਰੇਸ਼ਨ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 85. ਐਨ.ਸੀ. ਸਕਸੈਨਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਯੋਜਨਾ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 86. ਏ. ਸੇਲਵਰਾਜ ਆਈਆਰਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੀਫ਼ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ, ਇਨਕਮ ਟੈਕਸ, ਚੇਨਈ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 87. ਅਰਧੇਂਦੂ ਸੇਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਪੱਛਮੀ ਬੰਗਾਲ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 88. ਅਭਿਜੀਤ ਸੇਨਗੁਪਤਾ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਸੱਭਿਆਚਾਰਕ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 89. ਆਫਤਾਬ ਸੇਠ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਜਾਪਾਨ। 90. ਅਸ਼ੋਕ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ IFoS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਐਮਡੀ, ਰਾਜ ਜੰਗਲਾਤ ਵਿਕਾਸ ਨਿਗਮ, ਗੁਜਰਾਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 91. ਅਸ਼ੋਕ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਫਿਨਲੈਂਡ ਅਤੇ ਐਸਟੋਨੀਆ। 92. ਨਵਰੇਖਾ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਇੰਡੋਨੇਸ਼ੀਆ । 93. ਪ੍ਰਵੇਸ਼ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 94. ਰਾਜੂ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਮਾਲ ਬੋਰਡ, ਉੱਤਰ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 95. ਰਸ਼ਮੀ ਸ਼ੁਕਲਾ ਸ਼ਰਮਾ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਸਰਕਾਰ। ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਦੇ 96. ਮੁਕਤੇਸ਼ਵਰ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਮੱਧ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼ ਲੋਕ ਸੇਵਾ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 97. ਸੁਜਾਤਾ ਸਿੰਘ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਿਦੇਸ਼ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 98. ਤਾਰਾ ਅਜੈ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਵਧੀਕ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਕਰਨਾਟਕ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 99. ਤਿਰਲੋਚਨ ਸਿੰਘ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਘੱਟ ਗਿਣਤੀ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 100. ਨਰਿੰਦਰ ਸਿਸੋਦੀਆ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ, ਵਿੱਤ ਮੰਤਰਾਲਾ, ਭਾਰਤ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 101. ਪਰਵੀਨ ਤਲਹਾ ਆਈਆਰਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਯੂਨੀਅਨ ਪਬਲਿਕ ਸਰਵਿਸ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 102. ਅਨੂਪ ਠਾਕੁਰ IAS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੈਂਬਰ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਖਪਤਕਾਰ ਵਿਵਾਦ ਨਿਵਾਰਣ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 103. ਪੀ.ਐਸ.ਐਸ. ਥਾਮਸ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਰਾਸ਼ਟਰੀ ਮਨੁੱਖੀ ਅਧਿਕਾਰ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨ। 104. ਹਿੰਦਲ ਤਾਇਬਜੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਰੈਂਕ, ਜੰਮੂ ਅਤੇ ਕਸ਼ਮੀਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 105. ਜਾਵੇਦ ਉਸਮਾਨੀ ਆਈ.ਏ.ਐਸ. (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸਕੱਤਰ ਅਤੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਮੁੱਖ ਸੂਚਨਾ ਕਮਿਸ਼ਨਰ, ਉੱਤਰ ਪ੍ਰਦੇਸ਼। 106. ਅਸ਼ੋਕ ਵਾਜਪਾਈ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਚੇਅਰਮੈਨ, ਲਲਿਤ ਕਲਾ ਅਕਾਦਮੀ। 107. ਰਮਣੀ ਵੈਂਕਟੇਸ਼ਨ ਆਈਏਐਸ (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਡਾਇਰੈਕਟਰ ਜਨਰਲ, ਯਸ਼ਦਾ, ਮਹਾਰਾਸ਼ਟਰ ਸਰਕਾਰ। 108. ਰੂਡੀ ਵਾਰਜਰੀ IFS (ਸੇਵਾਮੁਕਤ) ਸਾਬਕਾ ਰਾਜਦੂਤ ਕੋਲੰਬੀਆ, ਇਕਵਾਡੋਰ ਅਤੇ ਕੋਸਟਾ ਰੀਕਾ । ਦ ਵਾਇਰ ਚੋਂ ਧਨਵਾਦ ਸਹਿਤ ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਸੁਖਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ।

Monday, May 2, 2022

Seventy-Five Years Since Independence, Industrial Working Class Still Struggles for Rights by Sudha Bhardwaj

Seventy-Five Years Since Independence, Industrial Working Class Still Struggles for Rights The silence of the government in responding to the demands of the working class is deafening.
 By Sudha Bhardwaj 

 The Indian working class was a proud participant in the anti-imperialist struggle against British rule in India.
 Whether it was the six-day strike of the working class of Mumbai in 1908 – one day for each year of the sentence of Bal Gangadhar Tilak; the attempts of the Ghadar Party organised by Punjabi immigrant workers in Canada, who sailed to India in 1914 to overthrow the British; the four-day old Solapur Commune of 1930, when the workers took over the city, that ended in the hanging of four workers Mallapa Dhanshetty, Qurban Hussain, Jaganath Shinde and Shrikrishna Sharda; the Meerut Conspiracy Case of 1929 in which 31 working class leaders from all corners of India were rounded up and tried in what became a focus of international solidarity; the storming of the Calcutta Congress Session by the workers in 1930 spurring on the “Poorna Swaraj Resolution”; the actions of the Kisan Sabha and the Workers Peasants Party which in 1937 led to resolutions of zamindari abolition by the United Provinces; the actions of the dock workers of Mumbai and Kolkata in 1945 refusing to load ships taking supplies to British troops during the Second World War; and finally the heroic support of the Mumbai working class led by the Communists to the Mutiny of the ratings of the Royal Indian Navy in 1946, which received no support from either the Congress or the Muslim League, but which resonated in massive protests not only of Indian recruits in the Navy and Air Force from Karachi to Calcutta, but also the citizens of Ahmedabad and Trichinopoly. This proved to be the last nail in the coffin of the British Raj. The official count of the civilian fatalities in Mumbai on February 24, 1946 was 236 but unofficial sources say more than 400 workers and common people lost their lives. 

 During this period, the All India Trade Union Congress, the first working-class federation, which later on became affiliated to the Communist Party of India, had an extremely broad political support and its presidents ranged from Lala Lajpat Rai to Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Sarojini Naidu. The organisation of the Independent Labour Party by Dr B.R. Ambedkar in 1937, which contested several successful elections, also played an important role in raising the consciousness of the workers of the depressed classes. 
 
 On the other hand, in 1944, “A Brief Memorandum Outlining a Plan of Economic Development for India” (popularly known as the ‘Bombay Plan’) was published, the signatories of which were J. R. D. Tata, Ghanshyam Das Birla, Ardeshir Dalal, Lala Shri Ram, Kasturbhai Lalbhai, Ardeshir Darabshaw Shroff, Purushottamdas Thakurdas and John Mathai. The Bombay Plan advocated an interventionist state and an economy with a significant public sector. Evidently the capitalist class at that time sought to channelise nationalist aspirations into developing a sound infrastructure that could lay the foundation for a thriving domestic private industry. 

 The early wins 

 Our Constitution bears the stamp of these values both in Articles 23 and 24 (Fundamental Rights Against Exploitation) which prohibit forms of forced labour and the employment of children below 14 years of age; but more importantly in the Directive Principles of State Policy which are described as being “not enforceable by any court” but “nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country”. These include promoting and protecting a social order of social, economic and political justice and the minimising of inequalities in income, status and opportunities (Article 38); the right to an adequate means of livelihood, distribution of the ownership and control of material resources of the community to subserve the common good, an economic system which does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production, equal pay for men and women, and that the health and strength of workers and the tender age of children are not abused for reasons of economic necessity (Article 39); effective provision for securing the right to work and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, disablement, and other cases of undeserved want (Article 41); just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief (Article 42); a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and social and cultural opportunities including promoting cottage industries on co-operative basis in rural areas (Article 43). No doubt these sentiments are also imbued in the Preamble to the Constitution more specifically so with the addition of the word “socialist”.

 Of course, in practice, whatever the working class achieved in terms of wages, or standard of living, or rights to unionise, or protection from precarity in the century following 1920 when the AITUC was formed and the earliest labour laws were promulgated, was through extremely hard-fought battles extracting great sacrifices. The Factories Act limiting working hours and setting safety standards; the Industrial Disputes Act laying down a procedure for conciliation and adjudication of disputes; and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act regulating the grading of workers and disciplinary action upon then; The Employees State Insurance Act providing, apart from general health needs of the worker and his/her family, also for the diagnosis and treatment of occupational diseases; and The Minimum Wages Act which protected the workers from starvation-wages were all enacted in the initial years following independence. 

 In the 1950s, different groups of workers, through their striking power, were able to get passed The Dock Workers Act, The Mines Act, The Plantation Act, The Cine Workers Act and even The Working Journalists Act. This was followed by the Payment of Bonus (in proportion with profits earned) and Payment of Gratuity Act in the 1960s. With the recognition of collective bargaining between the recognised central trade unions and industry bodies, industry-wide national standards for wages and safety through periodic revisions by the Steel Wage Board, Cement Wage Board, and the Coal Wage Board came into existence.

 A growing private sector 

 Even as the workers struggled ahead like the legendary Sisyphus pushing the stone uphill, the growing political clout of private industry in politics which first fed on, then competed with, and finally overtook the public sector, meant that the public sector now had to “make profits” rather than be “the agent of peripheral social and economic upliftment.” As the time went on, permanent workers were seen as lazy and overpaid, unions were demonised, demands grew for labour flexibilities (ie hire and fire), and even the most basic regulation began to be designated “Inspector Raj”. 

 This meant growing levels of mechanisation to cut manpower, but even more – contractualisation for cost cutting, even when technology remained unchanged. In the setting up of the public sector, (while farmers and tribals were often unjustly dispossessed) a large concentrated working force of directly employed “permanent workers” had been created. Just as an example, the Bhilai Steel Plant set up in the late 1950s had an initial manpower of 96,000 permanent workers. Now there are about 10,000 permanent workers and around 40,000 contractual workers paid not even a third of their wages. In the cement industry the proportion of permanent workers has come down to 10% or even lower. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 was one of the last Acts passed in favour of labour in the industrial sector. The Act lays out in its Statement of Objects and Reasons that, ”It was the general consensus of opinion that the system should be abolished wherever possible and where this system could not be abolished all together, the working conditions of contract labour should be regulated so as to ensure payment of wages and provision of essential amenities.” The route of abolition was to be through government notifications as also through the inquiries and recommendations of the Advisory Boards. 

 A few important notifications were made – for instance in cleaning jobs in government concerns, but then not only did the notifications stop, but the subsequent orders under the Act were usually for exemption from some prior notification! Even so the struggle of contract workers for regularisation and parity with permanent workers continued. The “unkindest cut of all” came in the form of the Judgment of a 5 Member Bench of the Supreme Court in 2001 (SAIL & Ors. Vs National Union Water Front Workers & Ors), which ruled that even if contract workers were found working against posts in which contract labour had been abolished, it would not result in absorption of those contract workers, but rather they would be retrenched and the positions would be filled through the proper recruitment process. Which contract worker would now go to court to get their job abolished? 

  Contractualisation basically means that workers have the threat of losing their jobs hanging over their head; they cannot unionise, and they are usually paid at most the minimum wages stipulated the state government, even when they may be carrying out skilled and hazardous work in the core production of an industry. 

 The epic Railway Strike in 1974 involving 17 lakh workers had brought the country to a standstill for 20 days. It is said to have been one of the precipitating factors for the Emergency being promulgated, and eventually for a new regime to come to power. It also marked the beginning of a rapid casualisation and contractualisation of railway workers. Today apart from the loco-pilots and the travelling ticket examiners, no one else is employed by the Railways including the Catering Staff, the Cleaning Staff, and even the Gangmen. 

 The Great Strike of the textile workers of Mumbai in 1982 involving about 2.5 lakh workers of 65 mills ended tragically with mill closures and mass dismissals. Till today, workers of many of the closed mills await their final dues. The city of Mills has in the last three decades become a city of interspersed slums and Malls. A large proportion of the families of the old mill hands continue in the city as self-employed in informal micro businesses or driving autos/taxis.

  The brave struggle of the workers of Maruti Suzuki, Gurgaon from 2011-12, for recognition of their union and regularising contract workers, despite having forged remarkable unities with other workers of the region, was crushed mercilessly. Even today a handful of leaders remain in jail accused of conspiring to kill a manager. 

 The long road ahead 

 Today in terms of employment share, the unorganised sector employs 83% of the work force and there is only 17% in the organised sector. However, if we look at the nature of employment, 92.4% of all workers are informal workers, i.e those with no written contract and thus excluded from the benefits of labour laws. 

 The pitiful levels of wage of the working class has been starkly stated in a recent report of the International Labour Organisation (“Wage and Minimum Wage in the time of COVID-19”). It says that real wage growth in India was one of the lowest in Asia. India’s “real wage” grew by a paltry 2.8% in 2015, 2.6% in 2016, and 2.5% in 2017, while it remained flat in 2018. Even among its immediate neighbours, such as Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, and Nepal, India’s real wage growth was poor. Pakistan’s wage grew 8.9% in 2015, and 4% each for the next three years, Vietnam grew between 3.7% and 12.4%, while China grew by 5.5-7% in the past four years. Even prior to Covid, in 2018, the report claimed that in PPP (purchasing power parity) terms) India’s gross monthly wage of $215 was third from the lowest after Bangladesh and Solomon Island among the 30 countries of the Asia Pacific Region.

 According to the Union labour minister, 1.14 crore of workers walked back to their villages during the lockdown, 30 lakh of them from Uttar Pradesh alone. How precarious the condition of these workers was, can be seen by the fact that they did not even have enough surplus to last a week after the lockdown was declared. A large proportion of them returned, as agriculture could not support them, and rural wages had also declined. According to the ILO, after COVID-19, informal workers saw a 22.6% fall in wages, even as formal sector employees had their salaries cut by 3.6% on an average. The middle class, enraptured by consumer services, fails to see the tragedy of the impoverished Zomato/Swiggy/Amazon delivery boy on his ramshackle bicycle, weaving in and out of traffic at a frantic pace, at all times of day and night at starvation wages. 

  Today, in a time when only a tiny percent of the working people are unionised, and various sections of the unorganised sector are struggling to get specific laws passed and implemented in their favour – notably the construction workers, domestic workers, safai karmacharis, hawkers – the Central government has chosen to bring in four Labour Codes replacing 46 existing labour laws. Almost all unions across the political spectrum including on many occasions the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh affiliated to the BJP, have expressed apprehension regarding the impact of this enormous sea change of legal regime.

 Forming a trade union has been made more difficult; the concept of a permanent worker or a Principal Employer have been abolished – now there will be term contracts and the contractor will be the employer; a vaguely defined floor wage (can anything be less than a minimum?) has been suggested; the requirement of maintenance of several kinds of registers and inspections has been done away with and replaced by self-certification; and trade unions will no longer have access to balance sheets to negotiate bonuses. A Joint Platform of Trade Unions called for a general strike on March 28-29 which many independent unions also supported. The demands were for scrapping the four labour codes, opposing privatisation and the National Monetisation Pipeline, supporting the demand for MSP for the farmers, enhancing the minimum wage etc. Though around five crore workers in the coal, steel, banking, postal services, copper, oil sectors did indeed strike work, the silence of the government is deafening. 

 Alas Sisyphus, the stone has to be rolled up all over again. But be sure, it will.

 Sudha Bharadwaj is a human rights activist, trade unionist and lawyer. One whoremained incarsenated in Bhima Coregaon case

 This article was first published in the People’s Union for Civil Liberties bulletin.  

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Former Civil Servants to Modi : Your Silence in the Face of Enormous Societal Threat Is Deafening

The full letter and the list of signatories is reproduced below.
 16 April 2022

 Dear Prime Minister, 

We are witnessing a frenzy of hate filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself. As former civil servants, it is not normally our wont to express ourselves in such extreme terms, but the relentless pace at which the constitutional edifice created by our founding fathers is being destroyed compels us to speak out and express our anger and anguish. The escalation of hate violence against the minority communities, particularly Muslims, in the last few years and months across several States – Assam, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, all states in which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power, barring Delhi (where the union government controls the police) – has acquired a frightening new dimension. It is no longer just the politics of an assertive Hindutva identity, nor the attempt to keep the communal cauldron on the boil – all that has been going for decades and in the last few years had become a part of the new normal. What is alarming now is the subordination of the fundamental principles of our Constitution and of the rule of law to the forces of majoritarianism, in which the state appears to be fully complicit. The hate and malevolence directed against Muslims seems to have embedded itself deep in the recesses of the structures, institutions and processes of governance in the States in which the BJP is in power. The administration of law, instead of being an instrument for maintaining peace and harmony, has become the means by which the minorities can be kept in a state of perpetual fear. Their constitutional right to practice their own faith, follow their own customs, dress code and personal laws and exercise their own food choices, is threatened not merely by letting vigilante mobs inflict violence on them with impunity but, by twisting the law itself, to circumscribe their freedom of choice and make it convenient for a prejudiced, communal executive to make colourable use of state power. State power is thus used not only to facilitate vigilante violence targeted against a community but to make ostensibly legal means available to the administration (e.g., anti-conversion laws, laws proscribing consumption of beef, encroachment removal, prescription of uniform codes in educational institutions) to strike fear in the community, deprive them of their livelihoods and make it evident to them that they have to accept their status as inferior citizens who have to subordinate themselves to majoritarian political power and majoritarian social and cultural norms. The likelihood of our becoming a country that systematically makes sections of its own citizens – minorities, Dalits, the poor and the marginalized – targets of hate and knowingly deprives them of their fundamental rights is now, more than ever, frighteningly real. While we are not aware if the current spurt in communal frenzy is coordinated and directed by the political leadership, it is evident that the administration at the state and local levels provides a facilitating environment for mischievous lumpen groups to operate without fear. Such facilitation and support is not limited to that offered by the local police and other administrative officials; it appears to have the tacit approval of the highest political levels in the state and central governments, which provide the enabling policy and institutional environment for local level tyranny. While the actual commission of violence may be outsourced to fringe groups, there is little doubt as to how the ground for their operations is made fertile, how each of them follows a master script and shares a common ‘tool kit’ and how the propaganda machinery of a party as well as the state is made available to them to defend their actions. What distinguishes the incidents that are taking place now from earlier communal conflagrations is not merely that a master design is being unveiled to prepare the grounds for a Hindu Rashtra, but that the constitutional and legal framework designed to prevent such a development from taking place is itself being twisted and perverted to make it an instrument of majoritarian tyranny. No wonder then that the bulldozer has now become the new metaphor for the exercise of political and administrative power, literally and figuratively. The edifice built around the ideas of ‘due process’ and ‘rule of law’ stands demolished. As the Jahangirpuri incident shows, even the orders of the highest court of the land appear to be treated with scant respect by the executive. Prime Minister, we, the members of the Constitutional Conduct Group – all of us are former civil servants who have spent decades in the service of the Constitution – believe that the threat we are facing is unprecedented and at stake is not just constitutional morality and conduct; it is that the unique syncretic social fabric, which is our greatest civilizational inheritance and which our Constitution is so meticulously designed to conserve, is likely to be torn apart. Your silence, in the face of this enormous societal threat, is deafening. We appeal to your conscience, taking heart from your promise of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas. It is our fond hope that in this year of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’, rising above partisan considerations, you will call for an end to the politics of hate that governments under your party’s control are so assiduously practising. The idea of India that our founding fathers had envisioned and fought for needs a climate of fraternity and communal harmony to thrive. Hate will engender hate, rendering the environment too noxious for the idea to survive. SATYAMEVA JAYATE 

 Yours sincerely,
 Constitutional Conduct Group (108 signatories)
 1. Anita Agnihotri IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Social Justice Empowerment, GoI 2. Salahuddin Ahmad IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan 3. S.P. Ambrose IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI 4. Anand Arni RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 5. Aruna Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, GoI 6. Sandeep Bagchee IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 7. G. Balachandhran IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 8. Vappala Balachandran IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 9. Gopalan Balagopal IAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 10. Chandrashekar Balakrishnan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Coal, GoI 11. Rana Banerji RAS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 12. T.K. Banerji IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission 13. Sharad Behar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 14. Madhu Bhaduri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Portugal 15. Meeran C Borwankar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI 16. Ravi Budhiraja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, GoI 17. Sundar Burra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 18. Maneshwar Singh Chahal IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Home, Govt. of Punjab 19. R. Chandramohan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Secretary, Transport and Urban Development, Govt. of NCT of Delhi 20. Kalyani Chaudhuri IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 21. Gurjit Singh Cheema IAS (Retd.) Former Financial Commissioner (Revenue), Govt. of Punjab 22. F.T.R. Colaso IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Karnataka & former Director General of Police, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir 23. Anna Dani IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 24. Surjit K. Das IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand 25. Vibha Puri Das IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI 26. P.R. Dasgupta IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Food Corporation of India, GoI 27. Pradeep K. Deb IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. Of Sports, GoI 28. M.G. Devasahayam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Govt. of Haryana 29. Sushil Dubey IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Sweden 30. A.S. Dulat IPS (Retd.) Former OSD on Kashmir, Prime Minister’s Office, GoI 31. K.P. Fabian IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Italy 32. Prabhu Ghate IAS (Retd.) Former Addl. Director General, Department of Tourism, GoI 33. Suresh K. Goel IFS (Retd.) Former Director General, Indian Council of Cultural Relations, GoI 34. S.K. Guha IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Department of Women & Child Development, GoI 35. H.S. Gujral IFoS (Retd.) Former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Govt. of Punjab 36. Meena Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI 37. Ravi Vira Gupta IAS (Retd.) Former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India 38. Deepa Hari IRS (Resigned) 39. Sajjad Hassan IAS (Retd.) Former Commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur 40. Siraj Hussain IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI 41. Kamal Jaswal IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 42. Najeeb Jung IAS (Retd.) Former Lieutenant Governor, Delhi 43. Brijesh Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI 44. Ish Kumar IPS (Retd.) Former DGP (Vigilance & Enforcement), Govt. of Telangana and former Special Rapporteur, National Human Rights Commission 45. Sudhir Kumar IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal 46. Subodh Lal IPoS (Resigned) Former Deputy Director General, Ministry of Communications, GoI 47. B.B. Mahajan IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Deptt. of Food, GoI 48. Harsh Mander IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 49. Amitabh Mathur IPS (Retd.) Former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, GoI 50. Lalit Mathur IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, National Institute of Rural Development, GoI 51. L.L. Mehrotra IFS (Retd.) Former Special Envoy to the Prime Minister and former Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI 52. Aditi Mehta IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan 53. Shivshankar Menon IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former National Security Adviser 54. Sonalini Mirchandani IFS (Resigned) GoI 55. Sunil Mitra IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI 56. Noor Mohammad IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, Govt. of India 57. Avinash Mohananey IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police, Govt. of Sikkim 58. Satya Narayan Mohanty IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 59. Deb Mukharji IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal 60. Shiv Shankar Mukherjee IFS (Retd.) Former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom 61. Gautam Mukhopadhaya IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Myanmar 62. Pranab S. Mukhopadhya IAS (Retd.) Former Director, Institute of Port Management, GoI 63. T.K.A. Nair IAS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Prime Minister of India 64. P.A. Nazareth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Egypt and Mexico 65. P. Joy Oommen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Chhattisgarh 66. Amitabha Pande IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI 67. Maxwell Pereira IPS (Retd.) Former Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi 68. G.K. Pillai IAS (Retd.) Former Home Secretary, GoI 69. R. Poornalingam IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, GoI 70. Rajesh Prasad IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to the Netherlands 71. Sharda Prasad IAS (Retd.) Former Director General (Employment and Training), Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI 72. R.M. Premkumar IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra 73. Rajdeep Puri IRS (Resigned) Former Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, GoI 74. T.R. Raghunandan IAS (Retd.) Former Joint Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI 75. N.K. Raghupathy IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI 76. V.P. Raja IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission 77. Satwant Reddy IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, GoI 78. Vijaya Latha Reddy IFS (Retd.) Former Deputy National Security Adviser, GoI 79. Julio Ribeiro IPS (Retd.) Former Adviser to Governor of Punjab & former Ambassador to Romania 80. Aruna Roy IAS (Resigned) 81. A.K. Samanta IPS (Retd.) Former Director General of Police (Intelligence), Govt. of West Bengal 82. Deepak Sanan IAS (Retd.) Former Principal Adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh 83. Shyam Saran IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary and Former Chairman, National Security Advisory Board 84. S. Satyabhama IAS (Retd.) Former Chairperson, National Seeds Corporation, GoI 85. N.C. Saxena IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Planning Commission, GoI 86. A. Selvaraj IRS (Retd.) Former Chief Commissioner, Income Tax, Chennai, GoI 87. Ardhendu Sen IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal 88. Abhijit Sengupta IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI 89. Aftab Seth IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Japan 90. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFoS (Retd.) Former MD, State Forest Development Corporation, Govt. of Gujarat 91. Ashok Kumar Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Finland and Estonia 92. Navrekha Sharma IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Indonesia 93. Pravesh Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 94. Raju Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh 95. Rashmi Shukla Sharma IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh 96. Mukteshwar Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Member, Madhya Pradesh Public Service Commission 97. Sujatha Singh IFS (Retd.) Former Foreign Secretary, GoI 98. Tara Ajai Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka 99. Tirlochan Singh IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI 100. Narendra Sisodia IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI 101. Parveen Talha IRS (Retd.) Former Member, Union Public Service Commission 102. Anup Thakur IAS (Retd.) Former Member, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission 103. P.S.S. Thomas IAS (Retd.) Former Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission 104. Hindal Tyabji IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir 105. Jawed Usmani IAS (Retd.) Former Chief Secretary, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & former Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh 106. Ashok Vajpeyi IAS (Retd.) Former Chairman, Lalit Kala Akademi 107. Ramani Venkatesan IAS (Retd.) Former Director General, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra 108. Rudi Warjri IFS (Retd.) Former Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador and Costa Rica

Monday, January 17, 2022

Citizens’ Commission on Elections’ Report on EVMs and VVPAT

Citizens’ Commission on Elections’ Report on EVMs and VVPAT Madan Lokur, Wajahat Habibullah, Hariparanthaman, Arun Kumar, Subhashis Banerjee, Pamela Philipose, John Dayal, Sundar Burra, M G Devasahayam The complete report can be read at https://www.epw.in/journal/2022/3/perspectives/citizens’-commission-elections’-report-evms-and.html Final Recommendations The analysis in the above two sections clearly demonstrates that the decisionmaking processes within the ECI need to be much more logical, rigorous, and principled, compared to what it was during the 2019 parliamentary elections. Ad hoc systems and processes without adequate analysis of the properties and guarantees should be avoided. Only then can elections using electronic means adhere to standard democratic principles, appear to be free and fair, and engender confi dence in election outcomes. Specifically, we make the following recommendations for the future: Software and hardware independence: The electronic voting system should be redesigned to be software and hardware independent in order to be verifi - able or auditable. The EVMs cannot be assumed to be tamper-proof. As defi ned by Rivest (2008), a voting system is software [hardware] independent if an (undetected) change or error in software [hardware] cannot cause an undetectable change or error in an election outcome. In other words, even if a voting machine is tampered to change the votes, it should be possible to detect so in an audit. This is not to say that a hardware based EVM cannot be used, but that the correctness of an election outcome should not depend on the assumption of correctness of the EVM. Any solution that relies crucially on the assumption of correctness of the EVMs is not software and hardware independent. (Vora et al 2020; Sharma 2020) To be compliant with democratic principles, there is a defi nite need to move away from only certifi cation of voting equipment and processes and instead demonstrate—end-to-end—that the outcome of an election is correct irrespective of machines and custody chains of EVMs. Two ways to do this are mentioned in the literature, namely adopting rigorous and well-established strategies for compliance and risk-limiting audits, or using a provably end-toend verifi able cryptographic protocol, or both (Lindeman et al 2012; Stark and Wagner 2012; Bernhard et al 2017; Vora et al 2020; Sharma 2020). End-to-end cryptographic verifiability: One way to achieve software and hardware independence is to use end-to-end (E2E) verifiable systems with provable guarantees of correctness (Vora et al 2020; Sharma 2020; Saraph 2020; Bernhard et al 2017). The overall correctness of voting is established by the correctness of three steps: (i) “castas-intended,” indicating that the voting machine has registered the vote correctly; (ii) “recorded-as-cast,” indicating the cast vote is correctly included in the final tally; and (iii) “counted as recorded,” indicating that final tally is correctly computed. There must also be guarantees against “spurious vote injections” (Sharma 2020). These guarantees should be publicly verifiable. The ECI should explore the possibility of using an E2E verifiable system (Bernhard et al 2017). Redesign of the VVPAT system: The other way to achieve software independence is through risk limiting end-of-poll audits using VVPAT (Lindeman et al 2012; Stark and Wagner 2012). For this, the VVPAT system should be redesigned to be fully voter-verified (Vora et al 2020; Saraph 2020; Sharma 2020). The voter should be able to approve the VVPAT printout before the vote is finally cast and be able to cancel if there is an error. Moreover, either the VVPAT slips must be in one-to-one correspondence with the electronic records—this is difficult, considering the secret ballot requirement—or it needs to be clearly defined which of the two is the legal definition of a vote. Simply declaring results based on the electronic counts violates the democratic principles. Moreover, in case a voter disputes that the vote has been incorrectly recorded, there must be a clear method of determination either in favour of the voter or of the authorities (Sharma 2020). This may not be possible in a pure DRE-based system like the ECI’s EVM, because the machine may not make the same error when tested, and it is not possible to determine, without doubt, whether it did originally make the error. In this case, the voter cannot be penalised and a clear protocol for dispute resolution must be put in place. End-of-poll audits: For proper end of-poll audit using VVPAT, the ECI needs to change the currently prescribed policy with rigorous risk-limiting audit based sampling strategies before the results are announced (Lindeman et al 2012). And, there must be a clear preannounced protocol for deciding the outcome—including possible re-polling—if there is a mismatch between the VVPAT and the electronic tallies (Devasahayam 2020). Legislation: T here has to be legislation to deal with the cases when the audit and the subsequent recount reveal a problem. Legislation will also be required to regulate when, and if, a candidate can request a hand count. Best practices suggest that such legislation be based on the established statistical principles as opposed to the judgment of individual election officials to the extent possible (Vora et al 2020). Independent review: The voting system design should be subjected to independent (of the government and the ECI) review, and the integrity of the election process should be subjected to an independent audit. The fi ndings should be made public. Transparent processes: The election processes need to be completely transparent and should not have too many requirements of trust on authorities and experts, including on the ECI (Devasahayam 2020; Prasanna 2020; Vora et al 2020; Sharma 2020; Saraph 2020). All design details should be publicly available. In addition to that, there should be more public consultations, and public and civil society concerns should be transparently and fairly handled. If we opt for electronic elections and bring computer science and statistics into public life, then we cannot leave their disciplinary rigour behind.

Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Communal Violence in Tripura: A Fact Finding Report of CSSS

Communal Violence in Tripura: A Fact Finding Report of CSSS Abstract: Eleven mosques, six shops and two homes were damaged in the northeastern state of India – Tripura – in response to attacks in Durga puja mandaps in Bangladesh by Muslim activists. The communal riots in Panisagar, North Tripura district were a result of Hindu nationalist organisations attempting to gain advantage from the attacks on Durga puja mandaps in Bangladesh and communally polarize the situation for electoral benefits. The state government was duty bound to check the ongoing attempts towards communal polarization, however, it neglected its duty until it was too late. Noting that the attacks on mosques were not resulting in communal polarization, and it resulted in adverse publicity in international media, the state police initially denied that any mosque was damaged. The state government belatedly warned that strict action would be taken against those indulging in communal incidents. Instead of taking action on the rioters, the state took strong action on the journalists and peace activists who were reporting the violations. Causes of forming Fact Finding Team: Since second week of October, Tripura the third smallest state located in the northeastern region of India has been in the news for witnessing a series of communal incidents where the shops and mosques of Muslim inhabitants had been vandalized by the right wing organizations subscribing to the Hindu nationalist political ideology. The news was disturbing not only for the people of Tripura but also for the entire country. The incidents attracted the attention of both national and international fora. As the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism documents cases of communal violence, a fact-finding team consisting of Adv. Irfan Engineer and Prof. Shahiuz Zaman Ahmed visited the places of communal incidents in Tripura from 9th to 12th of November, 2021 to study the situation and prepare a report. This report is prepared on the information the team gathered from the ground.1 Methodology: In order to collect information and first hand data the team visited the affected areas of Udaipur, Maharani, Panisagar, Kailashahar, Kamarghat and different corners of Agartala, the capital city of Tripura. We talked to the community representatives, journalists, activists, political leaders, academicians, police officers, and common people. We also visited the affected sites to prepare this report. Background of the State: Tripura is the third smallest state of India located in its northeastern region with a total population of 3,671,032. The state covers 10,491.69 km2 (4,050.86 sq mi) and shares its borders with Bangladesh to the north, south and west, and the Indian states of Assam and Mizoram to the east. Historically, Tripura, also known as Tippera, was a kingdom ruled by the Manikya dynasty for several centuries. During the British Indian government, Tripura was a protectorate and an independent princely state. As per Tripura Merger Agreement of 9th September, 1949 Tripura became a Part C of India. It became a Union Territory without legislature in November 1956 and an elected ministry was installed in July 1963. Tripura was conferred full-fledged statehood in 1971. Agartala, an attractive city to visit, is the capital of the state. According to 2011 census, Tripura is one of the most literate states in India with a literacy rate of 87.75%. Historically, Tripura was a state primarily inhabited by the Tripuri Tribe, an indigenous community. The Manikya dynasty encouraged Bengali Hindus to help run the administration of their kingdom; while the Bengali Muslims were welcomed to cultivate the untilled agricultural land and help increase the revenue of the state. Bengali Muslims from peasant and laboring class once formed about 80% of the Bengali speaking people of the kingdom. In the 1941 census, the Muslim population was 24% in Tripura. After partition, a section of Muslim community, especially the wealthy Muslims migrated to East Pakistan, attracted by better prospects or and pushed by the circumstances and fear. One Umesh Singh, a Congress leader, worked enthusiastically and energetically to resettle the migrants, almost exclusively Hindus, from East Pakistan. In order to make space for their rehabilitation, he encouraged emigration of Muslims to East Pakistan. The Muslim population of the state came down from 24% in 1941 to only 6% in 1971. Muslims constitute 8.6% according to the 2011 Census. Table – 1: Tripura Population by Religion Religion Persons Percentage Males Females Hindu 3,063,903 83.40 1,563,730 1,500,173 Muslim 316,042 8.60 160,930 155,112 Christian 159,882 4.35 81,480 78,402 Sikh 1,070 0.03 782 288 Buddhist 125,385 3.41 63,545 61,840 Jain 860 0.02 453 407 Others 1,514 0.04 791 723 Not Stated 5,261 0.14 2,665 2,596 Immediately after the partition of India in 1947, hundreds of thousands of Bengali Hindus fled from East Pakistan to escape persecution and discrimination that prevailed there and settled down in Tripura. According to an estimate, between the 1947 and 1951 around 610,000 Bengalis, a figure almost equal to the state’s total population, poured into the state. Again after the Bangladesh Liberation War, 1971 around 1.038 million Bengali Hindus moved into various parts of Tripura as refugees settling down permanently. A considerable number of Muslim inhabitants of Tripura also migrated to East Pakistan and later Bangladesh, exchanging movable and immovable properties with the Bengali Hindus who preferred to settle down in Tripura fearing religious persecution. These waves of migration completely changed the demographic base of Tripura decreasing the number of Muslims to 8.6% and increasing the number of Bengali Hindus. The migrations in both directions reduced the indigenous Tripuris to a minority in their own state. Now the Bengali Hindus comprise nearly 60% of the state’s population, which is around 2.2 million whereas native Tripuris are 31% of the state population, which is around 1.2 million as of 2011 census. Gaining majority position in the state, the Bengali Hindus now enjoy a dominant position within the state politically as well as economically. The indigenous people resent being reduced to a minority, excluded politically as well as socio-economically. Political fault lines in Tripura were always along ethnicity between the indigenous people and Bengali speaking. In the year 1978, the Tripura National Volunteers or TNV was formed under the leadership of Bijoy Kumar Hrangkhawl. In the 1980s, TNV launched an armed struggle to demand a separate state for the indigenous people under Article 2 and 3 of the Constitution of India. The TNV surrendered in 1988, and in the year 2000, they formed Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra. In 1999 and 2000, there were series of ethnic riots in Limbuchura and Mandii targeting the Bengali people. The conflict still survives at subterranean level. The indigenous people are still looked down upon in market areas and they feel discriminated. In spite of rapid demographic changes, the people of Tripura live in harmony. Except the post-independence riots of the country, which had little impact on Tripura, we do not hear any incident of communal violence in the state. 70% of the state’s area is under the Tripura Tribal Autonomous Area District Council (TTAADC), consisting of 7,132.56 sq. kms., whereas the indigenous Tripuri community, comprising of 19 tribal communities constitute 31% of total population. Twenty Assembly seats out of sixty are reserved for the indigenous people in Tripura. The TTAADC with 28 constituencies was formed in the year 1979 as resolution to the tribal demand of a separate state and violent agitation in the 1980s. The indigenous people still have a desire for greater Tipra Land with more powers than the TTAADC provides. The indigenous communities are now marginalized in the political field. The indigenous communities nurture a resentment against the Bengalis – irrespective of their religion – whom they see as outsiders who grab the resources that belong to them. Thus, political confrontations often take place in the state. About 4% of the indigenous people are Christians, and Mog and Chakma people are Buddhists. The Jamatia clan of Tripuri people consider themselves as the defenders (armed force) of the Tripuri rulers. Their highest institution – Hoda – preserves their ancient culture and are easily amenable to the influence of the Sangh Parivar, sharing anti-Christian sentiments. The chief ministers have been mostly from the Bengali community. The first chief minister of Tripura in 1963 was Sachindra Lal Singh from the Congress Party and continued for more than 8 years. Next CM from Indigenous community was Dasrath Debbarma, from the CPI(M). Tripura, since it was conferred statehood, was ruled mostly by Indian National Congress (INC) and the Left Front led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). INC ruled for more than seventeen years between 1963 and 1993. CPI(M) ruled the state most of the times i.e. for a period of more than thirty four years between 1978 and 2018. In 2018, the BJP came to the power. Rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had very little influence in Tripura until they won the Assembly election in 2018. Since Narendra Modi and Amit Shah started leading the party from the front, the scenario started changing nationwide. Amit Shah publicly spoke about the goal of the BJP in Tripura was not only to depose the CPI (M) from power, but to uproot its base from the entire country. However, neither the BJP, nor the RSS and Sangh Parivar had a base, leaders or cadres in Tripura. There was also an opinion that incumbency of CPI (M), more particularly the Chief Minister Manik Sarkar for 20 years, worked against the Party. To defeat the Left Front in Tripura, which ruled the state for more than twenty-five years, the BJP caused defections from the Congress and other political parties. The BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ran massive door-to-door outreach activities since 2015. The BJP-RSS jointly raised the issue of unemployment and corruption, and talked about development. Their campaign call was ‘Chalo Paltai’ or ‘let us change’ (the Left Front government). Further, to strengthen the base of BJP, the party successfully made an alliance with IPFT, which held a strong influence in over 20 ST (Schedule Tribes) constituencies with an assurance to them that their demand for Twipraland would be seriously considered. Above all, before the election of 2018, the BJP made some lucrative promises to attract the voters. The manifesto ‘Vision Document Tripura 2018’ said Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would be set up in the state for sectors like food processing, bamboo, IT and textiles. It promised employment to every household, free education for women until graduation, 7th pay commission salary to state government employees and free smart phones to the youths. All these attracted the voters and in the ensuing election, the BJP led alliance could increase its vote share from 1% to more than 41% winning the election and forming the government under the leadership of Biplab Kumar Deb, who was almost unknown to the people. Another factor contributed to the sudden rise of the BJP in Tripura. Until the West Bengal state Legislative Assembly elections were held in 2021, the media and the BJP propaganda blitzkrieg created an environment that it was only a matter of time and the TMC would be defeated whenever the next Legislative Assembly elections were held. The BJP won in 35 constituencies, its alliance partner IPFT won in 8 constituencies. The BJP on its own won majority and together with IPFT, it won more than 2/3rd majority of the seats. CPM won in 16 constituencies. The BJP led alliance won all the ST seats except in 2 constituencies. The assurance on Twipraland played a major role in winning elections in the Scheduled Tribe reserved constituencies. In spite of the sudden rise of the BJP in Tripura, the popularity of the BJP is now waning as quickly as it rose. The disillusionment of the indigenous people with the BJP and its alliance partner IPFT is obvious with their defeat in the TTAADC elections. For the indigenous people, the BJP is once again perceived as the party of Bengali people, reviving the Bengali-indigenous fault lines in Tripura. After the defeat of the BJP in the West Bengal election, the Bengali support also was on the decline. Hence, the dependence of the BJP on rule by instilling fear with strong-arm tactics and communal polarization. Rise of Hindutva Ideology in the State: Needless to say that the leaders of BJP are the followers of political ideology of Hindutva and profess to belong to the Sangh Parivar or the family of parent organization – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The other organizations of the family include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the Hindu Jagaran Manch, and the Bajrang Dal. Their political objective is to convert India in to a Hindu Rashtra. Until recently when the BJP won Assembly elections in 2018, these organizations did not have any base in the state. However, after the BJP formed the Government in Tripura, RSS and its sister organizations are becoming active with their cadres increasing manifolds. Their sudden and rapid growth was not because those joining their organisations subscribe to their political ideology. Those joining the ranks of the Sangh Parivar more often than not, wanted to avail the opportunities and promote self-interests through all means. The BJP’s popularity is now falling rapidly as the promises of governance did not materialize. The ordinary people we talked to – including the Bengali Hindus, seemed disillusioned with the BJP and its lackluster performance. One of the indicators is the TTAADC elections held on 10 April 2021. The BJP and IPFT had swept in 18 out of 20 ST Assembly constituencies in the 2018 elections. However, out of the 28 constituencies of TTAADC, The BJP could win only in 9 constituencies and its ally – IPFT lost in all the 16 constituencies it contested. On the other hand, the recently formed “The Indigenous Progressive Regional Alliance” (TIPRA) won in 16 constituencies out of 23 it contested and its alliance partner – the “Indigenous Nationalist Party of Twipra” (INPT) won two seats out of five it contested. TIPRA Motha was hastily formed by the Maharaja Kirit Pradyot Deb Barman and yet it could poll nearly 39% votes with its alliance partner, whereas the BJP alliance could poll little over 18% votes. Although the Left Front did not win in any constituency, they polled nearly 38% votes. The Hindus were not and are not communal in Tripura even now. Members of both the communities freely mix with each other, including the college students. According to a journalist we talked to, even the Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb does not have communal attitudes. In 2018, almost all the important Congress Party leaders were lured to join the BJP. Until the 2018 elections, neither the Sangh Parivar, nor the BJP had any base in Tripura. According to a journalist, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) could not mobilize 50 persons in the entire Tripura before 2018. However, with the formation of the BJP government in Assam, VHP was trying to make some in roads into the North Tripura district and had gathered some meagre followers. One VHP leader – Purna Chandra Mandal from Silchar used to organize meetings with limited success. However, with the attacks on the Durga puja mandals in Bangladesh, the VHP saw an opportunity to exploit the situation, rouse Hindu emotions and communally polarize by organizing rallies with abusive slogans. We were informed that outsiders were mobilized in the rally to shout abusive slogans and indulge in violence. More about this later on. Sensing the sudden dip in its popularity, the BJP is resorting to strong-arm tactics and its cadres are unleashing violence and intimidating every opposition on one hand, and the minorities on the other hand to intimidate them into submission. During our visit and from our interactions with the local people we could discern a tense and atmosphere of fear and intimidation against those who held views that were critical of the government or the ruling BJP. A reporter who did not want to be identified, told us that office of the Duronto, a popular TV channel in Tripura was attacked on 8th September 2021 to teach them a lesson for their live coverage of a well-attended CPI (M) rally. Duronto TV was attacked even in March 2018 soon after the victory of BJP at the hustings. When a VHP leader – Sonay Rai objected to the attack, they attacked nevertheless in the name of Hindu Jagran Manch. On 8th September, the CPI (M) headquarters in the capital Agartala was vandalized and cars parked outside the office were set ablaze by the BJP cadres (Kundu, 2021). The CPI (M) office in Sepahijhala and Gomatipur districts were also attacked. The CPI (M) General Secretary tweeted that thousands of Party cadres were injured and the Party properties as well as houses of the Party leaders destroyed. Prof. Muana from Tripura University told us that Prof. Alok Bhattacharya, who is very popular in the Tripura University was targeted and Prof. Salim Saha’s house was burnt down because he was in CPI (M). The BJP could win uncontested in seven out of twenty urban local bodies in Tripura. According to the Times of India report, in five of these urban local bodies, no opposition were allowed to file their nominations, while in two nobody except the BJP candidates could file their nominations in majority of the seats. The CPI(M), Congress Party, TMC and TIPRA Motha alleged that the BJP cadre indulged in large scale violence since the first day of filing nominations for the elections and they blocked their access to the office where nominations had to be filed. (Bhattacharjee, 2021) Even though we were in Agartala close to the date when municipal corporation elections were to be held, we didn’t see a single poster or banner of any non-BJP candidate. Only BJP posters, flags and banners were noticeable in every nook and corner. As expected, the BJP swept the Municipal Corporation elections. The petitions challenging the election process and expressing apprehensions as to whether the elections would be free and fair were pending. A Hindu rickshaw puller we talked to told us that he would have to vote for the BJP candidate, even though he did not want to vote for the party as he had apprehensions about the consequences otherwise. Most people, including the CPI(M) cadres, whether Hindus or Muslims, pleaded with us not to disclose their identities in our reports out of fear, particularly if they were critical of the ruling BJP. The common people seemed to be repenting having voted for the BJP. They did not want their age-old communal harmony to be disturbed. We talked to people with wide range of opinions. However, on one issue they all agreed – there is no communal ill will among people of Tripura. As noted earlier, the socio-political mobilization in Tripura is along ethnic fault lines -between Bengalis and indigenous people, not along communal lines. There is strong Bengali solidarity, irrespective of religion. The Bengalis maintain their control over the socio-economic levers that are necessary to maintain their community’s control over political power. Muslims and the BJP Government in Tripura As pointed out above, Muslims are 8.6% of Tripura’s population. The rich and well off Muslims migrated to Bangladesh after the partition. Those left behind are laboring classes and poor, doing odd jobs like plumbing, painting, carpentry, etc. Our journalist informant told us that 80% of plumbers, 95% of painters, 40-45% of maidservants in the state are from the Muslim community. A few of them after acquiring education have now become doctors and professionals. There is inter-dependence between members of both the communities. Members of the Muslim community appeared to be living under fear ever since the BJP was voted to power in Tripura. Use of draconian laws and strong-arm tactics by the right-wing cadres has scared the Muslim community. With a great difficulty, we got a Muslim law student to talk to us on the condition that we do not disclose his identity. Let us call him Akbar for the sake of convenience. Akbar told us that ever since election of the BJP, the Muslims are living under fear. There is an old dispute regarding a parcel of land admeasuring 16 acres, out of which 6 acres was used as a Muslim cemetery according to the government records. Abdul Ahad Miya a Muslim who migrated to Bangladesh owned 10 acres. Akbar told us that one Pradip Das routinely illegally occupies properties of weaker sections – Hindus and Muslims – through his strong-arm tactics and tries to get it legalized through litigation. He is now member of the Bajrang Dal according to Akbar. In 2007, Das had claimed two gandla (4 acres) of the burial ground but in the ensuing litigation, his case was dismissed by the court in 2009. The Tripura High Court also dismissed Das’s appeal in 2018. After the Assembly elections in 2018, Das claimed that he wanted to construct a temple on the burial ground and arranged puja on Mahashivratri after constructing a temporary Shiv temple. Muslims, according to Akbar, lodged a written complaint with the police station. However, the police were nudging the Muslims to settle the matter and give away the property. Akbar told us that Muslims wanted to bury the dead body of a Muslim woman in October 2018. Das objected to the burial. There are no Muslims around the kabristan. Akbar informed us that Das could mobilize about 250 people and they beat up those who were with body, including a Muslim police officer. The body had to be buried in another kabristan. Akbar further informed us that Das beat up Manik Miya who had lodged a complaint with the police station. Manik Miya lodged another complaint against Das for beating him up. According to Akbar, after the riots in Bangladesh, and its repercussions in Tripura, Manik Miya was forced to withdraw his complaints against Das on 10-11-21 and for all practical purposes, Das has occupied the land, constructed a Shiv temple in spite of dismissal of his title suit and appeal. According to Akbar, in the year 2019, after winning in both the constituencies in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections – Tripura East and Tripura West – there was an attack on Jamia Masjid in South Joynagar during Ramzan. Window glasses were broken in the attack. Out of fear, the number of cow and buffalo sacrificed during Eid ul-Adha has drastically come down, even though there is no ban on slaughter of cows or buffaloes in Tripura. Before 2018, about 7 big animals and 8 goats would be sacrificed by the Muslims in Agartala during Eid ul-Adha festival. However, last year only 3 big animals were sacrificed and in 2019, only 2 big animals were sacrificed, after deployment of Tripura State Rifles turning the area into a war like zone. Communal Incidents in Bangladesh: Bangladesh, which shares its borders with the state of Tripura on three sides, prepared for its largest Hindu religious festival, Durga puja in the second week of October 2021. Like yester years, all arrangements were made across the country to offer the worship. Surprisingly, in the morning of October 13, allegations of defaming the Muslim holy book Quran emerged from a makeshift temple in Comilla district. Reportedly, a copy of Quran was noticed on the lap of an idol of Goddess Durga and the image was circulated widely through the social media platforms. The Bangladesh government took initiative in deploying police personnel and appealed to people to maintain peace. The government instructed the police to investigate the incident and take appropriate action. However, soon after the report was circulated on the social media platforms, an angry mob started attacking local temples in Comilla and soon religious tension transcended to other districts of Bangladesh. Reports of attacks from Comilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, Chattogram, Bandarban, Cox’s Bazar, Narashingdi and Gazipur on temples, houses, shops of minorities, and physical attacks were documented in at least in a dozen of districts of Bangladesh mostly in the southern area. Seeing the gravity of the communal incidents the Bangladesh Government deployed military forces in 22 districts to protect its minority Hindu community. A Muslim miscreant named Iqbal Hussain was arrested by the police who placed the Quran on the lap of an idol at Nanua Dighir Par puja mandap in Comilla for instigating the Muslims against the Hindus. Repercussion and series of communal incidents in Tripura: The VHP, Bajrang Dal and other Hindu nationalist organizations may have perceived the attacks on Durga puja mandals in Bangladesh as an opportunity stigmatize Islam and the Muslim community in Tripura and turn the Hindu feelings against the Muslim community with the objective to spread their political ideology of Hindutva. The BJP led government, it appears, might have decided to allow the Hindu nationalist organisations to arouse communal passions and permitted them to take out rallies. The ruling party ought to have known that the rallies were meant to arouse communal passions and the situation may go out of control. These rallies were to convey the message that in order to “save Hinduism”, the Hindus should remain united and support the BJP. Soon after the Bangladesh incidents, a series of rallies were taken out by Hinditva organizations under the banners of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Hindu Jagaran Manch (HJM). During some of these protest rallies, miscreants purportedly vandalised several houses, shops and mosques. The VHP and the HJM took out their first rally on 21 October 2021 in Udaipur, the HQ of Gomati district. “Trouble started when police denied permission to the procession to proceed to Fotamati and Hirapur areas in Udaipur, where members of the minority community live in large numbers.” (PTI, 2021). The PTI reports that 10,000 people participated in the rally, but that could have been an exaggeration. On the same day (21 October), rallies were organized in Agartala city in West Tripura district and Dharamnagar in North Tripura district as well. Fifteen kms from Dharamnagar, a mosque that was built by the CRPF for its personnel to pray in inside CRPF campus and alongside Debasthan Temple in 1982 was burnt at night on 21 October. Another rally in Panisagar and Rowa bazar was organized on Tuesday, 26 October and the police allowed the rally. A very small police force accompanied the rally, which proved to be utterly outnumbered and incapable to control the riotous mob when the shops were targeted in Rowa bazar and a mosque was damaged. More about this incident a little later. The rallies were an attempt to arouse communal passions and created tensed situation and insecurity within the minorities. The first communal act in retaliation to the Bangladesh incidents took place at Hurijola, Udaipur subdivision of Gomati district. We were informed by Imam Zia ur Rahman that on 15th October night/16th October morning, some unidentified miscreants, burnt down the temporary structure of tin and bamboo that functioned as a Hurijola Masjid of Dargah Bazar. He did not know who burnt the mosque as they were sleeping and they discovered the mischief only in the morning. The Muslims of the area were shocked seeing as they never witnessed in the past such communal act. They were afraid of being attacked by the local Hindus with whom they have inhabited peacefully. However, the local Hindus also stood by their side and condemned the act of burning the Mosque. People are of the opinion that the act was not done by any local but by some outsiders in order to arouse communal passions and polarize the Hindus and Muslims. The local Muslims filed a police complaint at the Kakrabon Police Station pertaining to the destruction of the Mosque. However, the villagers we talked to had no information of any investigation into the incident launched by the police nor arrested anyone. The Muslims we talked to didn’t fail to mention to us the fact that Abhishekh Dev Rai, a BJP leader, assured the Muslims of the village of providing compensation for the destruction of the Masjid. The local Muslims praised the act the leader. With the temporary tin and bamboo shed structure serving as a mosque burnt down, a Muslim resident of the village has now offered his premises for namaz. In the midnight of October 16th / 17th early morning hours, two mosques in Anukul Colony, Uttar Maharani – Hirapur Jame Masjid, and Hirapur Paschim Para Masjid – were also mildly damaged by some miscreants. The miscreants disconnected the power supply to the Mosques. They might have done the act to provoke a reaction from the Muslim community leading to communal riot. Although the Muslim community was angry and a mob gathered next day, sensible elements within the community took steps immediately to restore the power supply connection and communal mishap was averted. Here also the local Muslims think that these are not the acts any local Hindus as they still have their unity intact. Ramjan Hussain, a villager said, ‘We don’t have any fear from our local Hindu counterpart. But we fear of getting attacked by outsider goons.’ The next incidents took place in Kalaishahar sub-division of the Unakoti district. Many other small communal acts took place at different places of Kailashahar. On 17th October, a saffrom flag was hoisted surreptiously on the house of Abdul Mannan in Govindapur, a local contractor, having his sympathies with the CPI (M) and his sister-in-law had contested local body elections as a CPI (M) candidate. It surprised everyone as to what was the message behind this. However, two days after this incident, at about 4.00 am in the morning, people walking towards the Kailashahar Jama Mosque, which is over a century old structure, saw two unidentified miscreants on cycle speeding away after hoisting a saffron flag atop the Mosque wall on 19th October. Once again, the intention seems to create communal sentiments in the minds of the people. Abdul Mannan’s home was vandalized once again on 23rd October. The same perpetrators also vandalized a Bakery owned by Shamim Ahmed. Intimidating opponents while Municipal elections were soon due also may have been the motivation behind attacking Abdul Mannan’s house. Police complaints were lodged against all the acts. However, the police did not take any notable action. The residents of Kailashahar area remained calm and there was no impact on the Hindu-Muslim unity. Maulana Jasim Ahmed, the Imam of Kailashahar Jame Masjid and a Unani doctor, said, ‘aag ko paani se nibhana chahiye’ (fire should be doused with water). On 26th, Muslims damaged thatched fence of a Kali temple, in all probability in a retaliatory attack, but this could not be confirmed. However, on the initiative of the CPI (M) MLA – Mobushar Ali and the Kailashahar Police Station officer in-charge, the local Hindus and Muslims came together and rebuilt the thatched walls of the temple within a few hours. On the day the mosques in Udaipur and Unakoti district were damaged, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad organized a rally in Dharamnagar. Barely 15 Kms. From Dharamnagar, there is a mosque called as CRPF Mosque, also called as Panisagar Jamea Masjid. The Mosque was built by the CRPF as one of the 11 to 12 CRPF Battalions was a Muslim Battalion and they prayed in that mosque. In the intervening night of 21st and 22 October, reportedly, the Mosque was burnt, although the police have denied any damage to the Mosque. However, the police have come up with more than one version as to whether there existed any mosque as alleged, and whether the mosque was burnt at all and finally, who burnt the mosque – whether drug addicts did it (Colney & Vijayakumar, 2021). The differing versions of the police tells part of the story. We were not allowed to visit the Panisagar town and the mosque in question. We contacted the SP and the DGP of police. However, on the pretext that the matter was sub-judice, they not only refused to respond, they also told us that we could not visit the mosques or talk to people. If no mosque was damaged in Tripura, particularly in Panisagar, as claimed by the police, they should be inviting people to see the undamaged mosques themselves. The Caravan’s detailed story also quotes a VHP office bearer of Panisagar that the damage to the mosque was done by some miscreants and not members of VHP (Colney & Vijayakumar, 2021). There is at least an admission there that the mosque was damaged. The duty officer of the Panisagar Police Station told us that they had arrested five people in connection with the riots. If there was no damage to the mosques and no riots, why were those five persons arrested? The duty officer was not ready to disclose the sections under which they had been arrested. We tried to gather information talking to some of the local people and journalists about the Panisagar incident. Krishna Nagar and Chandrapur Jamea Masjid in Agartala city: On 21st October, there was a mild attack on the Krishna Nagar Jamea Masjid and Chandrapur Jamea Masjid. The Krishna Nagar Masjid is a symbol of communal harmony. Krishna Nagar is situated at the heart of the city of Agartala. Presently, Hindus inhabit the area exclusively. Before partition of India, both – Hindu and Muslim communities resided in the area. With the migration of the Muslims to Bangladesh, and the exchange of properties with the immigrant Hindu population of Krishna Nagar, no Muslims were left in the area. With the Muslims leaving the area, the Masjid was abandoned. No namaz or Salah was offered there. There was no one to take care of the Masjid from Islamic point of view. However, it is the local Hindus who took all care of the Masjid. They even lighted candles inside the Masjid thinking that the structure was a sufi shrine. The other Muslims of the city of Agartala were unaware about the existence of the Masjid. However, around twenty years back, the Muslims of the city came to know about the existence of the Masjid. It is the faith of Muslims that a masjid should not be abandoned and there should be regular prayers. Thus the city Muslims approached the local Hindus of Krishna Nagar and expressed their desire of taking over the Masjid for regular namaz or Salah. The local Hindus who were taking care of the Masjid happily accepted the proposal of the Muslims, though not a single Muslim family was residing and handed the property willingly. It was a glittering example of toleration of Hinduism the in the area. However, on 21st October violence, some miscreants also attacked this Masjid. A glass window and a CCTV camera was broken. The local Hindus were as much pained as they had taken care of the Mosque for many decades. On 21 October, unknown persons threw burning embers inside the premises of over a hundred year old Chandrapur Jamea Masjid, which is adjacent to a Kali temple in Agartala. The Hindu neighbours who shared their wall with the mosque rushed to help douse the fire and threw water from buckets. Some wooden doors were mildly burnt. Next day, i.e. on 22 October, someone threw supposedly pork flesh inside the Mosque premises. Though pained, the Muslims praying inside the Mosque whom we talked to nurtured no resentment against the Hindu community. Similarly, some other unidentified miscreants attacked another hundred years old mosque adjacent to a temple in Agartala and threw pig flesh in the premises of the Masjid. The local Hindus of the area are not happy at all with these communal acts and condemned these. The local people assured safety of the caretakers of the Masjids. On 23 October, a Shiva idol was found broken on the top of an abandoned hillock, North Tripura. On social media platforms, the netizens claimed that the ‘Jihadis’ broke the temple. On 26 October, the VHP and Hindu Jagran Manch organized a rally for the second time in along a long route to protest against the communal violence in Bangladesh in Panisagar sub-division traversing Chamtilla, Jalebasha and Rowa Bazar. The estimate of strength of the rally ranges from 1,600 by a journalist based in Tripura whom we spoke to, to 4,000 by some local residents, to 20,000. The figure of 4,000 seems more likely with a little overestimation. The local Hindu people were mobilized to join the rally. However, outsiders were also reportedly mobilized by the two organizations. As reported by a senior Hindu journalist, the rallies were organized under the leadership of a VHP leader namely Purna Chandra Mandal, a resident of Silchar, Assam. One of our informant who was eyewitness and does not want to be identified told us that vulguar slogans were being shouted during the rally. One of them was “Mohammad tere baap ka naam – jai Shri Ram’ (Jai Shri Ram is the name of Mohammad’s father). Those at the tail end tried to cause damage to the mosque in Chamtilla. However, local Muslims with some Hindus formed a protective ring around the mosque to save it. Yet, reportedly, some minor damages were caused (Colney & Vijayakumar, 2021). In the rally some miscreants who had joined from outside and vandalized a few houses and burnt about 6 shops and a local from Panisagar who was an eyewitness, told us that 9 shops were damaged at Rowa Bazar. A section seemed to have been mobilized to attack the shops and homes of Muslims. Some of them also vandalized a local mosque made of tin sheet at Chamtilla village near Rowa Bazar. A small police force accompanying the rally may have been outnumbered. The police were unwilling to use any force to deter the mob from attacking the Muslim shops and homes in Rowa Bazar. The police HQ is barely 10 kms from Rowa Bazar, yet additional reinforcements reached the spot after most rioting was over. The local Hindus who had participated in the rally were not happy as it took communal turn targeting the Muslims. It violated their expectation and purpose of the rally to protest the communal incidents in Bangladesh. The local Hindus never wanted a hostile relation with the Muslim inhabitants of the area. Purna Chandra Mandal immediately after the communal act escaped from Panisagar and left for Silchar. From discussion with the local inhabitants both Hindus and Muslims it is clear that the people don’t want be involved in communal politics and want to live in peace. Media report says the local Muslims also gathered in protest at Churaibari, but the local administration dispersed the gathering through discussions. Restriction on public movements was imposed under Section 144 at Panisagar and Dharmanagar to avoid further disturbances. One important CPI (M) leader told us that on 26th October, Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. had been promulgated prohibiting the assembly of more than 4 persons. However, the VHP took out a massive rally on motorcycles and cars shouting anti-Muslim slogans calling upon the Muslims to leave India and become Pakistani nationals. They shouted other vulgar slogans along with chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ defying the prohibition. They tried their best to provoke some reaction from Muslims, however there was none. How such a rally was permitted even while the police did not allow the TMC to hold public event citing the prohibition. Stern Warning from the CM and BJP MP Pratima Bhowmick Initially, for political gains, the Tripura’s BJP led government allowed a series of rallies by its sister organisations – the VHP and HJM, even while denying permissions to other political parties / organizations to organize public meetings or rallies. There were clear reports and evidence of damage to several mosques during and after these rallies, even if minor in nature. There were also reports of of abusive anti-minority slogans which are an offence u/s 153-A and 295-A of the IPC. The rallies were organized to rouse communal passions and to provoke violent reaction from some elements from the minority community. Fortunately, none from the minority community got provoked, and moreover, the rallies failed in arousing communal and anti-minority feelings among the Hindus as well. Though immediately complaints were filed by the people, neither the police nor other agencies of the government paid serious attention to take action against the perpetrators. Abhishekh Dev Rai, a local BJP leader only came forward to condemn the act and assured compensation of the mosque and safety to the minority people living there. Repeated incidents of targeting mosques made the Muslim community insecure. After belated realization that the rallies are not achieving their political objective of arousing communal polarization, nor provoking any reaction from the minority community, the Chief Minister stepped in and warned of strict action against those arousing communal passions. Also, the international media, including Al-Jazeera covered the damages caused to the mosques in Tripura (Naqvi, 2021). International media coverage was giving bad name to the country. At least Bangladesh was seen taking strict and prompt action against the rioters, which controlled the violence. The government in Tripura was in denial of any wrongdoing. The SP of North Tripura denied that any mosque was damaged in anyway. Surprisingly, the strict action promised by the Chief Minister was not against the organizers of the rallies and those arousing communal passions and promoting ill will and hatred on grounds of religion. Action was taken against those who were documenting and reporting facts and exposing the damages done to the mosques to contest the claims of the SP, North Tripura. Draconian acts like UAPA and sedition charge was invoked against the four Supreme Court lawyers (Muslims) who had come as a fact-finding team and two Muslim journalists from Assam. However, the press conference held by the Chief Minister along with the BJP MP Pratima Bhowmik had the desired effect. The VHP leader from Silchar – Purna Chandra Mandal returned to his hometown in Assam, the rallies stopped and so did the riots. However, the CM’s condemnation of the violence could have come earlier. The CM also announced that the mosques would be paid compensation for the damages. Our findings: From our interviews with various stakeholders, we summarize our findings as follows: 1. Although about 11 mosques, about 6 shops and 2 homes were damaged, it would be wrong to say that the violence in Tripura was a major riot. The damages caused to most mosques were minor, in case of Krishna Nagar mosque, only a window glass was broken and CCTV camera damaged. Some mosques that were damaged were temporary tin shed structures. 2. The violence was not spontaneous as the reaction was not the next day after violence in Bangladesh. It was not the result of outrage of Hindus. Deliberate attempts were made by the Hindu nationalist organizations to stoke communal passions by organizing series of rallies in various towns in Tripura and shouting slogans that were derogatory towards minorities. The violence was intended, but not elaborately planned as is done elsewhere in the country. The violence appears to have been perpetrated by outsiders and not locals. The local Hindu community sympathized with their Muslim brothers. 3. Though the violence did not appear to be spontaneous, those targeting the mosques seemed to be amateurs at the job, as they could not inflict major damages. The BJP expected to reap political benefit from the ongoing violent attacks, particularly as their popularity was waning. Hindutva organizations were largely responsible for the outbreak of the communal acts in the state. Realizing the adverse effects of the riots as they lacked popular sentiments, the BJP and the CM issued strong statement to control the riots. 4. Soon after the outbreak of the communal acts, the news spread like wild fire throughout the nation and it was assumed that a Hindu-Muslim riot had started in Tripura. Largely social media platforms and a section of other media also propagated that there were incidences of Hindu-Muslim riot. However, from our field visit study is clear that the Hindu-Muslim harmony still remains intact in Tripura. Neither Hindus nor Muslims want any communal incident in the state. The Hindu-Muslim harmony is a result of the situation wherein the political fault lines in Tripura are along ethnicity between the indigenous peoples and Bengalis. The communal violence in Tripura failed to shift the fault lines along religious lines. 5. The state was complicit with the violence initially, as they permitted rallies, which any reasonable person would know were intended to arouse communal passions, and ran a risk of triggering off riots. In Udaipur sub-division, the police did stop the rally from passing through Muslim areas at a belated stage on 21 October. There was low intensity violence going on in Udaipur, Panisagar, after 21 October rally. Yet the police permitted similar rallies on 26 October in Panisagar and Rowa Bazar. No action was taken against organizers of the rally and those who shouted vulgar slogans intended to promote communal ill-will and hatred. The state instead preferred action against those who were documenting facts and reporting the events. 6. Although the compensations have been announced, some of the mosques and families that suffered damages have not received the compensation. Recommendations: In order to establish rule of law and do justice to those who suffered in the communal violence, we recommend the following: 1. The government should take proper action to identify and give exemplary punishments to the perpetrators of the communal acts so that no one can dare to repeat such acts. 2. Proper compensation should be given by the government to repair and rebuild the damaged properties. 3. The civil society organizations should come out to promote communal harmony.