People's Democracy

WHEN the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) was being discussed in a joint session of parliament, journalists, teachers, academics, lawyers, writers and others observed ‘Black Day’ and sat on a dharna at Jantar Mantar, on March 26, to protest against the government’s attempts to push through the highly controversial bill after having failed to get it passed by the Rajya Sabha. Those sitting on the dharna said the method of pushing the bill through and purpose for which it was being tried revealed the inherently anti-democratic and anti-secular character of those who crafted the bill.

The participants were of the view that, coming as it does in the background of the Gujarat events, the POTA, if enacted, posed serious dangers that could hardly be overemphasised. It was unfortunate that democratic and secular allies of the BJP in the NDA were willing, for short-term opportunistic benefits, to become instruments of furthering the BJP agenda of destroying Indian democracy.

The organisations associated with the dharna were the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), Janwadi Lekhak Sangh (JLS), Janwadi Shikshak Manch, All India Lawyers Union (AILU), Progressive Writers Association, Janwadi Mahila Samiti, National Federation of Indian Women, SAHMAT and others.

The meeting was addressed by Kuldip Nayyar, DUJ president S K Pande and senior advocate Hardev Singh, among others.