People's Democracy

ON April 8, hundreds of journalists, artists and writers took out a march in New Delhi to condemn the brutal police attack on mediapersons at the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, near Ahmedabad, a day before.

The rally, organised by the Delhi Union of Journalists, began from the Press Club and culminated in a public meeting outside the Parliament Street Police Station. The rally was joined by senior journalists like Ajit Bhattacharjee, Sumit Chakarvarty, Praful Bidwai, Ram Sharan Joshi, Manglesh Dabral, Seema Mustafa, theatre personalities like Habib Tanvir and M K Raina, political leaders like D Raja, Arif Mohd Khan and Yusuf Targami, CPI(M) MLA in Jammu & Kashmir, and social activist Nafisa Ali.

The meeting called upon the media and concerned citizens to be ready for a march to parliament later this month to seek action against media-bashers and the perpetrators of Gujarat carnage. It called upon the Press Council of India to stop pontificating and, instead, immediately order a suo motto investigation into the incidents of press-bashing and attempts to intimidate and muzzle the press.

The meeting, presided over by DUJ president S K Pande, was addressed among others by journalists Shahid Siddiqui, Amit Sen Gupta, Prabhat Dabral, Seema Qasim, JNU students leader Albina Shakeel, and the president of Al India Urdu Editors Conference.

The rally was significant for the enthusiastic response it evoked. Because of the inadvertent confusion about the rally timing, people kept pouring in from 11 a m till 3 p m. The DUJ later welcomed the Editors Guild’s prompt visit to Gujarat.

The meeting resolved that the voices of sanity would continue to assert themselves to resist all dangers to freedom of press and peace. The protestors called upon all concerned journalists, academics and others to register their strong protest across the country.

The activists and journalists recalled the historic role of the Gandhi Ashram which has now experienced the darkest chapter in its history. They lauded the role of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in censuring the Gujarat government for its failure to control the post-Godhra communal violence in the state. They would hold their second meeting after parliament resumes its post-recess sitting of the budget session.