People's Democracy

Protect Right of Assembly

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on January 7, 2011.

IT is highly unfortunate that the Supreme Court had upheld the judgement of the Kerala High Court imposing a ban on public meetings and rallies on road sides. It has been the common practice for political parties and other public organisations to hold meetings on the side of the road.  Since Kerala is a continuous urban-rural stretch, holding of the roadside meetings is the most convenient way to reach out to the people.

This right of assembly is now being taken away by a judicial fiat based on a far-fetched interpretation of the constitution that the right of movement is superior to the right of assembly.  This may be extended to the whole country. This order comes in the wake of other restrictions imposed by the judiciary on holding of demonstrations, rallies and general strikes.

This does not augur well for a democracy. The state legislatures and parliament should adopt legislations protecting the right to assemble, to hold public meetings and demonstrations.