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Academic and author of The Burning Forest: India's War in Bastar, Nandini Sundar accused the BJP-led Union government of perpetuating violence against Adivasis in Bastar and flooding the region with a wave of ‘anti-Christian’ violence.
“If an Adivasi takes up arms against the state, it is illegal. But at the same time if after exiting the Naxalite movement, he takes up arms for the state that is acceptable. We have to ask ourselves who the protectors of the Constitution are,” she said.
Nandini was speaking at the 16th Balagopal Memorial meet held at Hyderabad’s Sundarayya Vignana Kendram on Sunday, October 12. The annual event was held in memory of civil rights activist K Balagopal.
Accusing the RSS of wiping out the culture and traditions of the Adivasis, she said, “The local deities worshipped by Adivasis have been done away with to suit the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) mandir project.” She said that Bastar has become a ground for Hindutva expansionism.
Narrating the plight of Adivasis, she said that the government detains them for a prolonged period of time under the guise of skill training. This has led to the migration of Adviasis to states like Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in search of better livelihood and sustenance.
Alongside Nandini, Bharat Jodo Abhiyan convener Yogendra Yadav, Internet Freedom Foundation’s Apar Gupta and All India Lawyers Association for Justice’s lawyer PS Ajay Kumar spoke at the event.
Yogendra Yadav accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of undermining India’s electoral democracy by attempting to impose ‘One Nation, One Election,’ ‘Delimitation,’ and ‘Special Intensive Revision’ on the people.
“BJP knew that they could not amend the Constitution, so they have decided to change the architecture of institutions. The One Nation One Election (ONOE) to tackle the problem of time and calendar, delimitation to address region and space, and special intensive revision (SIR) to manage sections of the society and voting are all done to push towards electoral autocracy” Yadav said.
Apar Gupta spoke on Artificial Intelligence and Issues of privacy while PS Ajay Kumar spoke on New Forms of Land theft.
The event ended with a Mawtini- an Ode to Palestine, a short film on the ongoing genocide in Palestine. A book titled Rajyangani Ela Chudali (How should one view the Constitution?) penned by the late K Balagopal was also released.