By TCN News,
Ahmedabad: Several activists and villagers have taken into preventive arrests ahead of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s scheduled presiding the program for his plans for the world’s largest statue, ‘The statue of Unity’ of Sardar Vallab Bhai Patel on his birth anniversary.
Activists and villagers had announced symbolic protest in their own houses by staging day long hunger strike. They were not to assemble at any public place or sit on dharana at any public place. The sit on protest in their own homes is aimed at protecting their land, forest, livelihood, river, (jan ,jangal jamin, nadi, janavar).
Civil activists alleged that the detention is one in many in the series of throttling of freedom of expressions, adding that the statue of unity comes at a cost.
On 30 October 2013, 4 activists, Rohit Prajapati, Trupti Shah, Amrish Brahmbhatta, Sudhir Biniwale, were put under house arrest by Rajpipal police.
They were followed by police vehicles right form Devalia chokadi when they were travailing from Vadodara to Rajpipala. In Rajpipla they were not allowed by police to move out of the premises that they were in.
Meanwhile activists and villagers from more than 7 villages were detained from their homes by the police, again without pressing any formal charges. At midnight activist Lakhan Musafir, Dhirendra Soneji, Dipen Desai, Rameshbhai Tadvi from Indravarna village, Shaileshbai Tadvi form Vagadia village, Vikrambhai Tadvi and 2 others form Kevadia and other villagers were detained illegally to create atmosphere of terror inside villages to prevent planned well-announced peaceful hunger strike in villages.
Reacting to the arrests, social activist Shabnam Hashmi said, “It is most ironic, the Iron man being cast in Iron. No one knows how much money from welfare programmes will be diverted for this or whether this will be built with black money and in his name freedom of expression is being curbed for what he fought all his life against the British.”