By Saiyed Danish, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: A national democratic convention was held at Hindi Bhavan on February 27 in New Delhi titled ‘Democracy and Secularism’ organized by People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS). It was graced by eminent speakers like Jairas Banaji, Ram Puniyani, Irfan Engineer, Manisha Sethi, Himanshu Kumar, Dilip Menon, Mohan Philip, Shabnam Hashmi and various activists who are committed towards furthering the cause of secularism in the country. The day long convention saw many activists from different organizations suggesting and recommending the future course of action in the fight against communalism.
Jairas Banaji spoke on the ‘theories of fascism’ around the world how fascism was seen in different political settings of different countries. He shared that discussions on theories on fascism would go on only in the Marxist circles on the sixties and seventies but how significantly the outburst of academic writings on fascism brought of new debates on the issue of fascism which forced Left intellectuals to reconsider the classic Marxist accounts like Enzo Traverso’s book ‘Marxism after Auschwitz’.
Irfan Engineer struck the right note by stressing that new strategies of reaching out the common masses with the message of secularism have to be made and “we must not confine ourselves to these gatherings only.”
Manisha Sethi of Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association pointed out that the freedom of a common man is imperilled as both the national parties have the tendency of ruling the country on fear, threats and muscular power. “There does seem to be any difference between these on issues of rights and draconian laws. It is on these fronts that we have to ramp up the fight. However, our work on issues of terrorism has somewhat rolled back the mainstream narrative of terrorism a bit. Also, mere protesting or getting a bill based is not can’t help us win the battle but we have engage the sections of society we seldom touch,” she said.
Himanshu Kumar warned the audience and participants about the growing menace of communalism by citing how the Muzaffarnagar riots took place and how the saffron brigade is again to trigger riots in nearby districts of Muzaffarnagar. “I tried to contact many Left liberals and activists and invited them to organize programmes on ground level but nobody answered my call. Is this the way we are going to wage a ‘united’ fight?” he asked.
Mohan Philip, a retired IAS officer and the chief of the Adarsh Rashtriya Vikas Party said, “Dalit are adivasis are not free people. They are the classes which the prime targets of communalism today. We have faced segregation for generations and on daily basis. We cannot afford communal forces to come in power as they have cracked the code of staying in power by fanning sectarian conflicts among us. Ours is a fight to preserve and protect the integration of our country and not to it divided.
Among the youths who spoke on the burning issues endangering the heterogeneous fabric of the nation were Asad Ashraf of Jamia Students’ Solidarity Forum and Bonojeet Hussain, an activist and writer from Assam. Asad Ashraf raised the issue of students’ role in fighting fascism and suppression of students’ voice in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh University as a political plank to avoid any growth of minority “Why do they send a retired army general to AMU or why do send a bureaucrat to JMI as vice-chancellors? They simply do this kill any genuine voice of concern from among the student community which has resulted in creating a highly suffocative atmosphere in our university as there is no democratic space.”
Bonojeet Hussain busted the “over-arching” theory of “Bangladeshi infiltration at an alarmed rate” which he attributed to the sinister jobs of the right wing forces in Assam. “In a decade there has been 4% drop in the arrival of Bangladeshi refugees in Assam then how are they “stuffing” Assam with their presence I do not know,” he said.