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Teesta Setalvad honoured with medal of courage
4-18-2018
Visiting social justice activist from India Teesta Setalvad was honoured with medal of courage by Radical Desi publications and Indians Abroad For Pluralist India at an event organized in commemoration of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on Friday, April 13.
Held at the Surrey Central Library, the event was organized to launch the Punjabi edition of Foot Soldier of the Constitution. Originally, authored by Setalvad in English, it was translated by Buta Singh in Punjabi. The book is a memoir of Setalvad based on her journey as a journalist and an activist who has been fighting for justice to the victims of state repression. The Indian establishment tried to prevent her from travelling abroad by slapping malicious charges against her. However, she was finally allowed by the Indian Supreme Court to leave for Canada.
Setalvad spoke at length about the current situation in India under a right wing Hindu nationalist government and growing attacks on religious minorities. She pointed out that the history of Jallianwala Bagh massacre has become more relevant today as the police and security forces continue to target people by using repressive laws.
It is pertinent to mention that scores of peaceful protesters were killed in an indiscriminate firing by the troops on the assembly of people at Jallinwala Bagh in Amritsar on April 13, 1919. The demonstrators had gathered to denounce stringent laws that were passed to suppress the liberation movement under British India. Setalvad’s great grandfather Chimanlal Setalvad was among those who cross examined the British army general who was involved in the massacre.
Buta Singh – who is a dedicated activist himself and the editor of Lok Kafila – a Punjabi magazine that covers alternative politics also spoke on the occasion and emphasised that there was a need to stand up against the ongoing state repression in India.
The event was started with a moment of silence for Asifa – an eigth-year-old Muslim girl who was murdered and raped in Kathua and whose killers were being defended by the members of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bhartiya Janata Party.
The members of Ambedkar International Social Reform Organisation (AISRO) also came to welcome Setalvad who was shown the library room named after Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar – the coauthor of the Indian constitution and a towering leader of the Dalit emancipation movement. Notably, the Friday event was held on the eve of the birth anniversary of Ambedkar. Chimanlal Setalvad was a close associate of Ambedkar and helped him in his struggle against oppression of the so called untouchables in a caste ridden society.
Later, a candle light vigil was held at the Holland Park where the speakers paid tributes to the victims of Jallianwala Bagh massacre and demanded the release of political prisoners, such as Prof GN Saibaba and Chander Shekhar Azad. Saibaba is ninety percent disabled below waist. Both Saibaba and Azad are currently imprisoned for raising voice for the oppressed groups.
Among those who spoke on the occasion included, Surrey Greentimbers MLA Rachna Singh, Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians Leader Shahzad Nazir Khan, AISRO cofounder Rashpal Bhardawaj an independent Ambedkarite activist Kamlesh Aheer, veteran communist leader Harjit Daudhria, besides Setalvad and Buta Singh.
The candle light vigil that is organized every year by Mehak Punjab Dee TV was started with a moment of silence for the Palestinian protesters who were recently killed by the Israeli forces.
About Teesta Setalvad
Teesta Setalvad author and one of India’s most prolific Human right Activist. She makes herself heard in her book Foot Solder of the Constitution: A Memoir. In her book Teesta Setalvad tells the story of her crusade seeking justice for the victims of the 2002 Gujarat pogrom.
Teesta states “The chain of circumstances and the details of evidence, post Godhra, establish that the Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and his cabinet colleagues had conspired, planned, prepared, organised and perpetrated multifarious crimes against the Muslim minority by causing and contriving to mobilise armed anti-Muslim mobs.”
She is the secretary of Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), an organisation formed for fighting for justice for the victims of communal violence in the state of Gujarat in 2002. CJP is a co-petitioner seeking a criminal trial of Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat and the current Prime minister of India and sixty-two other politicians and government officials for alleged complicity in the Gujarat riots of 2002. Four of the accused since then were charge-sheeted, two of them have already been convicted.
‘Teesta comes from distinguished lineage. Her grandfather, Motilal Setalvad, was India’s first Attorney General; his son Atul (Teesta’s father) was a leading Senior Advocate in the Bombay High Court.
Justice P.B. Sawant call her “A crusader in the cause of justice and human rights, Teesta’s life is a saga of small and big battles fought by a person with firm conviction and strong determination. She has proved herself more than a match to her detractors and persecutors however high placed they may be.”
The book is a narrative about her exposure to communalism as a young journalist. She chronicles three major communal riots—Bhiwandi (1984), Ayodhya/Babri Masjid (1992-93), and the Gujarat riots (2002). Her introduction to Gujarat, the State’s deep-rooted communal bias and how it all began is riveting, particularly for those who ask “why Gujarat?”
She writes: “In July 1991, I did a State-wide report on the surge of entrenched communal conflict in Gujarat.The BJP had, at that time taken out the Rath Yatra… I visited six or seven cities within the State, taking the intra-city trains. One conversation on one of these train journeys remained with me. It was with a Gujarati Hindu businessman. He was gleeful at the growing popularity of the aggressive and violent organisations that owed their allegiance to the ideology of Hindutva and the Hindu Rashtra. ‘They have removed the fear within the Gujarati to fight and kill, to take to violence. That is good,’ he said.”
Teesta explains the way dissent is being oppressed, the way mobs around the streets are lynching — either in the name of eating beef or because of cultural differences — all comes down to the media not doing its job.
Teesta states, “80% of the media is controlled by those with either political interests, mining interests or corporate interests— who are also members of Parliament. There is a complete stranglehold on democracy; two-thirds of the parliamentarians are television channel owners. That’s obviously not new media or free media.”
During her work she encounters a lot of roadblocks only to put her down. Yet she combats and finds her strength to continue in the spirit of Justice to prevail. Her book makes it clear that Teesta Setalvad’s fight is not just about Gujarat. It is a battle for justice and for upholding the principles of the Constitution.
Crackdown on Human Rights in India
Since a new national government took office in 2014, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), there have been numerous incidents of violence against members of Dalit, Muslim, tribal and Christian communities. The government has also clamped down on civil society organizations critical of its policies. Free speech rights are coming under increasing attack, often instigated by groups that claim to be supporters of the BJP. https://www.hrw.org/
The submission also details India’s failure to contain and prosecute vigilante attacks on minorities by groups supporting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the lack of accountability for killings, torture, and other serious violations by state security forces.
UN member countries should raise alarm bells that India’s proud history of respect for peaceful dissent is at real risk.
Meenakshi Ganguly -South Asia Director
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