India is going for parliamentary elections during May-June 2024. These elections are considered to be very crucial, as the ruling BJP is doing its best to retain power for another term while the entire opposition parties are trying to come to power as a united alliance, named as ‘India’. The present union government under the leadership of Narendra Modi is banking on majority Hindus on religious lines and is openly encouraging communal divide, thereby threatening the secular fabric of the country and posing threat of communal clashes and massacre of minorities. This apprehension is more in view of the large scale massacre of minorities in Gujarat, when Modi was Chief Minister of that state during 2002. All those who believe in secularism, values of the constitution, principles of equality and equity are frightened about the future of the country and minorities and scheduled castes and tribes. Many intellectuals and other democratic forces have decided to enlighten the people to come forward to protect the values of constitution. Telangana Social Democratic Forum (TSDF) and Jago Telangana are two such organizations who started spreading awareness among the people about the need to protect constitution and secularism. Jago Telangana is a forum headed by Justice Chandra Kumar, retired judge of High Court of Telangana, while TSDF is a forum headed by Sri. Akunuri Murali, retired IAS Officer. Other members of the Committee are: Prof. Vinayak Reddy, Ms. Khalida Parveen, Prof. Padmaja Shaw, Prof. K. Lakshminarayana, Mr. Nainala Govardhan, Mr. A.M. Shoaib, Mr. Zahid Quadri, Ms. Sogara Begam etc
With this motto of protecting the Constitution, Telangana Social Democratic Forum (TSDF) in coordination with Jago Telangana organized a bus yatra in Telangana State from 1st May 2024 to 11th May 2024. The team went around all districts of Telangana state holding meetings and explaining about the constitution and the need to vote for secular forces. The bus yatra was flagged off from Ambedkar statue on 1st May and after having toured all districts of the State, the bus Yatra reached, Warangal on 6th May 2024. On 6th May, Ms. Jhansi Geddam joined the campaign and spoke to the people at several places giving a call to the people to come forward to protect the constitution.
Ms. Jhansi Geddam, explained that DSS conducted campaign in A.P. and Telangana, on the theme “Save Constitution and Save India” from 1st April 2024 to 14th April 2024. In this campaign DSS conducted meetings and awareness camps in district headquarters, villages, slums and in educational institutions.
The gatherings were explained about the need to protect constitutional governance. Constitution provides various provisions like Art.14,15,16 and 17 which are designed to bring equality and remove caste oppression. Apart from these provisions there are detailed articles providing for secularism, equality of treatment of all religions, protection of minorities and democratic governance. Constitution provides for uplifting the women. The constitution as it stands today is not acceptable to fundamentalist and feudal forces. These forces wish to replace the Constitution with age old manuvada. With this ideology in mind the present ruling forces are dividing people on communal lines. Their aim is to promote communal clashes and oppress minorities. These forces are responsible for large scale violence in Manipur, where citizens professing Christian faith are massacres, their places of worship destroyed and the women are raped and parades nakedly. Union and state governments failed to protect the religious minority and passively encouraged the marauders. This large scale violence in Manipur devastated the communal harmony and safety of people and women there. Likewise, the ruling dispensation passed Citizenship Amendment Act which is discriminatory of minorities and oppressive. In yet another instance, the ruling dispensation twisted the legal procedures and released brutal rapists in Bilkis Bano’s case. The released rapists were grandly welcomed from jail and were openly felicitated as if they were freedom fighters. This incident speaks volumes about the anti-women, anti-minorities attitude of the ruling party. Apart from being against minorities, these forces wish to strengthen caste hierarchy and oppress Dalits. Everyone has genuine fears that this government, if it comes to power again will replace the present constitution and abolish reservations for the oppressed castes. Further, after abolishing constitutional rights, these forces foist a religious state and dictatorial rule. People should be aware of all these dangers and vote for secular forces in the coming elections to save the constitution and democracy.
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