the goan I network
MARGAO
Eminent author, human rights activist and Director of the Center for Equity Studies, Harsh Mander, on Sunday, said that India is facing a test in this Lok Sabha election, lamenting that what the people of the country are being offered is not a future, but to battle against the enemy within and outside the country.
He said the rising hate and economic inequalities and the absence of outrage against hate are matters of concern and do pose a challenge to instant communications. He, however, said that books and writings, readings will all endure as acts of solidarity, consciousness, kindness will prevail over hate.
Delivering his key-note address on the occasion of World Book Day at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Sunday morning, Mander posed a question whether there is a future for books and writings in the present times when these are not ordinary times as the world is in turmoil.
“We see mounting hate and bigotry. The minorities have come under attack. Their lives have become dangerous and difficult,” he said.
Mander, who has worked with survivors of mass violence and hunger, as well as homeless persons and street children, said that the world’s two largest democracies, the USA and India, have two leaders, President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Trump is considered a maverick in politics, while Modi is more dangerous than Trump as he has the agenda to rebuild India on the lines of RSS agenda,” he added.
Mander lamented that leaders such as Modi and Trump thrive in politics by dividing and polarizing societies, adding their politics is centered around dividing the people than bringing them together.
Saying that these politicians legitimize the hatred against human being, Mander asserted the first sign of hatred emerges when the dominant group blames the others and the minorities for all their ills. “In India, the Hindu majority are in control of the politics, business etc, but still these politicians project the minorities as the oppressors,” he said.
Mander also raised the question of growing inequalities in the country, with it’s wealth in the hands of only a handful of people, while the bottom 10 per cent of the population had to be content with only one per cent of the total wealth.
Mander, who had recently authored his 43rd book, said that he writes to express his solidarity with the affected people and to speak against injustices.
