FURY AND THE SPEECH
This is what he said at Ravindra Bhavan in Margao ...
>> We are living in difficult times. We do not know what lies in store for us in the future
>> Hindu-rashtra goal has been on the RSS agenda over the decades
>> Modi government has been unveiling the prototype of a Hindu rashtra since 2014
>> They (govt) have intruded in all institutions, even probably the judiciary
>> The Prime Minister does not tolerate dissent. This govt is out to harass people
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MARGAO: Demanding a judicial commission to probe the raids conducted by the Maharashtra police who claimed that the rights activists had links with Maoists in the country, renowned intellectual Prof Anand Teltumbde, whose Sakhali residence was raided by the Pune police, said that it is unpardonable for the State to scheme against its own citizens.
He demanded judicial commission probe into all angles of the entire episode, including the role played by the Maharashtra Chief Minister in implicating the activists and take him to task.
Prof Anand was delivering a talk organised by Dakshinayan Abhiyan on the subject “Decimating Dissent “ the truth behind Bhima Koregaon” at the Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, on Monday evening. “We are living in difficult times. We do not know what lies in store for us in the future,” Prof Anand said, while asserting that the Modi government is out to transform India into a Hindu rashtra.
He said that the Hindu-rashtra goal has been on the RSS agenda over the decades, but the same could not be achieved for various reasons. The Modi government has been unveiling the prototype of a Hindu rashtra since 2014 in a bid to homogenize India, which is a diverse country, he added.
Asserting that the country has suffered under Modi govt on all fronts, including investment and employment, he charged the government of completely destroying institutions, polarizing the society, apart form saffronization over the last four years. “They have intruded in all institutions, even probably the judiciary. This is a dangerous trend the country is facing,” he added.
"The Prime Minister does not tolerate dissent. This government is out to harass people who are out to expose the dispensation," he added.
Prof Anand delved into the circumstances leading to the Bhima Koregaon violence and the repeated raids conducted by the police to harass the activists and get them arrested by the Pune police.
“The police have claimed that the activists plotted assassination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If you look into, Modi had claimed assassination even during the days when he was Gujarat Chief Minister on at least four occasions. What we have seen after that are around 17 encounters, which later came to be all fake. We have the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case. All these were cold blooded murders," he said.
Dr Anand said, on the day of the raids by the Pune police at his residence in Sankhalim, he was attending a programme at Mumbai. “My wife came rushing to Goa and later lodged a police complaint. I have lodged a criminal defamation complaint against the police and have also filed suit for damages,” he added.
Terming the BJP government as a “shameless regime” for portraying the intellectuals as Maoists, Dr Anand, however, expressed happiness that the police raids were condemned across the world by students as well as people fighting for the civil liberties.
“The raid has come at a time when the Karnataka police were on hot pursuit of the killers of writers and intellectuals in Maharashtra and Karnataka. May be the raids and arrest of the activists were part of a plot to divert attention of the probe into the killings," he added.
