Report: Kevin Rodrigues, Pics: Dr Manoj D'lima.
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Sep 30: Udupi district unit of Indian Catholic Youth Movement(ICYM) organised a human rights information cum awareness camp at Don Bosco Hall here on Sunday September 28. The camp was held in the light of the recent disturbances in Mangalore and elsewhere in the state, that have attracted the attention of the country and world community. The organizers wanted to concentrate on what happened, why it happened and how could it be tackled if at all such incident recurs in future.
Udupi district president of ICYM, Manoj D'Lima, welcomed the gathering. Sr Suma delivered an introductory talk on the purpose, scope and objectives of the camp.
Ex-president of ICYM Udupi Michael Rodrigues divided the gathering into four groups, for facilitating them to engage in group discussions and then come up with solutions to the three questions posed to them, ie., (a) what happened in Mangalore and elsewhere on September 14 and 15, who did it and our reactions thereof, (b) what we should have done when attacked, (c) what should be our plan of action if such attacks are repeated in future. The groups were given an hour's time to mull over the issues and come up with their suggestions on these issues.
After an hour of huddling together and having mutual discussions, one person from each of the groups presented their solutions to the three questions posed to them.
Lolaksha, social activist, recipient of the state level Ambedkar award and Dakshina Kannada district president of 'Ahinda', enlightened the gathering on what is 'Ahinda', why it was started, etc., He explained, that 'Ahinda' was formed to protect the rights of minorities, backward classes and dalits. The Indian constitution has given the right to every individual in the country to follow, preach and practice a religion of his/her choice, he noted. Quoting various portions of rules, regulations and acts that protect rights of the minorities, he explained the way in which these rights can be relied on and executed.
As far as the police atrocities are concerned, Lolaksha chose to analyse the incidents into parts, like why they caned, what might have been the reason or instigation behind their act, etc., "Policemen are professionally trained to handle riot-like situations, disturbances and protests, while the general public are not trained. If at all the protestors throw stones at them, the duty of the policemen is to professionally and skillfully handle the situation, and not pelting stones back at the crowds. Even if they were compelled to resort to caning, they should have followed rules and hit only specific body parts of the protestors who are violent, as per rules. There is no justification in hitting at the weak people, ladies and silent protestors. The policemen are trained and paid out of the taxes collected from us," he pointed out.
As regards the future course of action under such circumstances, Lolaksha asserted, that it would be wrong to take law into our hands. "If at all a policemen wants to arrest us, we have the right to question as to why he is doing so. But, we do not have the option of hitting back, even when he is wrong. If we take law into our hands, it causes lawlessness, and we will be failing in our duty to protect our constitution. Sometimes, we may not get immediate result by pursuing law. But we should have perseverance and pursue the course of law with determination, and results are bound to come in course of time," he said.
A few questions were raised by the participants. "Why can Bajrang Dal be not banned," was one one of them. The gathering was told, that banning an organization does not give the desired result. If you ban an organization, it might raise its ugly head again, in some other form and some other name, they were made to realise.
In the second session, Mohammed Haneef, Ahinda secretary and advocate from Mangalore explained, that those who commit atrocities on the dalits and minorities do so because they feel threatened. As such, those who commit atrocities on dalits, backward classes and minorities are themselves minorities, he analysed.
In the third session, resource person Ida D'Souza, head of the department of MSW, St Aloysius College Mangalore explained, that the communal attacks in Mangalore and elsewhere, have a long history although the recent disturbances were quite intense in nature and appeared to be new. "The differences which came into the fore only occasionally through sporadic, low-intensity incidents in the past, have blown into strong attacks now. In fact, those who committed the crimes are not important. But those who made them to commit the wrongs, those who instigated the attackers, are the real men who matter. Small incidents, if left without being properly solved, grow into chronic problems in course of time. We should carefully watch and observe vigil about the perpetrators of crime because they are the danger men. We need to properly think over as to why they behave in this way, and watch what they are doing to disturb peace in the society. Sangh Parivar has hundreds of small groups within," she said.
She then went on to explain what is Hinduism and Hindutva, the two different things which exist in the country since long. When some persons suggested the resource persons to put on hold their repeated requests to observe peace, and felt that rebuttal through violent means would achieve the desired results, she disagreed. Giving examples of Jesus, who stood for peace and non-violence, the same principles followed and advocated by persons of great stature like Buddha, Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi, she insisted that peace and perseverance are the only paths that can guide us to our goals. "Violence might get instant results some times, but such results are short-lived and violence begets violence," she said.
Sr Mitchelle, co-ordinator of Jeevandhara Social Centre, Kulshekhar Mangalore and Renny D'Souza, social activist too acted as resource persons.