Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (JD)
Mangaluru, Mar 24: "If we are called 'anti-nationals' for opposing the anti-people government, then I am an anti-nationalist," declared V S Vimala, state vice-president of Janawadi Mahila Sanghatane (JMS).
She was addressing a programme held as part of 'Azadi March' at Town Hall here on Wednesday March 23 on the occasion of Bhagat Singh's martydom. The programme was jointly organized by DYFI, SFI, JMS and others.
"Since the first few days of Narendra Modi government, ideologies of the right-wing outfits are being imposed. A situation has come we have no freedom to wear what we want, eat what we want, and travel to any part of the country. This situation is quite similar to the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi but in that case, it was announced as Emergency. This is an unannounced one. So we are in a confusion as to what freedom to ask for," she said.
"One who speaks against the government for its anti-people policies is being branded as an anti-national. If that is the case, then even I am an anti-national and so many people working in the interest of the country should be termed anti-nationals," she added.
Taking jibes at the Prime Minister, she said, "What can we expect from the person who is from RSS background? The people who have come to power in the name of development have given the nation in the hands of corporates, thereby making a mockery of democracy. What more can you expect from people who stay less in their country and more abroad. If there is something called 'sedition', then it is giving the country to foreigners in the name of Make in India."
Commenting on the Rohith Vemula case, "When Rohith Vemula died, HRD minister Smriti Irani, the one who is assumed to have many degrees, questioned his caste. She must have the common sense that the Supreme Court itself has said that the child inherits the caste of the mother and not the father."
On the sedition law, she said, "The 124 (A) section was imposed on Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh and the same section has been imposed on Kanhaiya Kumar. Hence, he also is a model to the people who fight for the rights of the downtrodden."
Journalist Sudipto Mondal, DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla, district president of Dalit Sangharsha Samithi M Devdas and others were present.
Prior to the formal function, a march was also organized from Jyothi circle to Town Hall.