It was informed in a Press Briefing held by a number of activists, writers, and political leaders that Anand Teltumbde will surrender on 14th April.
Mumbai| Anand Teltumbde, an Indian scholar, writer, and civil rights activist who is a management professor at the Goa Institute of Management will surrender on 14th April. It was informed in a Press Briefing held by a number of activists, writers, and political leaders.
The video conference was attended by the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar, Member of Rajyasabha and prominent journalist Kumar Ketkar, Member of Rajya Sabha and Economist Bhalchandra Mungekar, journalist Nikhil Wagle.
The panel univocally condemned the Supreme Court’s order demanding Gautam Navlakha and Anand Teltumbde to surrender for their links in the Bhima-Koregaon case.
Meena Kandasamy, a poet, writer, and activist said that the entire case of Bhima-Koregaon stinks of political vendetta and there is no substance to the accusations raised against the two activists.
Nikhil Wagle, the senior journalist, told that the charges on Teltumbde and Navlakha are “fabricated and ridiculous”. He went on to say that the whole case is a conspiracy by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Home Minister Amit Shah with the help of Pune Police.
Many members of the panel expressed their dismay over the charges of conspiracy of assassinating Prime Minister Modi. They said that although the charges were raised initially, there was no mention of these charges in the Sc hearing.
Bahujan Vanchit Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar, when asked if the Dalit organizations and political parties will mobilize people to protest against the order, he said, “Since the government has banned any type of processions currently due to coronavirus, it’s not possible to organize any such protest on streets. But we are in continuous discussion on how to raise our voices against these after the corona-crisis ends.’
Bhalchandra Mungekar said that the Pune Police has coined the term ‘Urban Naxal’ for the first time. He said, “The Supreme Court order inconsistent with the principle of justice.” He also said that it’s ironic for our judiciary that activists like Teltumbde will have to surrender on the same day Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was born.
Kumar Ketkar, attacking the central government, said, “The government arrested activists like Sudha Bharadwaj and others, because it wanted to snub the rising discontent against the government.” He referred the order as “political action” and not a judicial or police action.
While answering the question from HW News on what the left and Ambedkarite leaders think about the continuous character-assassination and tagging as ‘anti-national’, Meena Kandasamy said, “There’s a fishing net unveiled around the intellectuals and left activist in which the government is trying to catch every voice that speaks for civil rights and equality. Many of my friends have been picked up from different parts of the country. I am experiencing an element of absolute terror. To sum up, this is a well-planned and well-orchestrated attack on the people who speak for poor, Dalits, Adivasis, OBCs and others.”
The panel also released a statement signed by Gujarat MLA and Dalit activist Jignesh Mewani, Chandrashekhar Azad, Prakash Ambedkar, Udit Raj, etc.
The statement:
Jai Bhim!
Coinciding with the upcoming Ambedkar Jayanti, Dr. Anand Teltumbde , one of India’s foremost public intellectuals and the strongest legatee of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s tradition of struggling for a truly democratic India, will be complying with the Supreme Court’s order to surrender to the jail authorities. He will be surrendering on the 14th April 2020, between 12 noon – 2 pm at the Sessions Court in Mumbai. This is both tragic and shameful for all Dalits, Adivasis, OBC, and minorities on many counts for all of India.
It marks a day
– on which this country will celebrate the 129th birth anniversary of one of its greatest minds and hearts, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar and on which the mighty nationalist machinery seeks to crush the spirit that kept the flame of democracy alive in our midst;
– when even very repressive regimes around the world are releasing political prisoners in the face of the Coronavirus, great minds like Dr. Telltumbde are incarcerated.
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