Civil Liberties Committee meeting from tomorrow

The first Telangana State congress of the Civil Liberties Committee is scheduled to take place tomorrow and day-after in the city and would have renowned intellectuals, including writer Arundhati Roy, professor Nandini Sundar and Marxist intellectual Anand Teltumbde delivering lectures on various issues. Adivasi activist Soni Sori too is scheduled to attend.

The event will be held at Sundarayya Vignana Kendram, Baghlingampally, a press statement informed on Thursday.

Ms. Roy will address the meeting on ‘Hindu-Fascism and democratic rights’, while Prof. Nandini Sundar will talk about the ‘Adivasi struggles and State violence’.

Anand Teltumbde will expound on the responsibilities of democratic rights movement.

Besides, public Intellectuals such as Haragopal, Seshaiah, N. Naryana Rao and V. Raghunath too will address the meeting on April 7, which is open for all. On April 8, the delegates’ meeting will be open only for CLC members.

The statement by CLC condemned the “encounter killings” by Telangana police, the attacks on dalits and minorities in Muzaffarnagar, Una, Alwar and Dadri, and the harassment of those questioning the attacks on Adivasis in the name of ‘Operation Green Hunt’.

The murders of rationalists including Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh has put a question mark on democracy, while the apathy of the government towards the secularist tenets enshrined in the Constitution, which has led to the Hindutva demand for change of the Constitution itself is cause for concern, it said.

The atmosphere of intolerance towards right to dissent and freedom of speech have increased exponentially in the country and dissent against the State requires its permission, the statement said.

A call was given to all the rights organisations to come together and build a strong civil rights movement in order to fight the ‘emerging and growing fascism’.