Atrocities increasing on Dalits: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

CHANDIGARH: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said atrocities against minorities and Dalits were increasing in the country and such incidents, if unchecked, could harm democracy.

Calling for rejection of ‘divisive policies and politics’, the former PM said ‘a dangerous and false binary’ is now surfacing in Indian political discourse. 

“Democracy is a system in which people without privilege have a decisive voice in governance. If this is lost, democracy becomes meaningless,’’ he said, delivering the first Prof SB Rangnekar Memorial Lecture at his alma mater Panjab University.

The former prime minister asserted that freedom of a country did not mean the freedom of just its government.

“It is the freedom of people, which, in turn, is not the freedom only of its privileged and powerful, but the freedom of every Indian.”

“Freedom is the freedom to question, the freedom to express one’s views, howsoever troubling they may be for others. The only constraint to freedom must be the freedom of others – in other words, the freedom of one person or a group should not be used to constrain the freedom of other individuals or groups. ‘’

The people need to question themselves whether they were turning to more authoritarian alternatives that,  in the long term, will end up destroying the country, he said.

“I need not dwell long on the current deep concern that attempts are being made to divide the Indian people on the basis of religion and caste, language and culture.  Atrocities against minorities and Dalits are increasing,” the former PM said. 

“If unchecked, these tendencies can only harm our democracy. We need to ask ourselves whether we are losing patience with democracy and turning to more authoritarian alternatives that may well yield superior short-term results but in the long term will end up destroying our country and all the achievements of the last 70 years,’’ he asserted.