Thinkers’ forum resolves to fight fascist forces

Dharwad: Despite attacks on it, the Indian democracy is very strong, said Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, here on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters on sidelines of an interative programme on his book “Modern South India” organised by Dakshinayana, a forum of Left-leaning writers and activists, he said that some forces are trying to strangulate the freedom of expression, which has been guaranteed by the Constitution.

The Dakshinayana will express its solidarity to the victims of communalism and hatred, he said. “Political parties and politicians have forgotten Gandhiji's principles and have failed to bring them into practice, but the enlightened civil society will never forget Gandhi,” he said.

Linguist Ganesh Devy stated that Dakshinayana aims at rooting out fascism from the civil society and the forum is ready to walk an extra mile to reach its target. “We will do everything to bring down fascist regime,” said Devy without explicitly saying that his organisation will work against the BJP-led NDA in the elections.

To a query on whether Dakshinayana will support the ‘Mahagatbhandan’ in the Lok Sabha election, Devy said that the only agenda is to uphold the principles of democracy.

Another writer Rajendra Chenni said that Dakshinayana will not limit itself to holding protests and also focus on generating knowledge through writings and artwork. “It will also join hands with progressive organisations to curb undemocratic incidents taking place in society,” he said.

Writers Kalpana K from Telangana, Indranil Acharya from West Bengal, Shekar Pathak from Uttarakhand and Mohammad Kalam from Tamil Nadu among others also spoke.