By Nurul Islam Laskar,MMN,
GUWAHATI: L S Herdenia, Convenor of All India Secular Forum (AISF), now on a visit to the North Eastern States, addressed a gathering of the AISF Assam State Branch in Guwahati on Tuesday evening where a large number of intellectuals and journalists were also present. Welcoming Herdenia, Hafiz Ahmed, Convenor of the State Branch, gave a brief report on the present situation in the State and various activities undertaken by AISF from time to time to preserve and sustain democracy and secularism in the region.
Herdenia expressed the view that when a ruler wants to become a dictator, he looks for enemies, both internal and external. If there is none, enemies are created. Furthermore, religion and ethnicity are used to suppress secularism and democracy. He said that any country founded on the basis of religion cannot be a stable country. He cited the example of Pakistan which was created as a homeland for Muslims. First, it got divided into two parts. Then, today it is perhaps the worst of the failed states of the world. Thereafter he bought to fore the example of Nepal which had a monarchy that professed Hindu religion. When peoples’ rights were suppressed, they rose against the monarchy and after a prolonged battle with the rulers changed the government to democracy in the Himalayan kingdom. He said India is a multi racial, multi lingual and multi cultural country and we cannot afford to repeat the exercises that ravaged our neighbours. Herdenia said, “People should be free to practise whatever religion they want, but the state power should have no religion.”
The AISF Convenor said some of the recent trends in the country do not augur well for democracy. For example, it is well known that the present ruling disposition is enacting new labour reforms under which any industry or business enterprise that employs less than 300 workers may be closed without giving any notice or compensation to the workers. This will kill all small industries and business enterprises on one hand, and ring the death knell for trade union movement in the country on the other. It is desirable that the working force in the country realise this and prepare themselves to tackle the issue.
The decision to form a six member commission for selection and appointment of Supreme Court and High Court Judges is another move that will jeopardise the delicate balance among legislature, executive, and judiciary resulting in destabilising the democratic setup of the country.
The Planning Commission has been abolished. Now there is no mechanism for States or trade bodies to sit and interact with the highest forum of planners before allocations are finalised for the states or the sectors of the ministries. All financial planning will remain concentrated in the hands of one or two persons, which again is not democratic.
Summing up the deliberation, Herdenia said, “During the Second World War, Churchill and Stalin were foes, but when they saw the greater danger of fascism engulfing the world, they sat together and shook hands. The time has come for all democracy loving forces in India to forget their petty differences and join hands to crush those elements that can kill the Indian democracy in the very near future.”