The first part of the slogan was reminiscent of the Bharatiya Janata Party's election campaign tagline. The second, however, veered off the Modi government's course. “Ab ki baar, Humara Adhikar” (now it is our right) became the calling cry for thousands of protesters marching through Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, in a gathering aimed at defending "pro-people Act".
As the government seeks to dilute and alter a number of laws that it sees as coming in the way of industrial growth, Tuesday's Maha Rally brought together scores of different organisations attempting to remind those in Parliament that those legal provisions had an impact on real lives. “This is NOT a political party rally, but a rally by the poorest people of the country who are fighting for their very basic needs for survival ‒ food , livelihood, freedom of expression, social security,” wrote one participant on the rally's Facebook page.
The list of Acts under attack are the rights-based laws that were the hallmark of the previous administration. This includes the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which many have suggested will be scaled down to just a few districts; the historic Land Acquisition Act, which industry heads have insisted needs to be diluted so that it doesn't stand in the way of growth; as well as proposed changes to the Contract Labour Act, the Right to Information Act and others.
"Given the numerous ways in which the rights of the most marginal people is being attacked, rolled back, diluted and in many ways trivialised without due process of consultation, we are all here to first and foremost demand the right to be heard, engaged with and conferred on any policy decision that impact lives of ordinary people," said Aruna Roy, of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, at the rally, which began at Ambedkar Stadium and went on till Jantar Mantar, before protesters made a brief march down to Parliament.
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As the government seeks to dilute and alter a number of laws that it sees as coming in the way of industrial growth, Tuesday's Maha Rally brought together scores of different organisations attempting to remind those in Parliament that those legal provisions had an impact on real lives. “This is NOT a political party rally, but a rally by the poorest people of the country who are fighting for their very basic needs for survival ‒ food , livelihood, freedom of expression, social security,” wrote one participant on the rally's Facebook page.
The list of Acts under attack are the rights-based laws that were the hallmark of the previous administration. This includes the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which many have suggested will be scaled down to just a few districts; the historic Land Acquisition Act, which industry heads have insisted needs to be diluted so that it doesn't stand in the way of growth; as well as proposed changes to the Contract Labour Act, the Right to Information Act and others.
"Given the numerous ways in which the rights of the most marginal people is being attacked, rolled back, diluted and in many ways trivialised without due process of consultation, we are all here to first and foremost demand the right to be heard, engaged with and conferred on any policy decision that impact lives of ordinary people," said Aruna Roy, of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, at the rally, which began at Ambedkar Stadium and went on till Jantar Mantar, before protesters made a brief march down to Parliament.
The lists of donations which have helped pay for people to travel to come defend their #adhikar pic.twitter.com/JT0j36uCzO
— Humara Adhikar (@HumaraAdhikar) December 2, 2014
(Greenpeace India via Twitter)
(Bilal Khan via Twitter)
(Humara Adhikar via Twitter)
(Pragya Tiwari via Twitter)
(OsamaManzar via Twitter)
(Greenpeace via Twitter)