Public meeting on
“No more Muzaffarnagars!!”
Thursday, 24th October 2013, 3.30 pm
Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, 2nd floor hall
Near CST, Mumbai
We have been reading news of riots in Muzaffarnagar. There have also been reports from citizen's groups that have gone there over the last few weeks. They have uncovered a horrifying scenario which all of us are very concerned about. There is a sense of this being another well planned attack like Gujarat in 2002 and we need to understand the situation in UP as well as what this means for the rest of the country.
The situation on the ground is more than grim. Many have been killed, while thousands have been displaced from their homes, jobs and villages, forced to live in camps, unable to return for fear of further violence.
There have been reports of mass sexual violence although very few cases have been registered so far. There are many cases of young girls who have gone missing. We are very concerned about the way women have been at the focus of this violence. As in the case of Gujarat, the issue has also been turned into one of "protecting" women of "our community". And, in response, women from the "other community" have been targeted and sexually assaulted.
The forthcoming 2014 elections seem to be at the base of these openly violent conflicts. The manoeuvring by right wing parties like the BJP and the abdication of all responsibility for protection of minorities by the so called “secular” party in power – both need to be understood to counter the possible communal polarisation and violence across the country as a run up to the elections.
We need to think and act together to put a stop to this playing with lives. There is an urgent need for all of us to see this engineering of communal violence for what it is. We need to know the facts of what happened in Muzaffarnagar.
It is in this context that we are holding a public meeting on Thursday, 24th of October 2013 at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, VT, Mumbai. Advocate Gayatri Singh and Hasina Khan have been to Muzaffarnagar as part of the citizen’s fact finding teams. They will share with us their first hand experience of being there. A compilation of excerpts from the fact finding reports brought out by the different citizen’s groups on the riots will also be distributed at the meeting.
Please spread the word around and make sure that many more people committed to the cause of secular democracy come for this meeting. We need to know the facts and to protest against this playing with the lives of the poor by all political parties, and the continual communalisation of society by the right wing parties like the BJP, Shiv Sena, and MNS in particular.
Venue : 2nd floor hall, Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh, near CST, Mumbai.
Date and Time : Thursday, 24th October 2013 from 3:30 to 5:30 pm
Forum Against Oppression of Women, Awaaz E Niswaan, Women's Reasearch and Action Group, Human Rights Law Network, LABIA - A Queer Feminist LBT Collective and other oganisations.
For further information, contact :-
Vahida 9821576992 Bharati 9869259199
Shakil 9969925602 Chayanika 9819356365
Amrita 9167937943
