BENGALURU: When it comes to political and social activist Aruna Roy, fighting for a just cause has always been at the forefront. While addressing the audience at Equal – Voices For A Common Humanity at Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar on Saturday, she emphasised on the need for education with the right material instead of the perusal system being followed till date.
Roy (73), who led the fight to implement the Right To Information Act in 2005, expressed her concern when it comes to the alterations which have been implemented with respect to the RTI in recent times. “The present government is destroying the independence of institutions, with one of the most critical ones being the information commission. It is either rooted in corruption or misgovernance. You cannot flex your legal muscles to destroy constitutional rights but we will keep battling on,” she said.
The rise in cases of discrimination against minorities has been a cause of concern over the last few years. Roy asserts that people who placed their faith in the government have voted for a change with a very different direction. She added, “If people in the country are ill-educated, there is a need for mass education to understand what they are voting for. The concept of Indianness is being destroyed but how naive can the general voter be?”
Speaking on the subject of equality, Roy asserted her stance by claiming that the present government is not being committed towards equality but rather the opposite. “They can’t destroy the constitution prima facie due to the tremendous opposition so they have resorted to hollowing constitutional norms. Just take the setting of Article 370 as an example. It’s not only what they are doing but how they are going about it,” said Roy, whose journey as a social activist began after she left the Indian Administrative Service in 1974 to advocate for the vulnerable sections of society – a chapter which further saw the formation of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.
Over the years, Roy has extensively fought against political and social atrocities with sheer courage and never-ending commitment. Sharing her views on the current state of the country we live in, she said, “These are some of the most difficult moments in the history of our country since Independence. We have to seek beyond the negative narratives and each one of us has to bring out the right facts in our capacity.”