HYDERABAD: AICC Telangana in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan on Tuesday found fault with police for stopping social activist Medha Patkar from visiting the families affected by the Musi river rejuvenation project. She said that every citizen has the right to visit the affected people.
“It’s wrong on the part of police to stop Medha Patkar from visiting the affected people. A progressive political party should not ask citizens like Medha Patkar to take permission before visiting an area,” Meenakshi said. She was speaking at the 30th All-India Convention of National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) session titled “Role of political parties and people’s movements in defending the Constitution and democracy”.
The three-day conference was attended by activists and political leaders from Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Bihar. Meenakshi said that she was speaking on the NAPM stage as a Sarvodaya karyakarta. She added that she grew up being inspired by Medha Patkar and others who were fighting for people’s rights, and she has been associated with NAPM’s movements for a long time.
“I feel that today’s political party workers are lost. They think power is given to them by people from the top. They have forgotten that workers take real power from people and from people’s movements,” she said.