THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Only a united movement of people against the repressive laws can save democracy, activist Natasha Narwal has said while delivering the 20th N Narendran Memorial Lecture. N Narendran was a senior journalist with the Indian Express, Thiruvananthapuram bureau. He had exposed several cases of corruption in public life and was a whistleblower in his own right.
“The whole country is in a state of war. The government is at war with its people and massive structural changes are happening in laws. An increasing number of people are being branded as anti-nationals. We need to challenge the state violence that is increasing every day,” said Natasha. Giving a lecture on the topic ‘Challenges of reclaiming freedom, democracy and civil rights’, Natasha said the situation we find ourselves is in a state of violence, one of the extraordinary laws and a highly repressive regime that is trying to control the lives of its own people and trying to brand every dissenter as an enemy of the state.
“The repressive laws and measures are not only used against political dissenters but also Muslims, Adivasis and Dalits. Violence is increasing at an exponential rate day by day,” she said.
Natasha is a doctoral student at the Jawahar Lal Nehru University. She, along with fellow activist Devangna Kalita, was arrested in connection with the alleged conspiracy related to the violence that happened in North East Delhi in February 2020. The court granted her interim bail on May 2021 following her father’s death due to Covid. She was released from Tihar jail on June 17 following a Delhi High Court order.
To a question on how the pandemic is affecting the mobilisation of people, Natasha said that it was a cause of concern for all activists. “We have seen that with the farmers’ protest. The arena of protest is being contained and surrounded by the police. It feels like a war zone Every opportunity, such as the pandemic, is turned to aid in its repressive acts,” she said.