MANGALURU: An open letter, endorsed by several organisations like the Campaign to Defend Democracy, All India People’s Forum (AIPF) and activists like P Sainath, Harsh Mander and others, has called upon the Dakshina Kannada district administration and the police to take immediate action against VHP, Bajrang Dal and other right-wing outfits for engaging in criminal intimidation and issuing threats to St Aloysius College, Mangaluru, following its decision to name one of its parks after tribal activist late Fr Stan Swamy.
The Hindutva outfits, at a press meet, had threatened that they will not allow naming of the park after Swamy at any cost and that the college will be responsible for any untoward incident.
“They have absolutely no right to interfere in the matters of a private institution. These organisations have a stated purpose and history of violence, communal divisiveness and subscribe to an idea of our country, with scant regard for the Constitution and the rule of law. This blatantly illegal behaviour is a consequence of the free run that is being given to these fascist organisations in coastal Karnataka.
These organisations are imposing social apartheid, interfering in the private affairs of citizens and acting against the Constitutional principle of fraternity by engaging in daily acts of violence and intimidation with impunity. Members of these organisations have engaged in lynching of minorities across the country, conducting riots and engaging in violence to push minorities into second-class citizenship,” said the letter.
The letter maintains that Fr. Stan Swamy was a person who was falsely implicated in the cases pending against him and subjected to the most inhuman treatment, leading to his untimely death. “Imprisoned at the age of 84 while suffering from Parkinson’s disease, he was denied the most basic of rights, being deprived of even a sipper. He dedicated his entire life to the upliftment of the oppressed sections of society and was targeted precisely for this reason. We stand with Fr. Stan Swamy,” it added.
The organisations and activists have demanded immediate action “against these fascist organisations for their actions of criminal intimidation” and said “the district administration and police should provide adequate protection to the college to ensure that there is no interference in its private affairs.”