NEW DELHI: A union of government employees has demanded that Jantar Mantar be opened again for holding protests, arguing that the right to agitate and hold protests is the “soul of a vibrant democracy”. However, it suggested caution, asking the government to blacklist organisations and individuals found to be using protests as a pretext to promote violence, disorder or anti-democratic activities.
In a letter addressed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a copy of which is with this newspaper, the All India NPS Employees Union, one of the largest groupings of the government employees, said, “It is absolutely unjustifiable to deprive ordinary citizens of their constitutional right to peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar because of the anarchic behavior of a few people.”
Manjeet Singh Patel, the national president of the employees’ body said that he wrote to Shah, requesting that the voices of people not be silenced for the sake of a healthy democracy.
“Jantar Mantar is the historic platform where even a poor and disadvantaged citizen can convey their suffering directly to the government without spending hundreds of thousands of rupees.
Closing it will silence the voice of the common person in the country’s capital forever. I, therefore, request the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to reopen this heart of democracy to peace-loving citizens,” he wrote.
In the letter, the NPS federation said that Jantar Mantar had, for decades, served as a beacon of hope for millions of people from across the country, who come to the national capital to seek justice and draw the government’s attention to their legitimate demands.
The NPS employees’ body further said that Jantar Mantar was particularly important for economically weaker sections, ordinary citizens and employee organisations.
