Hindutva a dangerous departure from our core constitutional values, Aakar Patel at ninth biennial HRF conference

India took an unnatural trajectory after 2014, profoundly affecting its economy and social fabric, Aakar said.

“Our economy has fallen behind Bangladesh in per capita GDP for the first time, joblessness has been above 6% since 2018, and our labour force participation rate is the worst in South Asia,” Aakar said, commenting about the state of the economy.

Aakar also spoke on the exclusion of Muslims from politics, where the ruling BJP has no Union minister or MP from India’s largest minority community. He spoke about the criminalisation of aspects of the lives of Indian Muslims, such as the triple talaq, possession of beef, and forcible ghettoisation. He said that Hindutva is a stark and dangerous departure from our core constitutional values.

“The political endorsement of this record means that this trajectory on both the side of the economy and the social fabric will continue unless there is resistance from society and pressure to change course,” Aakar said.

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Destruction of Adivasi culture

At the HRF conference, Akash Poyam spoke about the destruction of Adivasi culture. Akash is a faculty member at the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), Chennai.

“Even before the RSS set its foothold in the Adivasi areas, the ground had been prepared by several Hindu reform movements, including the Gandhian movement. With the rise of the BJP at the Centre, various organisations of the RSS such as Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram have become even stronger in these areas,” Akash said.

Akash also spoke about the resource alienation of Adivasis and the resistance against industries and mining.

“In several parts of central India, Adivasi mobilisation is based on the ‘culture and religion’ of the community,” Akash said, elaborating on how intrinsically linked land and nature are to Adivasi lives.

“It is, therefore, imperative to understand Adivasi culture and religion deeply if one seeks to counter Brahminical as well as capitalist forces,” Akash added.

Poor affected by Telangana, Andhra land policies

HRF Bulletin-2022 being released at the ninth Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state conference. Aakar Patel, K Jeevan Kumar, Usha Seethalakshmi, A Chandrashekar, UG Srinivas, G Madhava Rao, and S Tirupatayya can be seen (Supplied)

Researcher and activist Usha Seethalakshmi spoke about post-bifurcation land issues in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at the HRF event in Nizamabad.

Pre-existing asymmetries in land ownership have widened and deepened due to the processes undertaken by the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments, Usha said.

Usha spoke about the compounded impact of the BRS government’s policies, such as the purification of land records, Rythu Bandhu, Rythu Bheema, digitising land records, and Haritha Haaram in forest areas.

“In Andhra Pradesh, the state pooled large extents of agricultural lands for Amaravati while simultaneously resuming giving large extents of lands –– previously assigned to the poor –– for industries, solar parks, etc.,” Usha said.

At the Nizamabad conference, HRF republished the 2009 fact-finding report “From Kandhamal to Karavali: The Ugly Face of Sangh Parivar,” which documented the attacks on Christians in Odisha and Karnataka. HRF also published its 17th bulletin compiling essays on various aspects of human rights.

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