Ours is one of the oldest civilizations in the world with a history of about 5000 years. We pride ourselves on the way we treat our guests… “ATHIDI DEVO BHAVAH”.
I am no fan of Mr. Jagan, but what happened during the course of his Odarpu Yatra esp. in Mahbubabad Railway Station is unacceptable to say the least. How can we claim ourselves to be civilized when rogue elements pelt stones on people esp. women; damage and destroy public property; escalate tensions, etc. I sincerely hope that such acts of hooliganism do not recur. (please refer to the PIL dt:16-05-2010 that has been filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India.)
The Constitution of India vide Article 19 (1) (d) specifically guarantees freedom of movement throughout the territory of India, right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. The Freedom of movement is a Fundamental Right of every citizen of India. Thus, preventing a person from moving freely amounts to gross violation of the Fundamental Rights.
The agitators would have been well within their rights to hold, if aggrieved, protests by holding black flags, sporting black badges etc, but indulging in acts of violence cannot be condoned. Having said that, such non-violent acts may not have got the “footage” that violent acts ensure. Here the role of the 4th Estate has to be called into question.
Despite Mr. Jagan having had a hands-on experience as to how one would feel it his/ her Fundamental Right is violated as had happened in Group-I and Group-II interviews (2006), where-in the Fundamental Rights of the many candidates as provided for under Article 16 of our Constitution were trampled upon, it is rather unfortunate.
Article 16 provides for Equality of opportunity in matters of Public Employment irrespective of Caste, Creed, Sex, Region, Religion, etc.
Peaceful protests are most welcome, however, violent protests and bandhs have no place in a civilized society and a growing, developing economy like ours.
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