Press Releases Archive

Attacks on Lok Satta Party and threats against Dr. JP

Violence will only hurt people’s movements

Time for us to voice our support to reason and peace

As you are aware, yesterday (December 10th, 2010 – the opening day of the AP Legislative Assembly session) was marked by violent attacks across the State on Lok Satta Party (LSP) offices. This was following MLA Dr. Jayaparakash Narayan’ statements on the issue of withdrawing police cases against youth and student agitators in Andhra Pradesh. Grave threats were issued against him and LSP; effigies and properties were burnt and innocents’ lives were needlessly put at risk. ‘Warnings’ were issued that he along with other LSP members and supporters would be attacked if they continued to express their opinion or tour the State.

These are all based on attempts to distort Dr. JP’s actual statements. They are definitely against all democratic and legal norms; promoting such violence will only hurt people’s movements and genuine public causes.

Dr.JP’s statement was essentially that all cases against misled and innocent youth and students must be withdrawn - where there is no premeditated violence, arson, destruction of property and extortion in the name of agitations. This has to be done so as to protect and aid the future of these young Indians. It is evident that the withdrawal of cases against the students though has to be done by following due process - in a just, fair, firm and reasonable manner; and not arbitrarily.

In fact, the above message was also conveyed by the two-member government committee (comprising Shri Jana Reddy, the current Panchayat Raj Minister and Smt. Sabita Indra Reddy, the current Home Minister) constituted to look into the issue of withdrawal of agitation-related cases against youth and students.

The withdrawal of cases involves students and youth belonging to all regions. Injecting a regional angle into Dr. JP’s statement is unwarranted.

We all, as democracy-loving activists and concerned citizens of India, surely recognize that the primary duty of the Legislature and the State government is to:

  • uphold the rule-of-law and ensuring the safety and security of all citizens
  • protect the human rights of all individuals
  • protect the future of young, innocent youth and students involved in the recent events

William Gladstone (the well-known fmr. PM of Britain)’s succinctly defined the primary role of a government: ‘It is the duty of government to make it easy to do good/right and difficult to do evil/wrong.’ If this golden rule is not adhered to in our State, there would effectively no government at all.

Instigating attacks on Lok Satta offices and holding out threats against its leaders touring in the State are patently undemocratic and fascist, and deserve to be condemned by all of us democracy-loving citizens, activists and civil society organizations.

DVVS Varma
(Working President, Lok Satta Party)

Sunday, December 12, 2010 - 18:40

Lok Satta demands withdrawal of false cases

If an inquiry reveals that cases of serious offences had been foisted on innocent students, the Government should release them too, the Lok Satta Party today demanded.

Talking to the media, party leaders G. Raja Reddy, Bhisetty Babji and V. Vijayender Reddy reiterated the party view that the Government should withdraw cases against students guilty of minor offences during agitations irrespective of their region or religion. The only exceptions should be cases relating to violence, arson, property destruction and money extortion. The Government should review even such cases to find out if innocent students had been falsely implicated in them. The Government should withdraw such cases and punish officials guilty of foisting false cases.

The Lok Satta leaders underlined that students should not be deprived of their legal and constitutional right to carry on any agitation. At the same time, it should not encourage anarchy with indiscriminate withdrawal of serious cases, as Governments did in the past.

Condemning the attacks on Lok Satta Party offices, the leaders wanted all parties and civil society organizations to join hands to preserve and promote democratic values.

The Lok Satta Party leaders took serious exception to TDP leader N. Janardhan Reddy’s assertion that Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan would have been defeated had the TDP fielded its candidate in the Kukatpally Assembly constituency. They said that the TDP would have been defeated even in Kukatpally, going by the results in other Assembly constituencies in Greater Hyderabad. Leaders who let down students by not giving up their posts as promised are making baseless allegations to cover up their bankrupt politics.

They recalled that Dr. JP who founded the party to cleanse politics had asked why Chief Minister K. Rosaiah had not been arrested when he took part in a sit-in in a prohibited area on November 12.

Saturday, December 11, 2010 - 18:16

What Did Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan (MLA of Kukatpally) say?

Dr. JP’s comments on 10th December, 2010 in the Legislative Assembly as well as at the Media Point outside the floor of the House regarding the issue of withdrawing police cases against youth and student agitators in Andhra Pradesh:

1. The central issue is not about a particular party or a few individuals; or about a particular region or a particular group or community or religion. It is all about:

  1. Upholding the Rule-of-Law and ensuring the safety and security of all citizens
  2. Protecting the human rights of all individuals
  3. Protecting the future of young, innocent youth and students involved in the recent events
2. He quoted William Gladstone (the well-known fmr. PM of Britain) on the central role of the government: ‘It is the duty of government to make it easy to do good/right and difficult to do evil/wrong.’

3. He actually argued that all cases against misled and innocent youth and students must be withdrawn, where there is no premeditated violence, arson, destruction of property and extortion in the name of agitations. This has to be done so as to protect the future of these young Indians. It is evident that only a few, hard-core anti-social elements have created trouble.

4. However, he also pointed out that this withdrawal of cases against the students has to be done by following due process - in a just, fair, firm and reasonable manner; and not in an arbitrary manner, serving the interests of a few individuals. Other cases involving premeditated violence, arson, destruction of property have to be handled through due process (including compounding), involving the courts.

5. For instance, Bihar, until 5-6 years ago was plagued by anti social elements, kidnappers, arsonists, politicians colluding with criminals, etc. Reportedly, over 50,000 such anti-social elements have been convicted during the past 5 years - through due process and upholding the rule of law. This was done by the Fast Track Courts established across the State that handled such cases and convicted 52,343 such criminals.

To reiterate, the State government has to lift the cases against the innocent youth who did not resort to premeditated violence, arson and destruction during the course of the recent agitations. The rest of the cases have to be handled through due process upholding the Rule of Law – in a fair, firm and just manner.

Friday, December 10, 2010 - 21:34

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