Human Rights violation surfaced in the discussion organised by Opinion Movers

December 10: India as a developing nation is marching ahead in the arena of science and technology. When on one hand, it gives immense pride to an average citizen to boast of ‘Digital India’ marching ahead with pride to be a passenger of ‘bullet train’ in the near future; but at the same time in one corner of the same nation, millions of citizens are cornered in the name of NRC, Doubtful Voters (D-voters), Suspected Foreigners, ‘prisoners’ in Detention Camps, Foreigners’ Tribunal and the like. A 102-year old man languishing for some time in a detention camp and then running from pillar to post to prove his citizenship is indeed a badge of ‘cruelty’ glaring in the shameful context of humiliation. All these and many other issues cropped up in an inter-active session organised by social media group ‘Opinion Movers’ on Monday.

To commemorate the World Human Rights Day, ‘Opinion Movers’ organised this inter-active session at Ashirbad Marriage Hall (near District Library Auditorium). The various facets of human rights violation and allied matters cameup for discussion. However, the issue on which the prime discussion took place is “Human Rights violation in the context of ‘D-voters & Detention camp.” The panelists who enlightened the august gathering with their wisdom included Aurobindo Roy, Halim Ahmed Choudhury, Kamal Chakraborty and Snigdha Nath. The session became more lively due to the gift of the gab of Prof. Joydeep Biswas who compered the discussion.

Human rights activist Kamal Chakraborty tried to explore the origin of D-voters and deplored the negative role played by some advocates in dealing with the cases of the people labelled as D-voters. Advocate Halim Uddin Choudhury dealt at length on the legal point of view of the cases related to D-voters and the dwellers of the detention camps. Noted crusader for women’s rights Snigdha Nath highlighted the hapless plight of the women living in the detention camps and called for raising a strong voice of protest on the issue. Retired Bank official Aurobindo Roy dealt on some specific cases of people labelled as D-voters in Assam and pointed out how violation of human rights took place in each case. He called for a concerted effort in the crusade against such violation of human rights.

The programme began with an inaugural song performed by Sudipta Deb, a member of Opinion Movers. The event was enriched by observations made by other members of the group, like, Prof. Santosh Ranjan Chakraborty, Prof. Rama Prashad Biswas, Prof. Apratim Nag, Journalist Pijush Das, Educationist Anil Paul, Cultural activist Biswajit Das and others.

Later on, speaking to way2barak on behalf of the organisers, Dipak Sengupta admin of the social media group ‘Opinion Movers’ expressed the view that in a time and space, when human rights are blatantly violated by the state machinery in the name of ‘D-voters’ and ‘Detention Camp’, it is pertinent to have a threadbare discussion on these issues and thereby enlighten the masses of their rights. Apart from Mr. Sengupta, Arabindo Roy, Krishnendu Roy and Kamal Chakraborty were active in organising this programme.

In this regard, it needs mention that ‘Opinion Movers’ on 3 November had organised one such inter-active session which was attended by a large section of the populace. The identity crisis of the people of Barak Valley in the context of the present political scenario was taken up for discussion. It was a welcome move which was appreciated by all.