Meenakshi Natarajan, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Telangana, said on Tuesday that it was wrong of the Hyderabad police to stop social activist Medha Patkar from visiting a volunteer activist in Chaderghat on the banks of the Musi River. The police had claimed that their action was not linked to concerns that Patkar would meet people affected by the Musi rejuvenation project, a flagship scheme of the Congress government.
“It is the right of Medha Patkar or any citizen to visit affected people, and it is wrong of the police to stop her from doing that. A progressive political party should not ask citizens like Medha Patkar to take permission before visiting an area,” Natarajan said during her speech at the all-India National Alliance for People’s Movement convention.
Patkar, 70, known for leading the Narmada Bachao Andolan in Gujarat, made a quiet visit to a fellow activist’s home on Monday morning when she was asked to leave the locality. The police allegedly sensed potential tension in the event of her visiting the stretch of the Musi river where people are being relocated as part of a rejuvenation project similar to the Sabarmati project in Gujarat.
“I have grown up being inspired by Medha Patkar and others who were fighting for people’s rights,” Natarajan said. “Today, workers of political party think that power is given to them by the leaders at the top. They have forgotten that workers take real power from the people and from people’s movements. Hence a constant dialogue between party workers and people’s movements is essential,” she added.
“Real politics is about working for social and economic change. It is people’s movements who are doing that work, and political party workers need to learn from people’s movements and start doing real people’s politics again. In that sense, we need to re-politicise political parties,” she stated.
The police had said that Patkar was sent back keeping the law and order situation in mind. “If a national leader of her stature is visiting a home in the neighbourhood, at least the local police have to be informed. Without following the protocol of obtaining police permission, how can she be invited to a home here? What if something happens to her here? She was brought to the home as if she was a gully leader,” G Shyam Sunder, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Malakpet, had told indianexpress.com.
As part of the project, along with reviving the dead river, the government has promised to create a vibrant urban public space along the river with amenities for recreation, tourism, and commercial activities. According to the government’s plan, about 15,000 families currently living along the 55-km stretch of the river will be relocated.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
