Press Release

Dr G.G. Parekh and others

People’s Initiative to commemorate the 74th anniversary of the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi on the 30th of January – for National Unity, Communal Harmony, Non-Violence & Peace

Let the Nation Stand in Silence as One!!

Dear Fellow Indians,

Zindabad! In the recent years, the country is witness to the growing threat of communal fascism, even as the very founding principles drawn from the values and morals of our freedom movement are under continuous assault. The vituperative and hateful speeches against Mahatma Gandhi and the open threat of genocide against the Minorities, are a cause of great concern for all Indians who are committed to a modern democratic constitutional republic.

The communal vitriol being spewed by the rightwing communal forces on a planned systematic basis is meant to polarise and divide our society, whilst isolating and terrorising the minorities, women and all the oppressed and exploited sections of our society.

In fact, today, even as the nation will be celebrating 75 years of our Independence, these very rightwing communal forces, both belittle our very freedom struggle and insult the memory of the lakhs of martyrs who sacrificed their lives. They openly insult and demean Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our nation, who lead India to freedom & sacrificed his life in his struggle against bigotry and hate. Gandhiji’s message of unity and harmony, of satyagraha and resistance against tyranny, of peace and non-violence, today resonates across the world. It’s time for the secular democratic forces to give a fitting reply to these divisive forces.

Thus on the coming 30th of January, We The People of India will be marking the Martyrdom of Mahatma Gandhi, as a day of National Unity, Communal Harmony, Non-Violence and Peace.

The Proposed Programmes are as follows:

1) National Call for a 2 minutes silence to be observed at 11.00am & 5.17pm, to pay our respects and homage to Mahatma Gandhi. It will be organised across the length and breath of our country, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir and from Kutch to Kohima. The programme at 11.00am will be organised in a decentralised basis, where people will gather locally. We appeal to every state government to blow the siren precisely at 11.00am as has been the norm. Then at 5.17pm, when Gandhiji was assassinated, the programme will be organised centrally across every city, town & village across the country.

2) National Unity & Communal Harmony Marches to be organised in every city, town and village across the country.

3) Sarva Dharma Sansad’s must be organised, where people from various religions will share stories of harmony and the universal message of peace & love, enshrined at the core of every religion.

4) Sarva Dharma Prarthana for Harmony & Peace. Gandhiji initiated a programme whereby people from different faiths could come together and recite prayers and songs from the various religions. Gandhiji thus created a common sacred social space for people to understand, appreciate and experience the diversity of the divine.

Thus, let’s stand in Silence at 11am, in our schools and colleges, in our homes and offices, in our factories and fields, in buses and trains, in our places of worship, or wherever we may be.

Let’s stand in Silence at precisely 5.17pm, when Bapu was slain.

We thus appeal to all the social movements & people from all walks of life to endorse the above statement and wholeheartedly organise and participate in the forthcoming programmes.

Dr. G G Parikh, Medha Patkar, Hannan Mollah, Prof. Anand Kumar, Adv. Prashant Bhushan, Com. Ashok Dhawale,Tushar Gandhi, Dr. Sunilam, Prafulla Samantray, Kumar Prashant, Arjun Dangle, Dr. Suresh Khairnar, Shabnam Hashmi, Prof. Ram Puniyani, Ram Sharan, Bezwada Wilson, Teesta Setalvad, Javed Anand, Ram Dheeraj, Sandeep Pandey, Irfan Engineer, Martin Macwan, Jignesh Mewani, Qurban Ali, Pratibha Shinde, Sawai Singh, Gauhar Raza, Kavita Srivastava, Himanshu Kumar, Putul, Jagriti Rahi, Noorjahan Safia Niyaz, Chandan Pal, Neeraj Jain, Akshay Kumar, Satya Prakash Bharat, Dev Desai, Krishnakant, Varsha Vidya Vilas, Feroze Mithiborwala, Guddi S L.