In an ab­solutely un­de­mo­c­ra­tic panic re­ac­tion, at the eleventh hour, less than 48 hours be­fore the event -the M & N 20, sched­uled to be held at the Con­sti­tu­tion Club on 7 Sep­tem­ber, was abruptly can­celed by the Con­sti­tu­tion Club au­thor­i­ties, cit­ing di­rec­tions from the of­fice of the Speaker of the In­dian Par­lia­ment, who hap­pens to be the Pres­i­dent of the Club, os­ten­si­bly for se­cu­rity rea­sons ahead of the G20 sum­mit.
Jag­mo­han Singh, ed­i­tor of The World Sikh News re­ports.

DES­IGNED AS A PRE­LUDE TO THE G20 SUM­MIT IN DELHI, THE M & N 20 SUM­MIT was to wit­ness the par­tic­i­pa­tion of var­i­ous mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties from across the In­dian sub­con­ti­nent to dis­cuss and de­bate their sta­tus and chal­lenges, but it now stands can­celed. It was to show a mir­ror to the G20 group about what is hap­pen­ing in the host coun­try vis-a-vis the pa­ra­me­ters of in­ter­na­tional co­op­er­a­tion and the down­hill ride of rights of all sec­tions of so­ci­ety.

Rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Sikhs, Na­gas, Kash­miris, Ma­nipuris, Tamils, Mus­lims, Chris­tians, Bud­dhists, re­gional iden­ti­ties, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of bod­ies of Sched­uled Castes and Tribes, ac­tivists of civil so­ci­ety, hu­man rights groups and women ac­tivists were all geared up to par­tic­i­pate and pre­sent their stand­point to the na­tions gath­er­ing in Delhi for the G20 sum­mit.

The joint state­ment of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal and Dal Khalsa reads, “Dur­ing the last year, since In­dia as­sumed pres­i­dentship of the G20 group of na­tions, much has tran­spired in In­dia which has height­ened the con­cerns of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties in In­dia.  The con­tin­ued in­car­cer­a­tion of po­lit­i­cal pris­on­ers from Kash­mir to Pun­jab to Delhi to Cen­tral In­dia shames one and all.”

“The fear psy­chosis of Mus­lims, the in­jus­tices to Sched­uled Castes, Sched­uled Tribes, Dal­its and re­gional and re­li­gious groups, the to­tal sup­pres­sion of hu­man rights and mass de­ten­tions of Kash­miri ac­tivists, the at­tack on Chris­t­ian in­sti­tu­tions, the gross in­ter­fer­ence in Sikh re­li­gious af­fairs, the lin­guis­tic jin­go­ism in Tamil Nadu and the gen­eral cli­mate of hate is a se­ri­ous chal­lenge.”

“The fear psy­chosis of Mus­lims, the in­jus­tices to Sched­uled Castes, Sched­uled Tribes, Dal­its and re­gional and re­li­gious groups, the to­tal sup­pres­sion of hu­man rights and mass de­ten­tions of Kash­miri ac­tivists, the at­tack on Chris­t­ian in­sti­tu­tions, the gross in­ter­fer­ence in Sikh re­li­gious af­fairs, the lin­guis­tic jin­go­ism in Tamil Nadu and the gen­eral cli­mate of hate is a se­ri­ous chal­lenge.”

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In­dia Can­cels Mi­nori­ties & Na­tion­al­i­ties Sum­mit; Dal Khalsa Takes Up with G20

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The or­gan­is­ers of the sum­mit -po­lit­i­cal par­ties Dal Khalsa and Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Am­rit­sar, in a press re­lease, have squarely blamed the au­thor­i­ties in Delhi for scut­tling the event which was pri­mar­ily meant to pre­sent the con­cerns and as­pi­ra­tions of the mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties, peace­fully and de­mo­c­ra­t­i­cally.

Dal Khalsa leader Kan­war Pal Singh in­formed the me­dia that “though book­ings were made long back, the man­age­ment of the Con­sti­tu­tion Club in­formed us that in view of se­cu­rity rea­sons, they have taken a de­ci­sion to shut down the club from 7-10 Sep­tem­ber.”

“This sud­den can­cel­la­tion con­tra­dicts pre­vi­ous in­for­ma­tion from the Club au­thor­i­ties, who had as­sured us that the venue would only be closed from 8th to 10th Sep­tem­ber,” he added.

“This is not just a can­cel­la­tion of an event; it is the sti­fling of voices, dis­sent, and de­mo­c­ra­tic di­a­logue.”

Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment, San­grur, Pun­jab

Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann, a par­lia­men­tar­ian from San­grur, de­nounced the gov­ern­men­t’s move say­ing, “It is highly re­gret­table that an event aimed at ad­dress­ing the con­cerns and as­pi­ra­tions of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties is shelved at the eleventh hour. This is not just a can­cel­la­tion of an event; it is the sti­fling of voices, dis­sent, and de­mo­c­ra­tic di­a­logue.”

Not minc­ing words, Dal Khalsa leader Kan­war Pal Singh said, “We had this nag­ging fear that the po­lice au­thor­i­ties, purely in the name of law and or­der, will spring a sur­prise at the last minute, but to shut down the club at the in­struc­tions of the Lok Sabha speaker, sim­ply takes the cake. So much for de­mo­c­ra­tic In­dia! This last-minute can­cel­la­tion of the Mi­nori­ties & Na­tion­al­i­ties 20 sum­mit clearly demon­strates the gap be­tween pre­cept and prac­tice in In­dian Democ­racy.”

“While sum­mits like the G20 aim to dis­cuss global is­sues and gov­er­nance, it’s ironic that back home, the voices of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties are sup­pressed.”

Paramjit Singh Mand, Spokesper­son, Dal Khalsa

Vis­i­bly irked by the de­ci­sion, Paramjit Singh Mand, spokesper­son of Dal Khalsa said, “The abrupt can­cel­la­tion of the event is a glar­ing ex­am­ple of how de­mo­c­ra­tic func­tion­ing is com­pro­mised in the name of se­cu­rity and global events. While sum­mits like the G20 aim to dis­cuss global is­sues and gov­er­nance, it’s ironic that back home, the voices of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties are sup­pressed.”

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M & N 20 to pre­cede G 20 in Delhi to pre­sent al­ter­na­tive per­spec­tive

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Nein­gulo Krome, gen­eral sec­re­tary of the Naga Peo­ples Move­ment for Hu­man Rights, along with his team­mate Venuh and oth­ers was to par­tic­i­pate in pre­sent­ing the sta­tus of the Indo-Naga Peace ac­cord and the vac­il­la­tion of the In­dian gov­ern­ment since the Frame­work agree­ment of 2015, told WSN that, “Such can­cel­la­tions of im­por­tant meets at the nth hour raise se­ri­ous ques­tions on the ac­tual prac­tices of democ­racy. Sum­mits like G20 then merely be­come a po­lit­i­cal spec­ta­tor sport rather than plat­forms of gen­uine global co­op­er­a­tion.”

“Sum­mits like G20 have be­come a po­lit­i­cal spec­ta­tor sport rather than gen­uine plat­forms of global co­op­er­a­tion for con­flict res­o­lu­tion.”

Nein­gulo Krome, Gen­eral Sec­re­tary, Naga Peo­ple's Move­ment for Hu­man Rights

Ac­tivists from Kash­mir and Ma­nipur felt cheated as they missed the op­por­tu­nity to make the In­dian state ac­count­able for hu­man rights vi­o­la­tions in the re­spec­tive re­gions.

Upon learn­ing about the last-minute can­cel­la­tion of the M & N 20 Sum­mit, Ashok Bharti, Chair­per­son of the Na­tional Con­fed­er­a­tion of Dalit and Adi­vasi or­ga­ni­za­tions stated, “It is im­por­tant that there is an ex­change of thoughts and ex­pres­sion of views and it is un­for­tu­nate that we lost an op­por­tu­nity to in­ter­act and pre­sent our per­spec­tive to the G20.”

” Un­for­tu­nately, we have lost an op­por­tu­nity to in­ter­act but G20 must still heed our con­cerns.”

Ashok Bharti, Chair­per­son of the Na­tional Con­fed­er­a­tion of Dalit and Adi­vasi or­ga­ni­za­tions 

Fathima Farhana, the State Youth Wng Co­or­di­na­tor of the pro-Tamil Naam Tamizhar Katchi, led by Tamil na­tion­al­ist leader See­man, who was keen to par­tic­i­pate in the de­lib­er­a­tions at the M & N 20 Sum­mit, was aghast at the forcible can­cel­la­tion of the event. Speak­ing to WSN, she said, “The op­pres­sion of lin­guis­tic mi­nori­ties and the sub­vert­ing of Tamil lan­guage, cus­toms and cul­ture at the al­tar of foist­ing San­skrit and Hindi is my prime con­cern.”

“The rights of lin­guis­tic mi­nori­ties and true fed­er­al­ism are prime con­cerns to­day.”

Fathima Farhana, State Wing Youth Co­or­di­na­tor, Naam Tamizh­yar Katchi

“I look for­ward to an­other op­por­tu­nity to share the view­point of the Naam Tamizhar Katchi with re­spect to true fed­er­al­ism and how a cul­ture of su­pe­ri­or­ity and dom­i­na­tion is spread­ing in the coun­try to the detri­ment of all mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties,” she added.

On learn­ing of the can­cel­la­tion of the M & N 20, a Kash­miri ac­tivist re­marked, “Not sur­prised. In­dia is now of­fi­cially Bharat. Hindu Rash­tra is be­ing in­tro­duced to G-20. The cap­tive na­tions in Bharat (also known as In­dia) must have a plan to achieve free­dom.”

Dr Tara Manchin Hangzo, Ad­vi­sor, Kuki Zo Wom­en’s Fo­rum from Ma­nipur ex­pressed hurt and sad­ness at the turn of events.  Speak­ing to WSN, she said,  “Mi­nori­ties are bull­dozed and crushed like ants.” It is ironic that while In­dia hosts world lead­ers at the G20 sum­mit, mi­nor­ity voices are sup­pressed. Where should they go to air their griev­ances?”

“We are crushed like ants. Where should they go to air their griev­ances?”

Dr. Tara Manchin Hangzo, Ad­vi­sor, Kuki Zo Wom­en's Fo­rum

A Mus­lim leader of Delhi said, “As ex­pected, this is a clear-cut at­tack of Brah­man­i­cal Hin­dutva fas­cism on op­pressed peo­ples.”

A civil lib­er­ties ac­tivist from Delhi said, “The space for di­a­logue and de­bate is re­duc­ing by the hour. We have al­ready en­tered an era of au­to­cratic rule in what is eu­phemisti­cally called “the world’s largest democ­racy.”

Hav­ing the last laugh, Kan­war Pal Singh, through the joint state­ment de­clared, “This is not the end game. We will re­group and con­vene again. I thank all groups and ac­tivists in Pun­jab and from across Pun­jab.”

“This is not the end game. We will re­group and con­vene again. Soon.”

Kan­war Pal Singh, Se­nior Leader, Dal Khalsa

Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment Sim­ran­jit Singh Mann re­marked, “We will con­tinue to knock on the doors of the in­ter­na­tional com­mu­nity and make them aware that the chal­lenges and as­pi­ra­tions of mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties are se­ri­ous busi­ness and G20 can­not be happy only by hold­ing jam­borees at the ex­pense of the pub­lic ex­che­quer.”

With au­thor­i­tar­i­an­ism and dom­i­na­tion be­com­ing the norm, the chal­lenges to mi­nori­ties and na­tion­al­i­ties be­come even more acute. Nev­er­the­less, the fight must go on.