Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The Prevention of Communal and Targeted Violence Bill, drafted by Sonia Gandhi-headed NAC, has invited sharp criticism from intellectuals who feared “flawed and malicious intent” of the UPA behind the proposed legislation.
R Venkatanarayanan, former Secretary to Government of India, pointed out that the draft Bill carried no preamble, objective or purpose and it only strengthens the suspicion that it has been brought in with malicious intent.
“It was appalling that even after 60 years of Independence, a Bill like this was being sought to be drafted by a body of unelected political appointees, whose own background is shady,” he said at a seminar by India Policy Foundation here on Tuesday.
Rakesh Sinha, Director of the India Policy Foundation, claimed if the Bill was allowed to become a law its ramifications will indeed be very alarming. “Not only will it endanger Indian citizens’ freedom, but will also render the very concept of free speech and expression obsolete and open the doors for fascism and totalitarianism,” he said.
“If this draconian Bill were to become a law and and applied with retrospective effect, even persons of the eminence of the late BT Randive and Acharya Kripalani would face criminal action for having spoken the plain truth about aggressive minorityism in this country,” he added.
Rajvir Sharma, Professor, Delhi University, compared this Bill to the draconian MISA of the notorious Emergency era, while veteran journalist Rambahadur Rai said that the ruling Congress, faced with erosion of its political base, is now trying to divert people’s attention from growing national crises.
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