Dissent doesn't cause pollution. Evicting OROP protesters from Jantar Mantar after NGT ban is shameful
OROP (one rank one pension) protesters and other demonstrators, exercising their democratic right to engage in peaceful civil dissent, were evicted and their tents uprooted from Jantar Mantar on Monday (October 30) evening, to comply with the National Green Tribunal ban on using the iconic protest site in order to curb pollution. Veterans in the military, many of whom have travelled from afar to lodge their complaint about the downgrading of the armed forces through the proposed non-functional upgradation, were left in the lurch with nowhere to go, as a result.
That this is a shameful and sorry turn of events is self-evident. Putting two progressive goals at loggerheads harms everyone, especially the marginalised and vulnerable, whose only recourse is the uber-visible site of protest that is Jantar Mantar, for them to be heard.
Why NGT ban is ridiculous
While the NGT has been doing its bit in the fight against pollution, the biggest cause of death among Indians, it's clearly overstepping its brief by conflating two completely different and not at all mutually problematic issues. Jantar Mantar has long been the hallmark of public and civil dissent in the national capital, much like Hyde Park in London, and it's this history of protest that's at the risk of being airbrushed with its rash and thoughtless order, in the garb of fighting pollution.
The NGT ban is a huge blow for democracy, as civil rights activists rightly point out. Jantar Mantar's proximity to Parliament - the highest legislative body in the country and the seat of its power - is why the site has been used for more than two decades to register public grievances through unique congregations, each of which is a documentation of the history of India's slow and checkered democratic progress. It's a place of dialogue, in which the "natural order of power" is inverted and the powerless get a voice.
The ridiculousness of the NGT ban is brought home when one of most lauded and well-known environmentalists of India, Sunita Narain, who is also the director general of the Centre for Science and Environment, opposes it unequivocally. Narain says:
"I think it is ridiculous. Democracy and protest is also important in a society. The rich of Delhi are not so privileged that they cannot have some sound. People also live where these protests will move. They also need to have their noise levels protected. If NGT says that no protests should be allowed at Jantar Mantar because it is noisy, then every part of India should have a right to noise protection. Otherwise you are dividing India between Lutyens' Delhi and the rest of Delhi."
No paid protests please
The "alternative" to Jantar Mantar, as per the authorities, is the Ramlila Ground, but the protesters say the North Delhi Municipal Corporation officials charge Rs 50,000 per day. Democracy can't be chained to "paid protests" or made available only to those who can afford to buy "sites of dissent", thereby compromising the very nature of civil dissent.
In addition, there are logistical issues, such as women's sanitation in a wide open ground that's Ramlila Maidan. It's also farther from Parliament, and therefore the visibility and challenge of a protest, dharna, sit-in, strike at Jantar Mantar is not replicated.
Humiliating OROP veterans
The eviction of OROP veterans is doubly shameful because of the long history of struggle for one rank, one pension in the military, at par with other services. Police and civic officials demolished tents and makeshift structures that were erected by ex-servicemen at the iconic Jantar Mantar, as they voiced their strong disapproval on both the non-implementation of OROP as well as the government's stand on non-functional upgradation of other central services, excluding the military, which has hit armed forces morale quite hard.
That the eviction happened one day before defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared that Army will help build the Elphinstone footbridge in a first, taking over what's clearly a civil responsibility of the PWD, or public welfare department, is absolutely ironic.
Probably 1st time asked Army to come in to build what could otherwise be called civil work, but #Elphinstone tragedy was so big:Def Minister pic.twitter.com/6bARpRwAyJ
— ANI (@ANI) 31 October 2017
The @adgpi job is to train for war, not to be used for civilian works @nsitharaman ji. Don’t divert defence resources to civilian jobs(1/2).
— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) October 31, 2017
While the Prime Minister's Office wants Indian Army to pick up garbage at high altitude tourist spots, the defence minister finds it perfectly okay to deploy army for civil construction work, in a huge affront to the soldiers. It seems the army is useful only as a stand-in for unnecessary displays of faux nationalism, and is cast a blind eye to when grievances surface over decades of life-threatening service.
Taking away Jantar Mantar, not implementing OROP while allocating thousands of crores for statues to further partisan politics, shows how skewed the priorities are for those occupying various government and affiliated public offices in the country. This betrays a grave and shameful ignorance of history, politics, and contexts of the democratic struggles at hand.