ON March 1, 2020 a national convention of the writers and cultural activists was held at Jantan Mantar, New Delhi against the CAA, NPR and NRC. Hundreds of poets, writers, cultural activists Hindi, Malyalam, Telgu and other languages participated in this convention.

Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, Dalit Lekhak Sangh, Jan Sanskriti Manch, Pragtisheel Lekhak Sangh, Indian Cultural Forum, Delhi Science Forum, Jan Natya Manch, Jansanskriti, New Socialist Initiative, AIPSN, Sanghwari, Cinema of Resistance and Vikalp were some of the organisations that organised this national convention. Janana collective performed a play “Janana Ka Zamana”.

The speakers lambasted at the BJP government for bringing in a divisive Act which they said is anti-constitution of this country. They said the CAA and along with it the proposed NPR and the NRC intends to polarize the people on communal lines and establish fascism in the India. The plan of the BJP and the RSS to establish a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in India is against the spirit of the national freedom movement and the constitution of India; this plan is inherently against the minorities, dalits, tribals and other nomadic tribes of the country and through this plan they(RSS/BJP) wants to establish a system based on the principles of Manu.

The speakers also expressed deep concern and anguish at the communal violence in Delhi and said these incidents should not be termed as communal riots; the episodes of attack exhibit a dreadful future for out polity where the police in connivance with communal gangs unleash terror on the minority groups. As the videos shared in the social media depict horrendous stories of the attack on innocent people; this also exhibits the toxicity in the air in Delhi. The speakers also raised questions at the silence of the ruling parties in Delhi.

The convention stated at 10 am and continued till 4.30 pm. Some of the speakers who expressed their views in the convention include: Arundhati Roy, K Sachidanandan, Laltu, Subhash Gatade, Shubha, Vishnu Nagar, Manglesh Dabral, Tikender Panwar, Himanshu Kumar, D Raghunandan, Sanjay Kak, Bhanvar Meghvanshi, Badri Raina, Jagdish Pankaj, Hiralal Rajsthani, Lal Ratnakar. Arundhati Roy in her speech castigated at Narender Modi and said all those who have died, Hindus and Muslims in Delhi were victims of Modi raj. Our fascist PM, she said is not new to such fascist attacks on the people and some 18 years ago, in his own state, he was responsible for attacks on people which lasted for weeks together. She said the CAA, NPR and NRC are all part of the package to throw people out not just from India, but also from the Indian sub- continent.

The convention began with a Nazm- Ham Dekhenge, written by Faiz, was sung by Nandita Narayan, president of DUTA. Ashutosh Kumar and Sanjiv Kumar conducted the proceedings of the convention. Later in the evening a “Jantar Mantar Declaration” was read out from the stage which was unanimously accepted by the convention.

Apart from the speakers there were other luminaries from the field of literature and culture who attended the convention; these include: Azgar Vajahat, Naresh Saxena, Ramji Rai, Ramesh Upadhyay, Pragya Rohini, Priyam Ankit, Priyadarshan, Mridula Garg, Gitanjali Shree, Sudhir Chandra, Nirmala Garg, Ramayan Ram, Anil Yadav, Manoj Kumar Singh, Badal Saroj, Gita Hariharan, Jhabbar Rabbi, Devi Prasad Mishra, Hem Jyotika, Javri Mall Parakh, Sanjay Joshi, Ashok Bhoumik, Manoj Kulkarni, Harison Sharma, Gopeshwar Singh, Bali Singh, Sanjiv Kaushal, Pravin Kumar, Rakesh Tiwari, Davijendra Kalia, Balendru Parsai and Mukul Priyadarshini.