Here’s What a Six-Member ‘March for Harmony’ Saw, Before UP Police Stopped Them
“… hum sauhard ki baat kartay huay yatra kar rahe hain, tab bhi hamaray dil main state ka darr hai. Yeh kitni bhyavah baat hai. Apnay hi desh main, apno kay beech, humay sahi kaam kartay huay bhi sirf iss baat par dushman karar diya ja sakta hai ki hum unki vichardhaara say ittefaq nahin rakhtay… (We are talking out a march while talking of peace, even then the fear of the state fills our hearts. How dreadful is this. In our own country, amid our own, while doing the right thing, we can be declared enemies just because we do not agree with their ideology).”
These words written by a young journalist, Pradeepika Saraswat, on her Facebook page a week ago summarised how she and five of her associates, who began a peace march from Chauri Chaura near Gorakhpur to Rajghat in New Delhi, felt as they set out on their journey.… On Wednesday, the Citizens’ Satyagraha March was stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police in Ghazipur and the six activists were taken into custody. During the 10 days that they walked, the activists traversed a couple of hundred kilometres.…
Then as the group proceeded towards Nekwar village, Saraswat wrote about how a participant received a call from a political party. “Woh samajnay ko tayyar nahin hain ki koi yatra sirf sauhard kay liye kaisay ho sakti hai (They are not prepared to understand how a march can be take out for harmony alone),” she said.…
