Bengaluru: Must resist being told what to eat, wear, says Margaret Alva

Bengaluru: “Some people are trying to tell us what to eat and wear. We must resist this oppression,” said Margaret Alva, veteran Congress leader and former governor of Uttarakhand and Rajasthan.

During her address at the Independence Day celebrations at St Joseph’s College in the city on Tuesday, Ms Alva stressed that people were worried about the direction that our country was taking. “The universities are in turmoil and the youth are restless. Women are insecure and demanding equal rights. Farmers are in distress and committing suicides. The minorities are afraid and are not ensured protection.”

She pointed out that it was not just the minorities who ate beef. “There are many Hindu communities that consume beef as well,” she said adding that, “we must resist this oppression.”

Well known social activist and former IAS officer Harsh Mander cited the example of Junaid, a boy who was murdered in a Delhi train. He said cases like these are on the rise. He added that he considered Junaid like his own son and felt that the country had lost many children to communal violence.

Social activist Vidya Dinker noted that ‘gau raksha’ or ‘cow vigilantism’ had been experimented with in Gujarat. “The current Prime Minister while serving as the chief minister of Gujarat had distributed Rs 75 lakh to almost 1,500 cow vigilantes.”

Veteran social activist Ruth Manorama brought to light the fact that slaughterhouses existed and the ban on beef did not mean that exporting of the same was also banned.

Former Karnataka cadre IAS officer Dr Chiranjeevi Singh stressed that India was becoming a society without a conscience. “We are slowly turning into a compassionless society,” he observed.