‘Saibaba’s case an illustration of State’s excesses’  

The Constitution of India has become a stumbling block for the neoliberal capital State and hence the schemes on how to change the Constitution. The visible result is the shrinking space for movements, struggles, and autonomy of institutions, and thus the growing inequalities, said civil rights leader and former professor at University of Hyderabad G. Haragopal.

Law, theoretically, a consent given by the people, gives power to the State, and the law also limits that power. But when the State starts exceeding limits of the law and resorts to coercive forces, the product is always civil rights movements, he explained.

Mr. Haragopal was delivering the Alladi Memorial Lecture, of Alladi Krishnaswami, one of the members of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution, here at the University of Hyderabad on Monday (October 14, 2024).

According to Mr. Haragopal, former Delhi University (DU) professor G.N. Saibaba’s case is an illustration of the extent the State can go to.

“The State felt that anybody having a Maoist link deserved the type of treatment Saibaba was given. How can a 90% disabled man go to forests and fight?” said Mr. Haragopal, who was also the convenor of the committee for defence and release of Saibaba.

The courts that are for interpreting the law, in Saibaba’s case, wrote: “Our hands are tied by the UAPA, otherwise we would have given death penalty,” he added, to describe the gradual collapse of institutions, including universities, police and prisons.

Mr. Haragopal recollected how human rights education had an enthusiastic start and how it faced a setback in 1999, when BJP formed the government, and the subsequent ups and downs over the years.

The neoliberal economic model of development followed today, Mr. Haragopal observed, promotes selfishness as success, and cannot tolerate egalitarianism, enlightenment, questioning, creativity, justice, and values which human rights built are under trial.

Constitution, the hope

Former professor of political science at Osmania University and MLC M. Kodandaram said the Constitution remains the only hope.

“Translating human rights into practice is not an easy task. After 75 years of Independence, we realised that the only hope is in the Constitution. I have never seen people respecting the Constitution so much,” he said.

Published - October 15, 2024 11:38 am IST