Farmers Movement Archive

Kolkata: City greens worried, seek legal advice

KOLKATA: The convenors of the Bengal chapter of Fridays for Future — the international movement of school students initiated by Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg to protect environment — have been seeking legal counsel and have called for a meeting of multiple environmental movement groups and science societies in Bengal to garner support in their favour after the arrest of climate activist Disha Ravi. The decision is also triggered by the issuance of non-bailable arrest warrants against Ravi and other environment activists Nikita Jacob and Shantanu Muluk in the Thunberg toolkit row. Bangalore-based Disha Ravi is one of the founding members of the India chapter of Fridays for Future (FFF) — an international movement of school students initiated by Thunberg who skip Friday classes to participate in demonstrations, demanding action from political leaders to protect environment. FFF has active local groups in 7,500 cities — including Kolkata — spanning across all continents with more than 1.4 crore members. Even as students and activists across the nation have come out in her support criticising the arrest, the convenors of FFF Bengal want to tread the next steps of protest with caution. “We are trying to contact some environmental lawyers and human rights lawyers and make a network so that if something happens to us, we have some back-up plan and lawyers to support us,” said Brishti Chanda, one of the founding members of FFF-Bengal. The NGO has also called for a meeting this Saturday at the East Library Hall in Sealdah to form a network of environmental activists and garner support. “We are trying to form an umbrella of environmental organisations so that we can address the issue together,” she added. Speaking to TOI, several members of the organization said Ravi’s arrest and the subsequent warrants against other activists have sent shockwaves among a large number of members and have left many of them unnerved. “I was in constant touch with all three. I have also used the toolkit. Disha-di’s phone is now with Delhi police. So, we can potentially be under threat. My family members asked me to lie low,” said a young activist and a student of Class XII. Another activist said that she had already consulted with a lawyer and the latter has asked her to not to speak on the issue in public domain or on social media right now. Such has been the scare that the official statement issued by the FFF-West Bengal on its Facebook page criticising the arrest only received 8 likes and 17 shares even though it has 1,760 odd followers on the page. “When I had shared the news link on our WhatsApp group, some members called me to not talk about the issue as our numbers can be tracked. Most members have even stopped communicating since the arrest,” said Chanda. “People think environmental movements are apolitical and so many of them join in the beginning. But they need to realise none of the movements can be apolitical. We had a large bunch of 60 school students who had joined us but they left as we began speaking about farm bills. Farms laws will not just impact the farmers but also the food security and land quality and the overall environment of the land. So it is important to raise a voice and members need to understand that,” added Chanda. Lawyer Jayanta Narayan Chattopadhyay found a legal anachronism the way Disha Ravi was framed. “Most of the sections imposed against her are archaic, created in British India with the aim of repressing people of India and suppressing their voices. Significantly, the people in power, who apparently championing democracy, used these same set of sections against their own countrymen. Voices of protest and dissent are no criminality,” said Chattopadhyay.

The Times of India

2021-02-17

Kolkata