Repeal sedition laws: Binayak Sen

Rights activist Binayak Sen today demanded repeal of sedition laws, saying they were being used to "suppress" the voice of the people. "Sedition laws are not benefiting free people in a free polity and they should be repealed", said Sen.

Rights activist Binayak Sen on Monday demanded repeal of sedition laws, saying they were being used to "suppress" the voice of the people.

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"Sedition laws are not benefiting free people in a free polity and they should be repealed. The law is being used to suppress the voice of the people," Sen, currently on bail after being convicted on charges of sedition by a Chhattisgarh court for his alleged links to Naxals, told reporters at the Press Club in Mumbai.

He said his organisation proposed to launch a campaign against sedition laws.

Sen said the process of expropriation of resources to private interests was increasing and it was against the directive principles of state policy. "Any land acquisition which hands over the resources to private interest is not legitimate."

On public protests against the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, he said the people there do not want the project to come up.

"Democracy is not limited to elections, but it is about governance by consensus. Democracy demands that people be taken into confidence. In a sovereign state, it is the people who are sovereign."

Speaking about Salva Judum, the anti Naxalite militia movement, the activist said it was not a spontaneous movement but a programme "funded by the Chhattisgarh government".

The apex court has, on several occasions, disapproved of arming locals, who are members of the Salva Judum, to take on the Naxalites. "I want an end to violence and it is possible only when there is equality. Violence does not solve problems... neither violence of state nor of the people against the state."