Prasanna Venkatesh

Manhandled, dragged, assaulted n misbehaved inside a police vehicle and dumped by the roadside - for the crime of speaking to the media. This is not merely an assault on an MP. It is an assault on democratic freedoms and the rule of law. More chillingly, it happened within hours of the Supreme Court issuing directions to safeguard peaceful protest and constitutional rights. I have written to the Hon’ble President of India @rashtrapatibhvn , the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha @VPIndia and the Chief Justice of India seeking urgent intervention and fixing accountability for the police personnel, and action on the question of parliamentary privilege. The Government cannot intimidate democracy into silence. It cannot substitute the force of the baton for the force of debate. And it shouldn’t expect the people to surrender their constitutional freedoms merely because those in power find dissent inconvenient. The strength of a democracy lies not in its capacity to suppress dissent, but in its ability to address it.