Chennai, July 21 (IANS) Expressing his solidarity with every person protesting for a just cause, peacefully, in any part of the country, Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas on Tuesday pointed out that the right to dissent was not a threat to democracy but one of its foundations.
The actor, like several others across the country, was reacting to the news of police carrying out a lathicharge on protestors during their peaceful ‘Sansad Chalo’ march in New Delhi on Monday.
Taking to his Instagram page to express his solidarity with the protestors, comprising mainly students, Tovino Thomas wrote,”Right and wrong may be relative, but this is certainly NOT the way to handle a peaceful protest.
When the future generation of a nation speaks up, and their voices are met with repressive force, it is the future itself that is being stamped down. It is faith in democracy that is being drained away.”
The anger in Tovino Thomas’s statement was evident as he asked, “What did these students do wrong? Did they destroy property? Did they resort to violence? What exactly did they do to deserve this treatment?”
He went on to say, “To every person protesting for a just cause, peacefully, in any part of our country, I extend my wholehearted solidarity. The right to dissent is not a threat to democracy; in fact it is one of its foundations.”
He concluded the note by saying, “And to anyone about to question my sense of nationalism, I know myself better than you do. My politics is humanity. My belief is peace. Jai Hind.”
For the unaware, the incident in question occurred on Monday as thousands of supporters of the CJP and students marched from Jantar Mantar towards Parliament, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over recurring examination irregularities, including the NEET-UG paper leaks.
–IANS
mkr/
About the Author
