National

Journalists' march against communal violence

By Our Staff Reporter

Social activist Nirmala Deshpande with Khushwant Singh, N. Ram and other journalists in a march for communal harmony in New Delhi on Monday.— Photo: Anu Pushkarna

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH 4. Brought together by pressing circumstances unleashed by the mindless violence in Gujarat, a large number of journalists, academicians and intellectuals today took out a "peace march'' to denounce communal violence in all its manifestations and seek punishment for the guilty.

Holding aloft placards and banners with messages reading "stop communal carnage'', "barbarians have no religion'' and "fundamentalist and communal politics are the root cause of ongoing genocide'', the peace activists marched from the Press Club to Jantar Mantar this morning.

Virtually leading from the front was columnist Khushwant Singh, who, despite his old age and ill-health, walked nearly 200 yards to show how concerned the intelligentsia was about the violence.

Notable among the others who participated in the march was veteran journalist B.G. Varghese, N. Ram of Frontline, Dileep Padgaonkar of The Times of India, Amit Sengupta of Hindustan Times, Seema Mustafa of The Asian Age and Booker Prize-winner Arundhati Roy.

The march was called by the Journalists for Communal Harmony, Delhi Union of Journalists and the teachers and academic wing of the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Raising slogans against communalism, the activists called for communal harmony and restoration of communal amity. While calling for punishment to the guilty, they accused the Gujarat Government of inaction and sought its dismissal.

Some of the speakers, such as Mr. Padgaonkar, also spoke against the Centre's efforts to impose censorship on the electronic media on the grounds that this would weaken democracy.

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