<img alt="" src="/imagedata/2011/jan/ramu.jpg" align="left" border="0" />On Monday morning, the police in Gondia arrested Sudhir Dhawale, who is a well-known Dalit activist, a theatre-person, and editor of Vidrohi's journal. Dhawale is a decent man and his work in Vidrohi underscored the aesthetics of resistance. His arrest is a huge blow to the movement in Maharashtra. What is worrisome is, this arrest cannot be seen in isolation. On 24 December, a court in Raipur convicted Dr Binayak Sen for rigorous life imprisonment. Then there's the fight for freedom of Shridhar Srinivasan, Vernon Gonsalves and K D Rao since the past three years. This list is endless. At the rate at which the present Union Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of India is issuing orders, half the poor people (or those who speak on their behalf) will be in prison. It sounds uncannily similar to what transpired after 26 June 1975 when Fakhrudin Ali Ahmed issued a proclamation declaring Emergency. Except in those days, we dared to protest. Perhaps it's time to someone to produce a Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron type of film about how the inconvenient and ugly poor are being removed, and the rest have been hypnotised, so that a sophisticated government machinery ensures our country is free to be run by scamsters.

On Monday morning, the police in Gondia arrested Sudhir Dhawale, who is a well-known Dalit activist, a theatre-person, and editor of Vidrohi's journal

Time to speak up

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