Replace gun with vote, Lok Satta Tells naxalites

“Revolutionary Writers’ Association leader Varavara Rao and some others have been indulging in a campaign of calumny against Lok Satta Party President Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan because he condemned Mr. Varavara Rao’s justification of and encouragement to naxalite violence in a discussion on a private news channel,” said the Lok Satta Party here today.

Talking to the media, Lok Satta Party leaders Katari Srinivasa Rao, V. Vijayender Reddy and P. Bhaskara Rao said that some detractors had gone to the extent of even spreading blatant lies. One of them was that Dr. JP did not call on a girl rape victim of Kukatpally, which he represented in the Assembly. In fact, Dr. JP not merely called on the girl but also pursued the case to ensure that the accused did not escape.

The Lok Satta leaders that those who believed in power through the barrel of the gun should realize that the State with more guns of bigger barrels would trounce them. It is the common people who get trampled in fight between the naxalites and the State. “An eye for an eye”, to quote Mahatma Gandhi, “would leave the world blind”, they added.

Dr. JP too would like to see the State wither away as dreamed by naxalites. But the Lok Satta stood for non-violent naxalism. That was why the party in the 2009 general elections issued its party ticket to a former naxalite who bade goodbye to the gun.

The Lok Satta Party believes that if people are empowered and corrective mechanisms put in place, they can look after themselves. Then the State becomes a mere facilitator and coordinator.

Pointing out that the Indian Constitution is a wonderful document which provided universal franchise without discrimination based on caste and religion, language and region, they asked why the naxalites have so far not tried to persuade people to use the weapon of vote to realize their hopes and aspirations by changing the political system.

The Lok Satta leaders underlined that the Lok Satta had taken a consistent stand on the demand for Telangana. It believed that formation of Telangana would neither be a panacea nor a catastrophe. People stood to gain only when district governments are formed and powers decentralized. Dr. JP had conveyed the same to national leaders of both the ruling party and the Opposition.