Bhubaneswar: Former Supreme Court judge Justice Madan Bhimarao Lokur, Wednesday, said that democracy in India is under assault in recent times.
His statement came at Madhu Babu Memorial Lecture titled ‘Can India’s Judiciary Rescue Her Democracy?’ organised by ‘Odisha Dialogues’ on the occasion of eminent lawyer and social reformer Madhusudan Das’s birth anniversary.
Justice Lokur said, “As we all know there are four pillars of democracy in India – the Executive, the Legislature, the Judiciary and the Press -democracy in the country is under assault in recent times and many questions were raised on the Election Commission’s role in conducting free and fare elections.”
He also expressed concern over the attacks on right to free speech and protest and cited many examples wherein citizens faced sedition charges and were dubbed ‘anti-national’ for expressing their thoughts. He also talked about the irregularities committed by national and regional parties.
According to him, out of eight national parties, only two had filed audit reports and that too after the expiry of the last date.
The founder-director of Odisha Dialogues, Rajesh Mahapatra, said, “There couldn’t be a day more befitting than the birth anniversary of Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das, the 28th of April, to observe as our annual day.”
In Madhu Babu’s notions of modernity, cosmopolitanism, the embrace of science, the critique of caste, women’s empowerment and advocacy of the secular, Odisha Dialogues sees a ‘living legacy’ with which we can re-imagine Odisha for making a better world, Mahapatra added.
In this short period, Odisha Dialogues has organised nearly 30 high-quality webinars and seminars, hosted nearly 100 speakers of national and international recognition, produced half a dozen policy notes and conducted four research projects. “The speakers at our webinars included experts from diverse fields, from former World Bank Chief Economist Prof Kaushik Basu, former Chief Statistician of India Dr Pronab Sen and eminent political commentator Dr Ramachandra Guha to Odisha-based policy leaders such as the chairman of the Odisha Skill Development Authority Subroto Bagchi and former chief secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra.
It is soon going to be a year since the Forum for Odisha Dialogues hosted its first webinar, kicking off a series of discussions on how to rebuild Odisha post Corona, he said. In no time, the idea of such a forum seeking to facilitate a meaningful dialogue on Odisha’s future caught everyone’s imagination. On the occasion, a special video on Madhu Babu’s legacy was also released.