The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Code of conduct for demonstrations sought

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Code of conduct for demonstrations sought

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: A section of cultural leaders has stressed the need for a code of conduct for demonstrations along public roads.

In a joint statement here on Monday, they said that political parties and the government should ensure that the code was observed. Organising hartals over comparatively minor issues too should be discontinued.

They wanted the government and the police to be absolutely neutral. They said that they were issuing such a call in the wake of the increase in violence in the public life of the State. Demonstrations organised by political parties and their feeder organisations invariably ended in violence and police action. The area before the Secretariat was being converted virtually into a war zone, which made normal life miserable.

All parties resorted to violent agitations. The parties justified them if they were by its own supporters and deplored them if they were by rivals. They seemed to be forgetting the fact that everything could now be seen in the visual media and people were aware of what was happening.

They admitted that protests and demonstrations had a place in the democratic set up. But all of them should be peaceful.

The signatories of the statement were P.Gopinathan Nair, chairman, Kerala Gandhi Samaraka Nidhi; P.Viswasmbharan ex-MP; M.P. Mathai, president, Kerala Sarvodaya Mandalam; N.Radhakrishnan, chairman, Indian Council for Gandhian Studies; K.Kesavan Nair, secretary, Kerala Hindi Prachar Sabha; B.Hridaya Kumari; Vishnu Narayanan Namboodiri; N.A. Kareem; and K.Ayyappan Pillai.

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