<p>Mumbai: The Jan Suraksha Bill will destroy the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar spirit and ideology of Maharashtra, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi founder-President Prakash Ambedkar said slamming the BJP-led Maha Yuti government and noting that it is concerning that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi did not oppose the proposed law. </p><p>The 70-year-old lawyer-activist-politician, Ambedkar, a two-time Lok Sabha MP and a one-term Rajya Sabha MP, is the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution of India.</p><p>“The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill or Maharashtra Jan Suraksha Bill is draconian, repressive, unconstitutional, vaguely defined, arbitrary, and inherently prone to misuse. Sadly, the Bill was passed in the Vidhan Sabha without any protest from the opposition,” said Ambedkar. </p>.<p>He said VBA and its members had written a 9-page letter to the Joint Select Committee and called for the immediate withdrawal of the Bill.</p><p>According to him, in the letter, it was pointed out: “We are concerned that, under the guise of addressing "Naxalism", the proposed legislation will be used to silence those who voice opposition to state policies or raise valid concerns about potential wrongdoings. The Bill, if enacted into a law, will legitimise the criminalisation of citizens, organisations, policy and political actors, who dissent, protest, revolt and express their opposition against the policies of the government.”</p><p>It had pointed out: “If Jotiba Phule and Savitrimai were alive today and if this law were to be passed, then Satyashodhak Samaj would have been deemed an unlawful organisation or the publication and possession of Jotiba Phule’s book “Gulamgiri” would been deemed unlawful. This Bill wants to entangle us in the very concept of “slavery of the mind and spirit”, which Jotiba Phule fought against. If Babasaheb Ambedkar were alive today and if this law were to be passed, then Babasaheb-led Mahad Satyagraha of the Dalits would have been deemed unlawful. Babasaheb’s revolutionary call to “Educate, Agitate, Organise” would have been deemed unlawful and he would have been put behind the bars.”</p>
<p>Mumbai: The Jan Suraksha Bill will destroy the Phule-Shahu-Ambedkar spirit and ideology of Maharashtra, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi founder-President Prakash Ambedkar said slamming the BJP-led Maha Yuti government and noting that it is concerning that the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi did not oppose the proposed law. </p><p>The 70-year-old lawyer-activist-politician, Ambedkar, a two-time Lok Sabha MP and a one-term Rajya Sabha MP, is the grandson of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution of India.</p><p>“The Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill or Maharashtra Jan Suraksha Bill is draconian, repressive, unconstitutional, vaguely defined, arbitrary, and inherently prone to misuse. Sadly, the Bill was passed in the Vidhan Sabha without any protest from the opposition,” said Ambedkar. </p>.<p>He said VBA and its members had written a 9-page letter to the Joint Select Committee and called for the immediate withdrawal of the Bill.</p><p>According to him, in the letter, it was pointed out: “We are concerned that, under the guise of addressing "Naxalism", the proposed legislation will be used to silence those who voice opposition to state policies or raise valid concerns about potential wrongdoings. The Bill, if enacted into a law, will legitimise the criminalisation of citizens, organisations, policy and political actors, who dissent, protest, revolt and express their opposition against the policies of the government.”</p><p>It had pointed out: “If Jotiba Phule and Savitrimai were alive today and if this law were to be passed, then Satyashodhak Samaj would have been deemed an unlawful organisation or the publication and possession of Jotiba Phule’s book “Gulamgiri” would been deemed unlawful. This Bill wants to entangle us in the very concept of “slavery of the mind and spirit”, which Jotiba Phule fought against. If Babasaheb Ambedkar were alive today and if this law were to be passed, then Babasaheb-led Mahad Satyagraha of the Dalits would have been deemed unlawful. Babasaheb’s revolutionary call to “Educate, Agitate, Organise” would have been deemed unlawful and he would have been put behind the bars.”</p>