Disability
rights Bill: Activists hold protest at Jantar Mantar
It was an unusually quiet protest. Around 500
people gathered at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday evening, held a candle light vigil,
while communicating to each other their thoughts on the disability rights Bill.
There were people in wheelchairs, people who cannot hear and those who cannot
speak. But that did not lead to an unenthusiastic protest. Excited hand gestures
and facial expressions could be seen in every direction.
"We are protesting against the fact that
even after the approval by the Cabinet of the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities Bill on December 12, the Bill wasn't even tabled in Parliament
before the Houses got adjourned," Javed Abidi, the convenor of the
Disabled Rights Group, an advocacy group for the rights of physically
challenged people, said. "Four years went into drafting that Bill. We are
scared that the government does not give this Bill any priority and given
upcoming general elections, Parliament may not be re-convened early next year
for any legislative business. If this happens, then all our effort since the
past four years will go down the drain."
Abidi, in a wheelchair, could be seen going
around the gathering accepting wishes for the new year as well as instructing a
few people about the steps to be taken next. Communicating to a hearing- and
speech-impaired person, he wrote on a piece of paper: "Arun Jaitley, 11.30
am." Then he outlined a house with his hands indicating that the meeting
was to take place in Jaitley's house on Wednesday. He then told him that he
should remember to take an interpreter along.
"We met the Vice President yesterday. He
has promised us unequivocal support. So has Prakash Karat, who we have met
before," he said.
Sanjeev Malhotra, a 48-year-old government
official also in a wheelchair, was watching from a distance. "I have come
here to express my support to the cause, but this is not enough," he says.
"They have to be more vocal about it. They have to take this beyond a mere
emotional display at Jantar Mantar."
Abidi
agrees, saying, "This is just an attempt to be visible. We wanted to show
people that when they are busy celebrating the new year, we are lamenting the
fact that the 70 million disabled people of India are just not an important
enough vote bank for our politicians. The politicians seem to be taking us for
granted. I think it's probably because we are not very visible."
In a
statement, Abidi also said Parliament's adjournment on December 18, two days
ahead of schedule, was hard to understand and that the Bill could easily have
been tabled in the two days.
He said the
Disabled Rights Group and the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled
want the legislation taken up when Parliament is reconvened in early February.
"Or else, we will take to the streets in huge numbers. Disabled people
from across the country will jam the streets of Delhi," he said.
However, as
the clock struck 7 in the evening, the people, who had been there for the past
two hours, could be seen hugging each other and gesturing excitedly. The
optimistic note they were parting with was unmistakable.
